30/11/2021 The CryptoPunk NFT that sold for $532 million. Sort of

On paper, it's the most expensive NFT sale of all time. The only problem? The buyer and seller are the same person.

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CryptoPunk #9998, part of a collection of 10,000 NFTs, "sold" for $530 million on Thursday.

OpenSea/User 0xef764bac8a438e7e498c2e5fccf0f174c3e3f8db

What's the most expensive NFT ever sold? It depends. Officially, it's Beeple's Everydays, a collage of digital art that sold atChristie's auction for $69 million. Then there's the case of an NFT that sold for $532 million in October. As is often the case with NFTs and cryptocurrency though, it's complicated.

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The NFT in question is a CryptoPunk, parta set of 10,000 NFTsthat are some of the first to ever be created. Being the OG NFT collection, these are costly. They usually sell for between $350,000 and $500,000, though some fetch millions.

Whoever is behind this particular transaction, however, they bought the Cryptopunk from themselves. Like cryptocurrency, NFTs are held in digital wallets. There's no limit to how many wallets one person can create. This person transferred the NFT from Wallet A to Wallet B. Then, Wallet C bought the NFT for $532 million from Wallet B -- and immediately transferred it back to Wallet A.

Why use three wallets instead of just simply selling it from one wallet to another? It's because the buyer didn't pay for the transaction himself but instead was loaned the money from others via a "flash loan." Flash loans are a complicated decentralized finance tool, but the gist of it is they allow you to loan huge sums of cryptocurrency onlyifthe criteria of a smart contract are met. Imagine if you would buying a $1 million house using a loan, but only if you already had another buyer lined up, who was willing to pay enough for you to make a profit and pay back interest from the lenders. This person did that, except he was both the buyer and the seller.

NFTs, am I right?

Twitter and Discord, the platforms where most NFT discourse happens, quickly discovered the sale and speculated on the motives behind it. The smoke consensus is that it was a publicity stunt, with the owner probably trying to drive up the price of his CryptoPunk.

There are broadly two types of art NFTs. One type is a one-of-its-kind, where an artist creates a piece of digital art and then sells it, just like what happens in real-world art sales. Then there are NFT collections, like Cryptopunks. These are when artists and developers create many -- usually 10,000 -- NFTs that have the same template with different characteristics. TheBored Ape Yacht Club, for instance, features 10,000 apes all wearing different articles of clothing, with different backgrounds and facial expressions. The rarer the properties, the more valuable the NFT -- think Pokemon cards. In the case of Bored Apes, the "floor" price is $190,000 but rare ones sometimes sell for millions. (An auction of 101recently went for $24 million.)

CryptoPunksis considered the original NFT collection, starting in 2017 when much of the world was just beginning its infatuation with Bitcoin. The highestlegitimate sale for a CryptoPunk is $11.7 million.

Arts

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/the-cryptopunk-nft-that-sold-for-532-million-sort-of/

Interesting NFTs
Auto-Erotic Sphinx with Toys
In this image, a giant sphinx spoons itself in erotic play within an aquatic styled environment littered by various denizens. These creatures include symbols and archetypes both current and nostalgic–each inhabiting a rootedness within mass cultural adolescence. Among the roster are Servbots, video game inspired mushrooms, a Pacman-like creature, a distant sea faring rubber duck, creatures sporting the symbols reminiscent of popular anime, and a Pokemon-like rabbit (a novel incarnation of Ganesha indicated by the Shiva trident on its nose). In addition, a few sea creatures partly inspired by sea monsters of western antiquity conglomerate along the mid left side of the composition. The Sphinx itself is an amalgam of aquatic, fetishist, ancient Egyptian, and 80’s style adornments, both living, as in a clown fish, or material, such as a cassette tape. Nautically colored antennae receive somatic signals from the atmosphere, perhaps from the 8 Ball moon or giant ringed planet beyond.
David vs the Virus
"An ode to the year everything changed" - Frank Wilder The story of the underdog is a reoccurring theme throughout history, and perhaps the most famous example is that of David vs Goliath. A tale about perseverance, in which David takes on and defeats the giant warrior using only his smarts and a stone. Famously depicted by Michelangelo's David statue. Fast forward to the present day in 2020 and we as humanity are faced with our own Goliath. An uncontrollable pandemic spread around the globe. Now with the entire planet being affected by this we understand the gravity of the situation at hand, whether it be a virus we’re fighting or other forces at play, there is indeed an energy out to shift the balance of the Universe… Regardless of our differences, in this moment must unite as one. With diligence, trust and belief we as a whole can come together to triumph against "the enemy". Stay vigilant my friends. Original score created by the one and only Phoenix Wilder.
UC03
Tensions, reflections and multiplicity. Body studies. UNICORPS _ is a collection where Jordi Cervera follows its research for the mirror of this deep liquid moving times, we are living in. Through the multiple exposures and movement UNICORPS, as our daily inner intimate landscape, makes us come deep inside. Inside subtle forms who become distorted, like life, through an everyday diligent practice where the viewer is left with just a clue to the edges of its own existence and self-conscience.
No Future #2/15
None.
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