An anonymous individual purchased a CryptoPunks NFT on Monday for more than $16 million worth of cryptocurrency, the second-largest transaction for a CryptoPunk on record.
For a whopping 4,500 ETH – worth $16.03 million at the time of sale – an Ethereum user whose identity has yet to be revealed bought CryptoPunk #3100 just after 9:30am EST this morning. That of the user wallet was created just four days ago and used solely to purchase the NFT.
CryptoPunk #3100 is one of only nine Alien Punks in the total 10,000 units CryptoPunks Collection. Because of that rarity, Alien Punks have collected some of the highest bids ever recorded for individual CryptoPunks. The most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold, #5822, was an Alien Punk purchased at the height of the NFT market in early 2022 for almost $24 million.
The anonymous buyer of CryptoPunk #3100 had been trying to get the coveted NFT for days. On Thursday, they submitted an offer of 4,250 ETH, worth $14.78 million at the time, to the then owner of the NFT. The king’s ransom was apparently not enough to seal the deal; on Friday, the individual withdrew the offer and finally submitted the nicer offer of 4,500 ETH this morning.
Bought Punk 3100 for 4,500 ETH ($16,032,959.47 USD) by 0x705876 from 0x7b8961. https://t.co/YMzLi5i8se #cryptopunks #ethereum pic.twitter.com/FcdGF83uNc
— CryptoPunks Bot (@cryptopunksbot) March 4, 2024
On Twitter, crypto users heralded the high-profile purchase as an unequivocal sign that the bull market had returned.
The encouraging signal of crypto’s potential return to the absurd highs of the 2021/2022 bull run comes days after last week’s astonishing Bitcoin rally, which saw the world’s leading cryptocurrency consistently increase in value by thousands of dollars. day to dayand reinforced an atmosphere of delirious optimism among crypto enthusiasts. That momentum also pushed Ethereum above $3,500 for the first time since early 2022.
While CryptoPunk #3100 is the second most expensive profile photo (PFP) NFT ever sold, behind its alien brother CryptoPunk #5822, neither approaches the price tag of the most expensive NFT ever sold, a virtual artwork by digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann. That piece, ‘Everydays: The First 5,000 Days’“, sold for a historic $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction in March 2021.
Originally created by Larva Labs in 2017 and purchased by the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club in 2022, CryptoPunks is an influential collection that inspired the later wave of NFT profile photos. The collection has generated over $2.75 billion in trading volume to date after a free coin, with prices currently starting above $200,000 worth of ETH.
Edited by Andrew Hayward