Blockchain technology allows for the disintermediation of middlemen in almost everything that can be done online. People are able to send money, trade, and use software in a truly peer-to-peer and decentralized manner. This has revolutionary implications. Marketplaces powered by Origin Protocol can connect buyers directly to sellers without corporate middlemen charging huge fees. Origin will soon power 2-sided marketplaces of all kinds, not just buy-sell item marketplaces (like Craigslist), but also decentralized marketplaces for homesharing (Airbnb), carsharing (Getaround), and many more use cases.

One category of decentralized marketplaces I am most excited to see is art marketplaces. My younger sister, Emerald Maher, is an artist, and it shocked me to learn that she only received 60% of the purchase price when she sold her work at a gallery. To have such a huge cut taken from you for a transaction as deeply personal as selling your artwork seems unfair to me, especially knowing how hard artists have to work to make a living. That is why I decided to launch PeerArt, a peer-to-peer marketplace for art with 0% fees. Artists on PeerArt can sell their work across a global network of buyers without payment frictions or middleman fees. I used Origin Protocol’s Marketplace Creator to create PeerArt in just a couple of minutes — no coding required.

Check out the amazing artwork for sale on PeerArt

PeerArt is a work in progress and built on experimental technology, but I am very excited about helping artists sell their work while keeping all of their money. Some of the artists on board include the highly acclaimed Trevor Jones, the first painter in Britain to incorporate augmented reality into his work. Trevor had a major exhibition, “Crypto Royalty”, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2018.

Trevor Jones’ incredible “Venezuela — The Collapse 1" is for sale on PeerArt

We are thrilled that Trevor has listed many of his crypto-themed pieces on PeerArt. Any interested buyers from around the world will be able to make a purchase offer using ETH on his work on PeerArt.

Another talented artist who has listed their art on PeerArt is Gianni Secchi, aka KryptiCrooks. He spent over 400 hours collaborating with the crypto community on a 40" x 80" mural on aluminum metal entitled “Loss Vegas”. This mural encapsulates events from the brutal 2018 crypto crash. It features figures such as Carlos Matos, Jihan Wu, Satoshi Nakamoto, Nouriel Roubini, John McAfee, Warren Buffet, and Andreas Antonopolous.

We were also very fortunate to have been introduced to the amazing Nelly Baksht by our friends at BlockGeeks. Nelly made her name as a successful corporate lawyer but is now a successful artist, trained at the Youth Art School in Tomsk, Russia. Nelly has been a prominent member of the Toronto Blockchain community for years, donating her crypto-themed art work to the Blockchain Futurist Conference.

“ethEra” prints for sale on PeerArt

Sometimes we run across art by chance that truly impresses us. Origin co-founder Matthew Liu came across FRAKTALITY’s awesome Ethereum holograms on Reddit (shoutout to our investor and co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian). We wanted to purchase it for our office but also help the artist sell his art since there was clearly demand for it.

I also ran into some awesome crypto-themed art by chance during Art Basel at the Crypto Castle in Miami. I learned that the art adorning the walls were creations of Sergey Gordienko. Sergey has shown his art at multiple blockchain conferences in addition to having his own solo shows and participating in gallery exhibits. We are happy to have him be a part of PeerArt.

I’m thrilled to see so many incredible pieces of art by great artists already listed on PeerArt. I hope to see more artists join and many pieces sold, with the artists keeping 100% of the proceeds of each sale. If you or an artist you know is interested in listing your art for sale on PeerArt, please go to this guide on how to get started.