On Thursday, a single CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) was purchased for a stunning sum of $11.8 million at the Sotheby’s auction house.
Earlier this month, reports came out that NFT sales have been falling after an initial run-up and mega hype at the start of this year. But multi-million sales like these, according to experts, imply that there’s still some strong interest in the niche space.
For the uninitiated, non-fungible tokens or NFTs are blockchain-based digital representations of tangible or intangible objects that can range from digital collectibles, crypto art, to physical real estate. NFTs are unique and are usually sold in auction houses.
The NFT that was worth almost $12 million
Labeled as the “CryptoPunk #7523,” the digital token is one of the 10,000 pixilated animated characters that were produced by Larva Labs back in 2017. Each of these NFTs has unique characteristics like facial features or accessories.
The common ones are the lowest priced, currently buyable for $35,000 apiece. The rarer ones, however, can fetch significantly higher. In this case, almost $12 million.
The Punk#7523 wore a brownish beanie and a grayish mask and has a grayish background and is sporting a gold stud on the left ear. Minted on June 23, 2017, it was one of the nine “Alien Punks.”
Just a part of bigger online auction
While the selling price was insanely high, the sale of #7523 was just part of a broader online auction dubbed as “Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale.”
This featured the works of 27 digital artists and fetched an overall value of $17.1 million. It was launched by digital sports company DraftKings shareholder and Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube