Christie’s, one of the world’s leading auction houses, has announced the closure of its dedicated digital art department, a move that underscores the waning fortunes of the NFT market just a few years after its meteoric rise. Along with the structural change, the company is parting ways with Nicole Sales Giles, Vice President for Digital Art Sales and one of the most visible champions of Christie’s early embrace of blockchain-based art.

A Christie’s spokesperson emphasized that digital works will not disappear entirely from the roster. Instead, they will be integrated into the broader sales categories of 20th- and 21st-century art. “We will continue to sell digital art as part of our wider program,” the representative noted, suggesting a shift from specialization to assimilation.

The decision comes four years after the peak of digital art mania, marked most famously by Christie’s record-setting 2021 sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69.3 million. That sale ignited global interest in NFTs and catalyzed a wave of speculative investment. Yet the market that once promised to revolutionize the art world has since largely collapsed.

In 2022, NFT sales plummeted, and despite periodic attempts at revival, activity has remained stagnant. According to an August 2024 report from NFT Evening, 96% of NFTs are now effectively “dead”—meaning they generate no trading volume and no social media traction. The same study found that the average collector has lost nearly 45% of their initial investment.

Christie’s is not alone in recalibrating its digital ambitions. Last year, rival Sotheby’s laid off at least four employees tied to its Metaverse and NFT divisions, signaling similar retrenchment. What once appeared to be a permanent new category for auction houses is now being folded back into traditional structures.

The shuttering of Christie’s digital art department does not necessarily mark the end of blockchain-based art, but it highlights the challenges of sustaining a market built on hype rather than enduring cultural value. For many in the art world, the moment raises broader questions: Can digital art thrive beyond speculation? Or will it remain a footnote in the history of art commerce—a brief, feverish experiment at the intersection of technology and desire?