Freeport launch enables the masses to invest in art like the wealthy — safely, legally, and at a fraction of the cost — creating a successful blueprint for bringing value on-chain
New York, May 10, 2023 — Freeport, a platform and community gallery for tokenized fine art, today launches its first collection, an exclusive four-piece curation of Andy Warhol prints. The launch comes on the heels of announcing the completion of the company’s SEC review.
Freeport offers shares backed by fine artworks in the form of security tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. It is the first company of its kind to complete a Regulation A review with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a crowd-ownership blockchain platform for investment grade art. Amid a broad and public SEC crackdown on unregistered securities, many approaches within the crypto industry have been legally questionable or uncertain. Freeport completing its review has established a touchstone and created a road map for successfully and safely bringing value on-chain.
“We completed our SEC review amidst the largest bank failures in the United States since the global financial crisis, which had a monumental impact on the crypto industry, causing it to lose multiple banking service providers. In the wake of Operation Choke Point 2.0, there was actually a moment where we weren’t sure if today’s launch would happen” said Colin Johnson, Co-founder, and CEO, Freeport. “I’m thrilled to announce that not only are we launching on schedule, but we also created a true blueprint for bringing value on-chain, safely, and legally. This further underscores both the strength of our business strategy, and our mission to create a platform that strikes the perfect balance between actualizing the unique and interesting benefits of web3 technologies, while also remaining compliant.”
Today’s Freeport collection launch consists of four iconic Andy Warhol prints. The prints were acquired from the collections of Michael Haber and Jane Holzer (aka ‘Baby Jane Holzer,’ one of Warhol’s early muses), and include blue-chip artworks such as “Marilyn” (1967), “Double Mickey Mouse” (1981), “Mick Jagger” (1975), and “Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean)” (1985). Each piece consists of 10,000 shares, with a minimum investment of 10 per individual, allowing no more than 1,000 individuals to own a piece of each Warhol.
“As a lifelong collector of art, I am passionate about Warhol. He was a dear friend and always pushing the envelope in the art world. Freeport too is pushing the art envelope with their offering to democratize art ownership. They're disruptively bridging a gap between art appreciation and ownership for all,” said Jane Holzer.
“With Freeport, fractional investing backed by high value assets like fine art has been made accessible – meaning almost anyone can do it. The cost to entry is the same investment someone might make on a single Amazon order. In some cases, it’s lower than 200 dollars. With today’s collection launch, the true democratization of fine art can begin,” concluded Johnson.
Additional highlights of the Freeport platform include its ability to facilitate community experiences, such as interacting with pieces that members have invested in, being able to display pieces in personal galleries, and having the creative license to do things like select frames for digital artworks. In addition, Freeport allows community members to view other members’ galleries and interact with other member’s artwork via social interactions such as comments, likes, and more.
The collection is now available through the Freeport platform: https://freeport.app/.
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About Freeport
Founded in 2022 and based in New York City, Freeport is the pioneering platform for fractional fine art investment, delivering tokenized works of art in the form of SEC-compliant security tokens. Freeport’s platform, built on the Ethereum blockchain, is designed to enhance asset ownership with seamless coalescence of the physical and digital worlds. Freeport goes beyond fractional investment by offering an immersive 3D visual experience for users to engage with community collections. Learn more at https://freeport.app/
Media Contact
Erica Schain, Aspectus Group