10/11/2023 Yuga Labs co-founder's wild $1.5 million NFT spending spree starts with rare CryptoPunk

Quick Take

  • Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow, aka Gordon Goner, has spent more than $1.5 million on NFTs from marquee collections like CryptoPunks, Doodles and the artist Beeple.
  • Aronow’s spending spree, which a couple days ago he teased on X, comes amid a small rebound in NFT trading volumes in the month of October.

It looks like Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow has taken it upon himself to try and resuscitate the ailing NFT market.

After taking to X on Monday to tease his intentions of buying NFTs that aren't part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection created by Yuga Labs, Aronow, aka Gordon Goner, has gone on perhaps one of the wildest non-fungible token spending sprees since the last bull run. After starting off with the purchase of a rare CryptoPunk on Monday for 600 ether ($1.14 million), Aronow has spent more than $1.5 million in total, according to The Block Research data.

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More than a dozen new tokens bought, Aronow has spread the love around, buying from well-known collections outside the Yuga Labs universe, including NFTs from Doodles, Meebits, Pudgy Penguins and famous digital artist Beeple.

"Going to grab some non-BAYC NFTs this week. Don't freak out. I'm still ape papi and I love you very much," Aronowpostedto his more than 155,000 followers on Monday. "In all seriousness, I had always wanted to join more communities across the web3 space but felt I had a responsibility to restrict myself from doing so while still working at Yuga," he thenpostedon Wednesday.

While Aronow co-founded Yuga Labs, easily the highest-profile creator of NFTs, he took a leave of absenceearlier this year, citing health problems.

'More momentum'

"Yuga Labs founder goes on a buying spree of popular NFT collections to add more momentum, volume and traders to the market, similar to what celebrities and big figures used to do when NFTs were at their peak to induce FOMO," said The Block Research Analyst Brad Kay. "It's definitely out of the ordinary. Not everyday someone buys $1.5 million worth of NFTs across many collections."

Aronow's aggressive buying follows the NFTs market's best month in a while. In October, NFT volumes rose by more than 20%, according to The Block Research data. But the sector continues to wrestle with a downturn that has forced both Yuga Labs and the marketplace giant OpenSea tolay off staff.

Arts

https://www.theblock.co/amp/post/262266/yuga-labs-co-founders-wild-1-5-million-nft-spending-spree-starts-with-rare-cryptopunk

Interesting NFTs
The Moth Catcher
In this psychologically bed-headed portrait, a creature sets in a trance; his eyes devolved and vestigal, his third eye open but hardened and in a form resembling a Sharingan. The imagery therefore expresses an awareness existing in corporeal introspection. The creature’s mind sprouts, on the left side, an emerging face, grinning. To the right side of the head, red tentacles and fingers intertwine–a collaboration of invertebrate and vertebrate consciousness cooperatively handling paint brushes of the sort used to build an oil painting. The neck and throat bristle with random thorns, as from a rose or the upper portions of a beak sprouting from its flesh. The neck itself disassociates into layers of membranous material, terminating upon an abstracted base of convoluted forms composing its body. The nose is virtually non existent, more a sinus reiterative of the shape of the third eye. Set against the exposed teeth peering out of thick, meaty cheeks, a skeleton-like impression results. That impression sets behind a visceral set of lips and tongue, which is the creature’s prime seat of awareness. Sensual, organic, the tongue organ hangs, meaty, and with consciousness of a sea cucumber. It illuminates at the tip, drawing the attraction of a nearby moth–with mystery of purpose.
Hairy
hairy by Steve Aoki x Antoni Tudisco. Comes with Infinite Objects screen!
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Good day! I'm Sweet Virgin Rare Gens. My friends describe me as tantalizing and gullible. I once made a rabbit pester. Maybe you and I can be partners in crime.