In the midst of a wild market-wide bull run for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), an extremely rare “alien” CryptoPunk was sold today for 605 ethers valued at over USD 750,000 at today’s prices.
CryptoPunks are widely considered to be the original NFT project that was released even before Cryptokitties, the blockchain-based collector project that brought NFTs to mainstream awareness. CryptoPunks developers Larva Labs report that punks had lifetime sales of $ 26 million in their domestic market and the average selling price for punks last year was $ 6,199.
Each punk has unique properties like background color, accessories, and even some extremely rare features such as: B. an “alien” or “zombie” performance. The punk sold today, # 2890, is one of nine extraterrestrial punks in existence.
Punk 2890 was bought from 0x24c5eb by 0x6611fe for 605 ETH ($ 761,888.57 USD). https://t.co/p5IvIq3MnB #cryptopunks #ethereum pic.twitter.com/xq8Cl2imKV
– CryptoPunks Bot (@cryptopunksbot) January 23, 2021
The bid on the punk has been competitive for the past week, with DeFi megawallet turn twitter personality 0x_b1 bidding for 500 ETH. The punk was last sold for 8 ETH in July 2017, meaning the owner made a 75x return on their investment.
The new owners are a group of investors that includes FlamingoDAO, an “NFT collective that supports and collects premium NFTS,” said a Flamingo spokesman. The official FlamingoDAO Twitter handle confirmed the purchase with a meme:
pic.twitter.com/BwKa6481hm
– FLAMINGO (@FLAMINGODAO) January 23, 2021
“It’s very simple: Cryptopunks is a groundbreaking project. It was older than the ERC 721 standard and crypto kitten, ”said the investment thesis spokesman. “Aliens are the rarest form of cryptopunk, and we believe the acquired aliens will be cherished by collectors over time and will mature into an iconic digital work of art.”
The crypto art collector @gmoneyNFT, who dropped 140 ETH on a punk himself earlier this month, thinks the alien is a good investment despite the sky-high rating.
“I think it was a great buy. The more digital the world becomes, the more important digital “flex” becomes. This is how people act in the physical world. That won’t change in the digital arena, ”he said.
Sales like today’s show that NFTs are only just getting their day in the sun. NBA Topshot, a collector’s highlight project from Dapper Labs, has proven hugely popular, and Axie Infinity’s native animals have also been selling at remarkable prices lately.
Some critics have questioned the sky-high prices rare NFTs have reached, arguing that simple digital scarcity is a shaky foundation to justify a $ 750,000 sale. @gmoneyNFT dismisses this criticism, saying there are plenty of real world analogs out there that make as much – or just as little – sense.
“Why would someone pay millions of dollars for an original Andy Warhol screen print when you can buy it online for $ 20? Why would someone buy a pair of Yeezys for $ 300 when you can buy a fake from the same factory made with the same materials for a lot less? People like to feel special. The origin has value. “
