The British Museum, the world’s first national public museum, has partnered with The Sandbox, a crypto metaverse project, to offer a range of digital collectibles and immersive experiences.
Through the agreement, The Sandbox’s users will gain access to exhibits showcasing artifacts from the British Museum’s wide-ranging collections. In collaboration with LaCollection, the museum’s official licensing partner, the focus will be on developing digital collectibles and experiences that transport players into history.
Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox, said: “We are very excited to collaborate with the British Museum to share its incredible collections with new audiences in the metaverse”.
He added: “This is a great opportunity for The Sandbox players, regardless of where they are, to learn about and enjoy the amazing collections of human history, art, and culture in the British Museum.”
The partnership will enable people from around the world to explore the museum’s collections from home through new immersive experiences. Whether you are a collector, history enthusiast, or simply love world cultures, the British Museum’s entrance into The Sandbox metaverse promises to bring history to life like never before.
The British Museum Embraces Innovation via Non-Fungible Tokens
Founded in 1753, the British Museum has long embraced innovation to reach wider audiences. Beyond its renowned physical exhibits, the museum has previously partnered with LaCollection on three NFT collections, beginning in 2021. Over 200 digital postcards featuring works by Katsushika Hokusai, including his iconic print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, were auctioned.
In explaining the museum’s decision to join The Sandbox, a spokesperson said they were keen to explore “new and innovative ways of sharing its collection and reaching new audiences.”
The partnership places the British Museum alongside other modern cultural institutions in The Sandbox, including renowned brands like Snoop Dogg, McDonald’s, Adidas, and Gucci. The scale of The Sandbox’s metaverse ecosystems provides an immense opportunity for the museum to share its flagship collections with a global audience.
As the first national public museum and self-described “museum of the world, for the world”, bringing history to The Sandbox aligns with the British Museum’s mission to make its collections accessible to everyone.
This new virtual outpost will allow people everywhere to experience, appreciate, and learn from pieces of human history that have been preserved, studied, and displayed by the museum for nearly three centuries.
NFT Values Increase Amid ETH Strength, Blur Surpasses OpenSea as Leading Marketplace
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the market capitalization of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) stands at $2.58 billion as of today while sales volumes in the past 30 days have experienced a 29% decline at $805 million with 1.52 million pieces of digital artwork being sold during that period.
Blur has effectively surpassed OpenSea as the leading NFT marketplace in the space accounting for 62% of the total trading volume. This marketplace has moved $1.7 billion in NFT sales in the past 3 months totaling 625,420 sales and attracting more than 500,000 wallets, data from CoinMarketCap indicates.
Blur’s dominance has been gained by attracting the wealthiest wallets in the space. according to a recent report from Galaxy Digital, the top 1% of wallets on this marketplace accounted for more than two-thirds of its trading volumes compared to 20% on OpenSea.
The report highlighted that most of the positive performance of NFTs recently could be explained by an increase in the value of Ethereum (ETH), the most used cryptocurrency to transact with these digital assets.
However, the individual ETH value of collections and individual artwork has been relatively stalled or has been dropping as investors turned to traditional assets during the bear market. Despite the overall turmoil that the financial markets experienced in 2021 and 2022, the NFT market has managed to stay afloat.