Christie’s is shuttering its digital art department, according to sources close to the situation.

Two staffers were let go at the end of August, including VP of Digital Art Nicole Sales Giles, who was featured in Now Media’s Luminaries series in July. Digital art specialist Sebastian Sanchez will remain on staff in New York.

Sales Giles confirmed the news to Now Media when reached.

“Christie’s has made a strategic decision to reformat digital art sales. The company will continue to sell digital art within the larger 20th and 21st Century Art category,” a Christie’s spokesperson tells Now Media.

thank you to everyone who reached out with support since the unfortunate news broke of christie's closing the digital art dept.

i remain at christie’s as a digital art specialist and am deeply proud of what we’ve built over the past 3 years since i joined. i'm especially…
— sebastian sanchez (@sebastianss527) September 9, 2025

The move comes as part of a broader wave of changes under the auction house’s new CEO Bonnie Brennan, who joined in February.

It marks a remarkable shift for the auction house that helped ignite the NFT bull run in 2021 with Beeple’s record-setting $69.3 million sale for Everydays: The First 5000 Days, positioning traditional art institutions to embrace digital work.

In September 2022, Christie’s launched its onchain auction platform, Christie’s 3.0, whose future is now in doubt.

Christie’s had also been at the forefront of digital art exhibitions, partnering with Now Media on four Gateway events during Art Basel Miami and Frieze Seoul.

The cuts come during a difficult stretch for both digital art and the broader art market. In the past two years, platforms such as MakersPlace, KnownOrigin, and Async Art have shut down.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that two staffers were let go and that digital art specialist Sebastian Sanchez will remain on staff.