Because paying for a painting with cash or cheque is so passé.

There’s now a new way for people to purchase artwork in Dubai – by using cryptocurrency.

The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) last week launched a new platform called ArtBank, a digital bank for art that uses its own Dubai Art Cryptocurrency to faclilitate transactions, making it the first of its kind in the world.

“The Dubai ArtBank initiative marks out Dubai as a pioneer in using technology to extend the reach and impact of art. This is yet another example of Dubai taking the lead in adopting advanced technologies to enhance excellence in various spheres of life.” noted HH Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman of Dubai Culture in an official statement via the Dubai Media Office.

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The innovative new model is meant to reinforce Dubai’s role as a growing international hub for art and creativity. ArtBank will further allow users to better manage art collections and transactions, converting creativity and art into bankable assets via cryptocurrency.

So what is a cryptocurrency anyway?

There’s a lot of buzz around cryptocurrencies online and it can be a bit confusing.

Essentially, a cryptocurrency is a decentralised form of digital money that can be exchanged for goods and services online. As of December 30 2017, there were close to 1,400 different cryptocurrencies according to CoinMarketCap.com.

The most famous cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which has become increasingly more popular in recent years due to its high fluctuation in value and ability to keep its users transactions anonymous.

ArtBank (as far as we can tell) will not be using BitCoin to manage its transactions, but instead will set up its own cryptocurrency so that it can facilitate higher returns for creative assets.

The ArtBank is Dubai Culture’s response to the ‘Dubai 10X’ initiative, which seeks to implement today what other cities around the world will be implementing 10 years from now.

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