Some rudimentary pixel art has just sold for 605 ETH or $ 761,889 when purchased.
FlamingoDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for investing in digital collectibles, is behind Saturday’s stunning CryptoPunk sale. Only nine such “aliens” exist in the CryptoPunk universe, which pioneered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2017 and is the “Holy Grail” for an emerging class of Ethereum art collectors.
The representative of the FlamingoDAO community, Priyanka Desai, told CoinDesk that it was by far the most expensive piece of the collective.
“I showed my mom and she said, ‘What ???'” Desai said in a phone interview.
Flamingo is a fund with around 40 members and 4,800 ETH in pool capital, Desai said. It has “hundreds” of NFTs in its growing collection, including rare autoglyphs, NBA top shot cards, and lots in various metaverse.
Flamingo’s decision to take advantage of this rare opportunity “was beaten up within 25 minutes,” mostly through Discord, Desai said.
“It’s understandable that people are skeptical of NFTs, but we believe NFTs are the future of not just digital art, but all digital property,” FlamingoDAO said in a statement. “It’s the tip of a very large spear.”
A well-known figure in decentralized finance (DeFi), @ 0x_b1, was one of the contending bidders who lost CryptoPunk 2890. In a tweet @ 0x_b1 said they valued the CryptoPunk at around $ 1 million.
The CryptoPunk in question was last sold in July 2017 for 8 ETH or $ 2,127. This equates to a 75x return on investment in terms of ETH (and even in USD).
“People see it as a collector’s item that is pretty significant in the history of NFTs,” Desai said.
The options for realizing a return on investment have yet to be determined by DAO members, Desai said. Apart from the future appreciation or the possible financialization: “There is also the idea that Flamingo would like to build galleries in different metaverses to exhibit this and other pieces,” she said.
