“Cryptopunks”: Art-NFT sold for a record amount
A transaction for an NFT artwork is currently setting a new record. A group of investors paid over $ 850,000 for a digital avatar.
The market for “Non Fungible Token” (NFT) is prospering. The most recent example of this is a transaction that took place on January 23, when an ultra-rare alien character NFT changed hands. The price: 605 ETH, the equivalent of 857,327 US dollars (as of January 25, 2021). This makes the work of art of the so-called CryptoPunks the most expensive NFT of all time and replaces the previous front runner CryptoKitties Dragon. The deal was announced by the CryptoPunks‘ Twitter account.
The buyers are a group of investors: the NFT collective “FlamingoDAO”, which “supports and collects premium NFTs”. FlamingoDAO confirmed the purchase with a meme on Twitter .
CryptoPunks an NFT art project
Behind the CryptoPunks are Larva Labs, an IT company that works on various technical projects. The NFT project based on the Ethereum Blockchain involves a total of 10,000 uniquely designed characters. However, some fictional characters are rarer than others and therefore more expensive. For example, the alien characters only have nine avatars. Users can trade their objects with other users, with each transaction being recorded on the ETH blockchain so that the owner can be clearly identified.
According to the homepage , over 4,000 CryptoPunks were traded over the past year. The total trading volume amounts to just under 30 million US dollars, with an average purchase price of just over 7,000 US dollars.
NFTs celebrate triumphant advance on the Internet
The latest NFT deal is just the tip of the iceberg. NFTs are becoming increasingly popular. For example, Justin Roiland, co-founder of the comedy series “Rick & Morty” recently sold a digital work of art based on the series for $ 150,000 . More of his works of art are for sale in a collection on the NFT auction platform “Nift Gateway”.
The NFT space does not only include works of art. NFTs now display collectibles, tickets, game items, domain names, proof of ownership for items from the real world, and much more. However, it is currently still difficult to find out which non-fungible tokens are suitable as an investment. It should also be noted that NFTs are difficult to evaluate and are still extremely illiquid. The platform “NFTX” is now trying to solve this problem with an NFT ETF by creating Ethereum tokens that are stored with NTFs. These tokens can then be mixed together as required and thus different assets from, for example, CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties, Axies and many more can be displayed and traded directly on the decentralized crypto exchange “UniSwap”.
DeFi and NFT hype as the engine of the Ethereum rally
The Ethereum is currently experiencing a new all-time high is closely related to the hype about NFTs and the DeFi sector (decentralized finance) in general. Most of the industry is based on the ETH blockchain. The tokens from DeFi projects such as Chainlink or Uniswap are currently swinging into new spheres. Since everyone who wants to participate in the system is dependent on ETH anyway, it is therefore no wonder that the cryptocurrency benefits from the prosperity within the industries.