Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) Allows Fractional Bidding on Art Assets

Note: This article was written on 11 MAY 2022.

The future is fractionalization and tokenisation. Investors that deal in the regular volume are now attracted to fractionalised assets. With this new way of investing, participation in these assets is off the roof.

Earlier, it was difficult to buy a painting or anything that cost millions of dollars. Now with tokenisation, the assets have been fractionalised so that people can own a fraction of that high-value asset by strategically allocating their resources.

On Monday the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) became the first European museum that has allowed fractional investment in fine art. The museum has started the process with Belgian painter James Ensor’s (1860–1949) painting, “Carnaval de Binche.”

Investors can obtain fractional ownership of the work starting from only 150 euros (or about $158).

The venture happened with the joined effort of KMSKA, Tokeny and blockchain art entity Rubey. They are issuing an ERC-3643 compliant token that is launching on Polygon (MATIC) blockchain.

The goal of this collaboration is to lower the investment price threshold for the community. This will also allow the everyday people to be an owner of a highly expensive fine art piece that was earlier only owned by high net worth individuals and entities.

Via an innovative fundraising method, an Art Security Token Offering, individuals were able to collectively purchase and ensure that KMSKA receives it on a long-term loan.

Regarding the development, Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny, commented:

“We share the same vision as our partners KMSKA and Rubey that security tokens will have a real impact on the art industry by allowing smaller investors to invest and engage in artworks that already have existing value.”

Meanwhile, Luk Lemmens, President of KMSKA, added:

“KMSKA already had the largest Ensor collection in the world. The addition of Carnaval de Binche puts our museum on the international map as an Ensor centre of excellence even more.”