NFTs
Alien CryptoPunk Sells for $12.5 Million as Rare NFT Trade Heats Up – DL News
- CryptoPunk #635 sold for 4,000 Ether, about $12.5 million.
- This is the third alien CryptoPunk to be sold this year, bringing the total to 12,940 Ether, about $45 million.
- Although NFT volumes and minimum prices continue to decline, rare NFTs appear to still be in high demand.
One of the nine alien CryptoPunks was sold on Thursday for 4,000 Ether, about $12.5 million, in a deal facilitated by Fountain, an exchange for high-value NFTs.
CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 unique, pixelated profile photos created by the development studio Larva Laboratories. Each image is linked to a non-fungible token, or NFT.
NFTs are a type of digital collectible that uses cryptography to verify their ownership and authenticity, serving as digital proof of ownership.
CryptoPunk #635previously owned by Larva Labs, was last sold as part of a collection of nine CryptoPunks for just under $17 million, or 4,250 Ether, at auction house Christie’s in May 2021.
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The identity of the last investor remains unknown.
This particular Punk is highly coveted because it is one of only nine which features the rare alien trait. For NFTs, rarity is often related to higher prices in a given collection.
The sale comes at the start of the year, two other CryptoPunks with alien features were sold, bringing the annual total of alien Punks to 12,940 Ether, or about $45 million.
On March 4, CryptoPunk #3100 sold for 4,500 Ether, about $16 million, and on March 20, CryptoPunk #7804 sold for 4,850 Ether, about $16.5 million.
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CryptoPunk #635 already existed received an offer on March 5 for 4,440 Ether, about $16.4 million, but the offer was withdrawn on April 22nd. By not accepting this offer, the owner of CryptoPunk #635 lost about an extra potential profit of $4 million.
But these transactions pale in comparison to the record sales of CryptoPunk #5822which took place in February 2022. This Punk achieved an impressive 8,000 Ether – almost US$24 million at the time.
Thursday’s sale of CryptoPunk #635 is the latest in a series of Alien Punk sales, following CryptoPunk #3100 earlier this year. This sale ended a 751-day drought in which no Alien Punks were sold since CryptoPunk #5822 was purchased in 2021.
Despite high-profile sales, the CryptoPunks collection has seen a significant drop since its peak in 2021.
The minimum asking price, or floor price, for a CryptoPunk peaked at 113.9 Ether, about $408,000, on October 8, 2021, but has since fallen to just 36.9 Ether, about $117,000 today.
O Bored Monkey Yacht Club, another popular NFT collection, has also witnessed a dramatic change in value. Its minimum price rose to 128 Ether on April 30, 2021, but suffered a sharp drop to 15.5 Ether. This trend of falling values is reflected across the broader NFT market.
Trading volumes reached an all-time high on April 30, 2021, largely driven by Yuga Laboratories‘Another metaverse project NFT Salegenerating more 200,000 Ether in trading volume in a single day.
Since then, however, trading volumes have seen a downward trend. The total daily volume, as Defillamadropped 99% to just 1,700 Ether on Wednesday.
Ryan Celaj is a data correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Email him at ryan@dlnews.com.