Seoul's Artbloc to Offer High-End Art Using Blockchain-Based Fractional Ownership

A Korean start-up will be fractionally selling two works by David Hockney in September.

They will not be listed on crypto exchanges as each work will have its own token.

Jun Kim, CEO of Artbloc, says that the idea is to bring high-end works to regular investors and customers.

With galleries and auction houses serving the rich and with the middle class only able to buy cheaper works, he saw an opening.

"Artbloc will sell high-end art to the public," Kim said.

An exhibition was held from March through August this year at the Seoul Museum of Art.

"It was so hot," says Kim of the exhibition in Seoul.

Kim would not disclose the price he paid for the first two paintings he acquired, but he did say that he was in the market for more works.

Kim has incorporated an entity in Hong Kong-Artbloc Marketplace-but he says that the works themselves will be kept and displayed by galleries in Seoul so that the public and the fractional owners can view them.

He mentioned Platform L in Gangnam and ART 247 in Itaewon as possible locations for display.