Lincoln Townley, a British contemporary artist, has reportedly sold a large collection of his art work in exchange for cryptocurrency through WeChat, a popular widely-used Chinese social media app.
Townley is known for being very active on social media and recently said during an interview that,
“I’m always looking at ways to do things differently in my route to market.”
Commenting on the speculative nature of cryptocurrency investors, the London and Los Angeles-based artist remarked, “The people who invest in Bitcoin are without doubt speculators – they are looking at something with more of a risk. But that’s why I thought to myself, these are the sort of people that would be interested in purchasing my art as an extension to their investment portfolio.”
Townley added that there were many ways how technology could be used to sell or promote artwork. According to the contemporary artist’s official website, his work was “rejected by the more conservative” members of the art community. This “forced him to create his own art market”, Townley’s bio reveals.
Using Technology To Promote Artwork
He also mentioned in his interview that he’s looking to “shake up the art world” by building up a diverse network of potential art buyers through social media. In a manner that’s similar to how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies attempt to remove third-parties from transactions, Townley said he is aiming to eliminate middlemen or brokers from art-related transactions.
Notably, Townley’s art collectors include famous English actor and producer Sir Michael Caine and American filmmaker and Primetime Emmy Award winning actor Al Pacino. The British artist, who has been called “the next Andy Warhol” (a pioneer of visual or pop art), noted that were many crypto investors who are also fond of collecting artwork.
Moreover, Townley thinks that cryptocurrency prices will recover and increase significantly in the long-term. He remarked, “I think there is a huge market for [the] expansion [or adoption of cryptos], with it being something that is going to inflate in value. Therefore, inflating in value will give you more of a vehicle to purchase art in the future.”
Crypto Adoption Still Steady
As CryptoGlobe reported, a Dutch citizen had put his house up for sale in exchange for VeChain tokens (VET), a cryptocurrency created to support a blockchain-based smart contract platform designed specifically for more effectively and transparently managing logistics and supply chain management processes.
Although crypto prices have declined considerably after skyrocketing to record-level highs toward the end of last year, market analysts and crypto wallet provider Abra’s CEO Bill Barhydt have revealed that crypto-related technological infrastructure is being actively developed.
Barhydt also noted that there’s still “a lot of demand” for digital currencies, while advising everyone to learn more about them and investing only as much as they could afford to lose. Interestingly, this is the same approach that bitcoin pioneer Charlie Shrem recently recommended as well.
