Last month, digital-focused Swiss bank Sygnum finalized the subscription to its first ever Art Security Tokens (ASTs), representing the ownership rights to Picasso’s Fillette au béret painting.

In July it was reported that fans of Pablo Picasso could pay up to $6,000 (CHF5,500) to own a part of Fillette au béret (Young girl with a beret), the famous work by the painter valued at approximately CHF4 million ($4.35 million). In a landmark effort, Swiss Bank Sygnum partnered with art investment company Artemundi to “sell” the painting by tokenizing it on the blockchain. That subscription has now closed and Sygnum revealed last month that more than 50 investors are co-owners of the painting by virture of holding the tokens representing its fractional ownership. (SYGNUM)

“Since the launch of the AST, Sygnum has seen substantial interest from the market in both the Fillette au béret and its tokenization offering in general,” said SYGNUM in a statement. “The success of this project paves the way for a pipeline of unique investment opportunities as well as secondary market liquidity for asset tokens in the future.”

Sygnum revealed that its tokenization and legal teams had worked hard with Artemundi to resolve the challenges that confronted tokenization of art.

These included the clear legal recognition of co-ownership rights, and structuring the exit mechanism for investors to realize price appreciation on the painting.

The successful sale of the ASTs of Fillette au béret clearly demonstrated the viability of Sygnum’s legal framework, and established real demand for co-ownership of art.

The Swiss Bank said the tokens are now available for trading on SygnEx, its token trading platform.

Related Story: Digital Whiskey Fund Snaps Up 1,000 Barrels of Kentucky Bourbon