- Christie’s has sold nine CryptoPunks for $14.5 million
- The sale of the set from 2017 marks another foray into the NFT world by the auction house
- CryptoPunks are still the second best selling type of NFT in the space
Christie’s has continued its expansion into the NFT world by auctioning off a package of nine CryptoPunks for $14.5 million. The bundle of nine CryptoPunks topped out at $14.5 million ($17 million after fees) reinforcing the value inherent within the nascent NFT sector. The sale comes just under three months after the first million-dollar CryptoPunk sale and suggests that the NFT sector may not already be at death’s door as many have suggested.
Christie’s Follows Beeple Sale With CryptoPunk Offer
Christie’s announced the CryptoPunk auction three weeks ago, calling the piece “5,184 pixels’ worth of a revolutionary NFT project”, adding that the CryptoPunks collection, which began as a fun project by software creator Larva Labs in 2017, has become “rightly regarded as the beginning of today’s CryptoArt movement.”
Four years on and the booming NFT market has seen CryptoPunks take center stage, with their sale prices ramping up from the tens of thousands to the millions of dollars. Now this “special sample” of the CryptoPunks world has continued that trend, helping solidify the series in second place in terms of sales volume with $20.3 million already in weekly sales, second only to Meebits, the latest NFT craze.
NFT Doubters Still Unconvinced
The Christie’s sale did little to appease NFT doubters however, with responses to the news including the usual collection of negativity and misunderstanding:
They don’t appear all that rare, considering I just saved them all onto my phone
— D (@dennisnahas) May 12, 2021
MS Paint is free
— Matthew (@doyhickey) May 12, 2021
Stupidest shit ever.
— ⚔️🥷🏻⚔️ (@Hail_Pitt) May 12, 2021
Regardless of the opinions of these individuals and the millions like them (although thankfully there were few comments about rainforests being destroyed in order to create the CryptoPunks), while there is an appetite for them in the market such figures will continue to be spent on this new wave of digital art.
