Larva Labs and auction house Christie’s auctioned 9 CryptoPunks NFTs and sold them for a total of $16,96 million. The sellers estimated the value of their collection somewhere between 7 and 9 million dollar.
So far it’s unknown who bought the 9 punks. If it’s someone from the NFT scene, they will probably step forward in the coming days. We’ve seen this happen at previous auctions as well.
Opinions are split on the sale, as some consider it a success and others think the 9 punks are worth much more. According to the DappRadar value estimator the collection would be approximately $8,6 million, based on sales data of punks with similar attributes. However, that estimation doesn’t take into consideration the low mint numbers and the story of the first CryptoPunks in an auction house.
Nonetheless, the auction at Christie’s does solidify the position of CryptoPunks as one of the most valuable NFTs on the market. These pixelated characters have become a symbol for the NFT art movement that’s currently making moves across the world.
Ebay officially announced to Reuters that they will be selling NFTs. In addition companies like Hasbro and Sega keep their eyes on the technology, launching their first movies into the NFT market this Summer. At the same time celebrities like Floyd Mayweather, ahead of his Paul Logan fight, launch their own NFTs, while other celebrities like Serena Williams and Jay-Z invest in NFT platform Bitski.
Punks drive millions in volume
In the past 24 hours CryptoPunks trading has increased significantly, as volume increased 304% to $3,66 million. The NFT collection has now seen more than $102 million in trading in the past 30 days, making it the biggest NFT collection on the market.
With $65,38 million the digital collectibles from NBA Top Shot follow at quite a distance. The newly launched Meebits, only on the market for less than two weeks, take third place with $59 million.
Rarible is fourth with $21 million, while fantasy football game Sorare takes fifth place with $13 million.
CryptoPunks headlines with top sales
With only 10,000 CryptoPunks on the market, there’s not a whole lot of trading happening. We’re talking about a couple of trades per day. However, these pixelated punks are considered the first NFTs to have ever been issued on the Ethereum blockchain. With the popularity of NFTs nowadays, this particular collection gained historical significance. To understand these punks better, read our in-depth explanation of the CryptoPunks phenomenon.
Despite the low number of trades, these NFTs often capture headlines. That’s because CryptoPunks trade for hefty amount of money. Late April one punk sold for $1,72 million. Earlier in April trading volume for CryptoPunks suddenly increased 700%, boosting trading volume over $12 million. The reason for that sudden increase, was the announcement of the Christie’s auction. One month earlier one punk sold for $7,5 million, claiming the throne as most valuable NFT for a couple of hours before Beeple took over.
Wallets worth checking out
With 281 punks and an estimated value of $26,7 million, an NFT collector nicknamed Wilcox owns one of the biggest collections on the market. He also owns the same amount of Meebits.
MR703 follows with 269 punks, but this collector sold a bunch of his Meebits. Their punk collection is valued at $37,2 million, outperforming Wilcox thanks to punk 2204. They’ve also been dipping their toes in art collecting through platforms like Rarible and Artblocks.
The third wallet we want to point out, is the one from TokenAngels. They collect all kinds of NFTs. With 42 punks they obviously don’t have the biggest collection, but their wallet also holds hundreds of valuables artworks and virtual land in Cryptovoxels. Among the artworks is Right Place & Right Time, a programmable artwork that sold for more than $1,1 million in late 2020.
Wilcox
MR704
TokenAngels
