Lehmann Maupin has announced an exclusive partnership with Gemini, becoming the first commercial gallery to accept crypto through the platform. Cryptocurrency transactions will be effective immediately at permanent gallery locations in New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London, as well as its seasonal spaces in Aspen, Taipei, and Palm Beach.
The gallery has partnered with Gemini to enable collectors to acquire works in more than 40 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether and Gemini dollar. Several of its artists, including Gilbert & George, Catherine Opie, Helen Pashgian, Alex Prager, Robin Rhode, and Tony Oursler, will also custody their anticipated crypto sales with Gemini with more to follow in the near future. The initial group of artists who are being onboarded presently include a diverse mix from the gallery’s global roster, reflecting artists based in London, New York, Berlin, and Los Angeles, as well as artists of various ages, mediums, demonstrating that mounting interest in cryptocurrency is international in its reach.
“This unique partnership joins the worlds of fine art and cryptocurrency investment — by expanding art collectors’ purchasing power and satisfying our artists’ appetite to trade in digital assets. Our artists and collectors range from the crypto savvy to the crypto curious. It is inevitable that cryptocurrencies will be a standard in many businesses. Our message to the world is that we, at Lehmann Maupin, are ready for it,”
says Rachel Lehmann, co-founder Lehmann Maupin.
The partnership also marks an important shift for the wider art world, signalling the growing uptake of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in a more traditional and opaque market. Lehmann Maupin’s collaboration with Gemini is not merely a way of facilitating payment for a single collector but rather integrating crypto payments in the mainstream art industry. This means that a collector anywhere in the world can now buy work by Lehmann Maupin artists using cryptocurrency, marking a substantial and pivotal shift for the industry.
Founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini is a market-leading crypto platform that allows customers to buy, sell, store, and earn interest on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, and DeFi tokens.
“We’ve experienced explosive growth in NFTs and digital art this year and gallery clients of all ages want to transact in crypto. Integrating crypto payments will help Lehmann Maupin reach a wider demographic and be that bridge for collectors from the digital art world into traditional art,”
said Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini.
About Lehmann Maupin
Rachel Lehmann and David Maupin co-founded Lehmann Maupin in 1996 in New York. Since Inception, Lehmann Maupin has served as a leading contemporary art gallery with locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For over 25 years, Lehmann Maupin has been instrumental in introducing international artists in new geographies and building long-lasting curatorial relationships. Known for championing diverse voices, the gallery’s program proudly features artists whose work challenges notions of identity and shapes international culture. Today, the gallery has permanent locations in New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and London, as well as a team in mainland China. In the past year, with growing opportunities in new markets, the gallery opened seasonal spaces in Aspen, Palm Beach and Taipei.
