Sygnum Bank and Artemundi tokenize a Picasso artwork on the blockchain

By Joy Dumasia

Sygnum, a digital asset bank, and Artemundi, an art investment pioneer, have partnered to tokenize Picasso’s Fillette au béret painting. This marks the first time the ownership rights in a Picasso, or any artwork, are being broadcast onto the public blockchain by a regulated bank, enabling investors to purchase and trade “shares” in the artwork called Art Security Tokens (ASTs).

Created in 1964 by Pablo Picasso, the most influential artist of the twentieth century, the Fillette au béret is priced at CHF 4 million. Tokenization lowers the barriers to art investment and opens up the art market to a broad range of new investors. Tokens will be available for subscription to professional and institutional investors exclusively through Sygnum, a FINMA-regulated Swiss Bank.

Investors can own a share of Fillette au béret, priced at CHF four million. Tokens can be subscribed directly through Sygnum’s e-banking platform, with a minimum subscription of CHF 5,000. Transactions will be settled in Swiss Francs, using Sygnum’s digital CHF stablecoin (DCHF). All tokens are tradeable on SygnEx, Sygnum’s digital asset trading platform.

The tokenization of Fillette au béret represents two additional breakthroughs for the art market. By transforming art into tradeable, bank-grade security on the blockchain, liquid secondary markets like Sygnum’s SygnEx can directly connect buyers and sellers. This then eliminates the need for intermediaries, reducing transactional costs and bringing much-needed industry transparency.

Mathias Imbach, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Sygnum Bank, says, “It has been Sygnum’s mission from the start to empower investors with more direct access to ownership and value. The tokenization of the Fillette au béret exemplifies how we bring our mission to reality, unlocking a universe of unique investment opportunities that can be made accessible to many.”

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Sygnum Bank announced that it is the first Bank to offer Ethereum 2.0 staking. Clients can conveniently and securely stake Ethereum through Sygnum’s institutional-grade banking platform and generate a yield of up to 7% per annum.