The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has experienced significant growth in 2024, expanding by 40% since the year began. Despite a cooling from the 2021 highs, tokenization continues to attract interest, particularly in the art industry
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Boson Protocol and Superchief Gallery Tokenize $5.1M Art Collection
On August 26, Boson Protocol, a tokenization platform, partnered with Superchief Gallery, the world’s first real-life NFT gallery, to tokenize a $5.1 million art collection. The collection includes 85 unique pieces by renowned artists like Louise Nevelson, Buffie Johnson, and Ibram Lassaw, whose works have been exhibited in prestigious venues such as the Museum of Modern Art.
Justin Banon, co-founder of Boson Protocol, highlighted that the partnership with Superchief Gallery signals a resurgence in the market’s interest in tokenizing RWAs. As more asset classes, including art, seek to leverage new technologies for sale in emerging markets, the appetite for tokenization grows.
Superchief Gallery’s Role in NFT Art
Founded in 2012 in Brooklyn by Edward Zipco and Bill Dunleavy, Superchief Gallery has been at the forefront of the NFT art movement. The gallery embraced NFTs in March 2021, quickly becoming a key player in tokenized art. It has participated in major tokenized art projects, including the first CryptoPunk auction at Christie’s Auction House and co-founding events like the NFT Art Biennial in Italy and the NFT Korea Festival in 2023.
Expanding the Horizons of Tokenization
While financial assets dominate the tokenization landscape—reaching a market cap of $11.7 billion in 2024—tokenization is increasingly being used to represent a diverse array of assets on-chain. The art world has seen significant milestones, such as Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” NFT, which sold for $69 million at Christie’s in 2021, and PleasrDAO’s $4.75 million purchase of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album.
Even high-value musical instruments are being tokenized. In June, Galaxy Digital Holdings, led by Michael Novogratz, issued a multimillion-dollar loan secured by tokens representing a rare 1708 Stradivarius violin. The loan was granted to Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, who had purchased the violin for over $9 million.
