16/02/2022 A rare CryptoPunks alien avatar NFT sells for an all-time high of almost $24 million, double the previous Punks record

CryptoPunks
CryptoPunksRokas Tenys
  • CryptoPunks NFT 5822, one of only nine alien Punks, sold for 8,000 ether worth $23.7 million on Saturday.
  • It set a new sales record at double the $11.8 million price for a CryptoPunks NFT last June.
  • The growth in NFT sales shows no signs of flagging in 2022, having booked a record January.

A rare CryptoPunks NFT sold for an all-time high of almost $24 million at the weekend, double the price of the previous record-holder, as the digital assets continue to pull in buyers.

CryptoPunks NFT 5822, one of only nine alien Punks, sold for 8,000 ether worth $23.7 million on Saturday, according todata from Larva Labs. The last time it changed hands was in July 2017, when it went for $1,646.

CryptoPunk sells for 4,000 ETH ($12.41 million), sixth-most expensive ever
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CryptoPunks NFTs — or non-fungible tokens — have been around since 2017, meaning they predate most other NFT collections. Many of the Larva Labs-developed pixelated avatars have sold formillions of dollarsover the last few years.

The previous record for a CryptoPunks NFT was set at a Sotheby's auction last June, when DraftKings investor Shalom Meckenziepurchased the "Covid Alien" Punk 7523 for $11.8 million. However, the biggest on-chain sale was for Punk 4156 in December, which went for $10.26 million on theLarva Labs marketplace.

Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of blockchain tech company Chain.com,revealed on Twitterthat he was the most recent buyer. He said he had used DeFi financing through Compound Finance for the purchase — a sign he was long ether and still able to hold the cryptocurrency, he said.

Last year, some NFT owners began usingethereum-based "flash" loans to borrow cryptoto make a purchase, paying themselves back immediately in the same transaction. One CryptoPunks NFT purchased this way went for more than $532 million, prompting Larva Labs to say it would filter out alerts for such transactions in the future.

The most expensive legitimate sale of an NFT came in 2021, when Sotheby's auctioned a Beeple piece for$69 million, kicking off the NFT craze in the mainstream.

NFT sales surged throughout 2021 after that sale in March. In August,NFT sales volumereached $3 billion for the month. At the time, analysts saw this as evidence of speculative retail investors shifting out of bitcoin and meme stocks into the digital assets.

However, January saw a resurgence. NFT sales reached a new all-time high of $7 billion for the month, even though cryptocurrency prices slumped in January.

Arts

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/cryptopunks-alien-nft-goes-for-almost-24-million-smashing-sales-record-2022-2

Interesting NFTs
TPunk 3442
By A1F6BF
CryptoPunk 5577
By C352B5
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
"Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?" is dedicated to the mysterious creation of Bitcoin, and acts as the showcase artwork within Javier Arrés’ exploratory series "Bitcoin, The Origin". "Who is the creator of Bitcoin?" The artist, Arrés, explores this question, and the feelings of doubt and mystery that accompany it, through his unique artistic language. An unknown, an enigma. It should be remembered that the name Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym of Bitcoin's author or authors and gives us little insight into its true creator. For this Visual Toy, Arrés uses the signature claw machine, his famous half-operation, to symbolize our collective ignorance and unconfirmed belief: As soon as it has the stuffed animal within its grasp and appears to have solved the puzzle, the animal escapes again, and again. At present, there are three more public and studied possibilities who are either believed to be the creators of the currency or who directly claim the creation of it. It may be all or none of them, yet these three personalities leave us clues which are an important part of this interesting enigma. For this moment, it will remain unknown... In this artwork, Arrés elevates the claw machine from the apparatus, to an iconic pop art object serving as an important element to the Bitcoin creation narrative. Action is everywhere, with each movement serving an iconographical or metaphorical purpose related directly to cryptocurrency: Various ups and downs, roller coasters, mining points, robot, coins and more speak to a sense of hope, risk, mystery, randomness and possibility of pay out. Hundreds of manically thought out details make this creation one of the artist’s most complex Visual Toys to date. ------- "Bitcoin, The Origin" is a set of two Visual Toys, titled "Who is Satoshi Nakamoto" and "It’s Alive!" which reflect and explore the mystery and enigmas behind the creation of Bitcoin. Arrés presents these proposals to us in his signature style, full of iconography, fantasy, maniacal animations and a panoply of details (both subtle and overt) which simultaneously fascinate, hypnotize, and narrate this historical milestone through the singular vision of the artist. Through this series, Arrés freezes a crucial moment of cryptocurrency history, taking a still photo under his vision and turning it into two unique crypto artworks. ---- More info about Javier Arrés: https://javierarres.com/about.html
Who Is The Creator 2
The idea for this piece was borne out of a tweet of mine that caused a bit of a stir. I’d posted a link to a blog article I’d written a number of months previous titled ‘Who is the Creator’ discussing various types of creative collaborations and why I hire people to work on my animations. It generated a lot of debate around creation and attribution with the community split on whether it’s right or wrong for an artist to hire other professionals to help them realize their art projects. I decided to push the boundaries even further and see how the cryptoart community responded. What if I quite literally had nothing to do with the physical or digital elements of the work other than coming up with the concept and coordinating it? I decided there was one artist in the space who could add huge value to this idea on levels that none other could and so I gathered my courage and contacted the great José Delbo to ask him if he’d be interested in a very unique collaboration. I explained to him that to make this piece ‘work’ he couldn't have any say in what I produced and moreover, he wouldn’t even be allowed to see the animation until it was dropped on MakersPlace. To my surprise, Mr Delbo agreed to my proposal. The animation tells the story of the creative process, which includes my roles as writer, director, and producer working with a team and making edits and changes ‘in real time’. The dialogue between myself and my ‘hired guns’ plays out in front of the viewer. The music written for the piece adds to the nostalgia of the comic book superhero theme but other elements such as the snapping and kicking of the pencil and the signing of my signature at the bottom incorporates further layers and challenges the viewer to ask important questions, such as, is the ‘Art’ the final animation (the creation) or is the ‘Art’ the concept/credit for the creation itself?
#2921
By OthersideDeployer