Goldin Auctions, the trading card, and sports memorabilia auction house announced this week that it would now accept cryptocurrency. The traditional auction house hopped on the crypto bandwagon following the success of auction house Christie's.

“We now accept Bitcoin as payment,” tweeted Goldin Auctions which is known for high-value items.

In a separate tweet, the auction house said, in addition to standard payment and payout methods, they allow the same in both BTC and Ether. This decision is made on “demand from consumers,” said Ross Hoffman, Goldin’s chief executive officer.

“Look, we think a big macro theme that we’re seeing is folks that are hedging,” he told Bloomberg. “One, against inflation, and two, there’s interest in alternative investing.”

Cryptocurrency and sports collectibles, according to him, have “a pretty large overlap.”

They have already accepted two payments in crypto a couple of weeks back, the most notable one for a Jay-Z card that was sold for $103,200.

“It’s pretty amazing how easy the tech is to integrate,” Hoffman says. “We had the idea [to accept crypto] two weeks ago, did the integration, and accepted our first payment in Bitcoin last week.”

This isn't the first time Goldin has forayed into the blockchain industry. Earlier this year, the auction house partnered with YouTuber Logan Paul to auction a box of Pokemon cards.

Goldin also announced a partnership with crypto exchange Gemini on Tuesday following a $40 million investment in the auction house from The Chernin Group (TCG) and several prominent individuals and firms, including Dwyane Wade, Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant, Mark Wahlberg, and many more.

“We are excited to team up with Goldin Auctions and help them facilitate crypto payments for collectors and sellers on their platform,” said Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini.

Commenting on “some volatility” involved with crypto assets, Hoffman said, “whatever risk there is [will] be offset by the benefit of bringing in more members.”

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