What is Maecenas?
Trade in tokenised Fine Art instantly on a global platform.
Maecenas is the first blockchain-based platform that allows anyone to buy, sell, and trade part ownership in masterpieces on a liquid exchange.
Our mission is to make fine art investment accessible to everyone.
Tokenised Fine Art
Multimillion-dollar artworks are tokenised into "asset tokens". Each asset token represents a share of the beneficial interest in the underlying artwork and can be traded instantly on a global exchange.
All asset tokens representing your share of the artwork are secure blockchain tokens, compliant with the Ethereum ERC20 standard. Enjoy the safety of the Ethereum protocol and the convenience of storing them on any of the popular crypto wallets.
ERC20 is a protocol that denotes that the token is compatible to be exchanged on Ethereum. Following the ERC20 structure allows a token to be unique as well as being standardised.
Democratising access to Fine Art investment
Auction Platform
Asset tokens can be purchased by bank transfer, credit card, and even cryptocurrencies. Smart contracts ensure a fair and transparent process and token distribution.
Trading Exchange
Trade asset tokens on a secure, real-time Fine Art trading exchange that’s open 24/7, 365 days of the year.
You can buy and sell asset tokens on any exchange where they are listed. Raise capital against your art collection. Enjoy increased liquidity and global access.
How It Works
When listed on the Maecenas Auction Platform, artworks are split using blockchain technology into asset tokens representing a percentage ownership. Investors can purchase asset tokens representing a share in the painting, and easily sell them on any exchange where they are listed.
Curation
Maecenas identifies suitable art pieces
Due Diligence
Maecenas carries out due diligence process
Investors can view the painting’s details, history, condition report, high resolution images of the artwork, and its full provenance before registering their interest to bid.
Tokenisation
"Asset Tokens" representing shared ownership in the artwork are minted.
Sale Distribution
Art owners can list artworks on Maecenas and sell the Asset Tokens to investors.
Investors can pay in any accepted fiat currency (such as USD) or cryptocurrency.
Trading Exchange
Investors can buy / sell their Asset Tokens on any exchange they are listed.
Use Cases
Chelsea Gallery wants to acquire a $3M piece to expand its Warhol collection.
Instead of getting a 3-year art-secured loan at a 13.5% annual interest, it can raise funds from Maecenas investors by listing some of their artwork at a 8% one-off fee.
This represents a saving of over $400k in fees for the gallery.
Joanne is a HNWI who wants to invest $200k in Fine Art to diversify her portfolio.
Her capital is too small for a Fine Art Fund, and she is not interested in long maturity terms.
Auctioneers would charge her a 20% fee in buyer’s premium, which would make the investment considerably more expensive.
In comparison, Maecenas allows her to invest in a number of different art pieces easily, paying only 3% in fees via bank transfer or credit card.
Chris was an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, and has made a small fortune from investing in BTC and ETH.
He does not like going to traditional banks, and prefers using decentralised platforms where he can be in full control of his investments.
With Maecenas, he can purchase art-backed asset tokens to diversify his investment portfolio, and pay only 1% discounted buyer’s fees when paying with Maecenas’ utility token – ART.
A client at a London Family Office has given the mandate to further diversify their portfolio by investing $15m in Fine Art.
Purchasing art pieces from Christie’s would incur fees (buyer premium) of approximately $2m.
By investing via Maecenas in an art-based financial instrument with similar performance, but a drastically lower fee, the client’s portfolio increases in value by more than $1.5m.
Buying and selling artworks should be easy
Art Auction Houses / Galleries
Traditional auction houses charge up to 25% commission on sales, and galleries up to 50%. They – not market participants – dictate the time an auction is held and the price of an artwork.
In addition, once you buy the artwork, you need to insure it, transport it, store it, and maintain it in a secure and conducive environment.
Art Funds
Art fund managers typically charge investors 20% on any profits made, plus a 2% annual fee on the total amount of cash invested.
With such a huge drag on profits, there’s no guarantee an investor will make money after fees, even if the artwork goes up in value.
Maecenas
With Maecenas, there are no hidden fees or lock-in periods. Purchasing a portion of artwork is an easy one-click process.
The entire sale is fully transparent and executed on our secure blockchain based platform.
Manage your investments on our liquid trading exchange with fees as low as 1%.
