- Galaxy Digital has acquired CryptoPunk 8466, the first item in its newly launched NFT collection.
- “We started a $GLXY NFT collection,” Novogratz tweeted on Friday, confirming that they have “bought a punk!”
- Novogratz said he believes NFTs will “completely [change] the way we interact” in 10 years.
Crypto billionaire Mike Novogratz is the latest big name in crypto to jump into the NFT craze, acquiring a CryptoPunk.
Mike Novogratz, an ex-hedge fund manager who now chairs the cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital, has unveiled that he owns a CryptoPunk, a digital collectible from one of the most sought-after NFT collections. Novogratz added that his company has started an NFT collection.
“We started a $GLXY NFT collection,” Novogratz tweeted on Friday, asserting that they have “bought a punk!” Confirming the news, Richard Kim, a general partner at Galaxy Digital, noted that the company has acquired CryptoPunk 8466, a relatively common punk with no rare traits.
The Galaxy Digital Permanent Collection
Exhibit 1 – Punk 8466 https://t.co/0sNLV4389H
— Richard Kim (@galaxyRTK) November 5, 2021
Data by CryptoPunks creator Larva Labs reveal that punk 8466 was last traded on October 30 for 98.5 ETH, equivalent to around $420,000 at the time.
At the NFT.NYC conference, Novogratz said he believes NFTs will “completely [change] the way we interact” in 10 years. NFTs act like a deed of ownership for a digital item. Hinting at this, he said these assets “don’t necessarily only have to be art. It’s just a non-fungible token that can have personal data on it,” adding:
It can be money like bitcoin. It can be Quentin Tarantino’s scripts, gorgeous art or even someone’s song. It’s something digital [that] you can’t counterfeit and you know it is unique because it’s on the blockchain.
Just recently, Quentin Tarantino, a leading film producer, announced that he aims to auction off seven uncut scenes from “Pulp Fiction” as NFTs. Tarantino would release the NFTs using the Secret Network, a base-layer blockchain network with data privacy by default, which would make the NFTs only viewable to the buyer.
Earlier this year, Novogratz also co-founded a new NFT platform called Candy Digital, with the intention to capitalize on the popular sports NFT market.
Galaxy Digital Bets on NFTs
Galaxy Interactive, an affiliate of Galaxy Digital, raised $325 million in a funding round last month. According to the company, the capital will be dedicated to interactive gaming and NFT start-ups. At the time, Sam Englebardt, a general partner at Galaxy Digital, said younger “generations are moving en masse from the physical to the digital world.”
Through research, the firm noted that NFTs continue their red-hot streak, with sales volume, transaction counts, and daily users keeping highs. As reported by FullyCrypto, the market for NFTs picked up steam once again by late July, even convincing payments giant Visa to spend over $150,000 on a CryptoPunk.
