- CryptoPunk 9998 sells for 124,457.07 ETH ($530 million).
- A sale that might be the largest NFT purchase in history.
- Some feel it is a publicity stunt.
Digital art is as valuable as the physical arts. Interestingly, it has become a form of a social symbol that has gone beyond the ordinary. Recently, Crypto Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) was sent into a frenzy as a CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) ‘9998’ was purchased for 124,457.07 ETH.
When converted to fiat currency it amounts to a whopping half-billion dollars ($530 million). A sale that might be the largest involving a crypto token in history. Meanwhile, many of the comments that follow the tweet say they were in doubt of the sale.
Punk 9998 bought for 124,457.07 ETH ($532,414,877.01 USD) by 0x9b5a5c from 0x8e3983. https://t.co/dmT6jDRC1W #cryptopunks #ethereum pic.twitter.com/UQlmm1oqkj— CryptoPunks Bot (@cryptopunksbot) October 28, 2021
However, some NFT collectors were quick to point out that the sale could be a ‘fat finger,’ a term that refers to an irreversible click on a product by mistake, most common in the world of trading.
More so, a notable crypto analyst Lark Davis referred to the purchase as money laundering. Another hilariously said that ‘the most expensive property in the United States costs less than $530 million’. Others noted that it is just a publicity stunt, with some alleging that the NFT was probably transferred back to the original owner after the announcement.
Moreover, CryptoPunks have a floor price of 100 ETH, and the punk in question, #9998, lacks the attributes to prompt such high sales. Hence, the numerous suspicions surrounding the purchase.
The transaction was first noticed by a Twitter bot that watches CryptoPunks sales. He observes that the purchase was made by a flash loan contract. A similar flash loan transaction was used to purchase a HashMask NFT for 139,000 ETH, making it the highest NFT sale ever — albeit on a technicality.
If truly a purchase of such nature was made, then, the $530 million auction of 124,457.07 ETH would by far surpass the 4,200 ETH sale of an ultra-rare extraterrestrial punk in March.
Distinctively, CryptoPunks was one of the first non-fungible tokens (NFT) published on the Ethereum blockchain in June of 2017. The project was created by Larva Labs, an American studio composed of two Canadian software developers, Matt Hall and John Watkinson.