CryptoPunk’s Final Take at Christie’s Auction
An NFT Entrepreneur Newsletter by Clyde F. Smith
I thought Larva Labs’ new project, Meebits, would be the big drop news this month but CryptoPunks is showing us all the cool things that can develop around an NFT project creating an ecosystem of sorts.
Now I want to see CryptoPunks on NFT Jeweler chains!
I think CryptoPunks won but Meebits’ time will come.
Meebits to the Moon
Larva Labs’ Meebits Launch Tweet
Larva Labs released Meebits May 3rd and collectors went nuts. It became the 8th most successful NFT collection of all time that week and is 5th as I write this. CryptoPunks is 2nd.
Larva Labs did a very thorough job on this project and they’re hoping they’ve created what will become the leading 3d NFT Avatar for the metaverse. There’s going to be a lot of competition but I’m sure they’ll have a special place.
In a somewhat sour note, an IPFS leak was exploited and a persistent h@cker was able to keep rolling Meebits till he got some highly desirable characters, one of which Pranksy purchased on OpenSea for 200 ETH.
I wrote about why these Meebits are perceived as so valuable as well as concerns raised by crypto artists at the Defiant and went into more detail on the topic of Degen trading tactics at the NFT Entrepreneur blog.
Christie’s Auctions 9 Sweet CryptoPunks
Christie’s CryptoPunks Auction in Progress
Christie’s CryptoPunks auction happened last night as part of the 21st Century Evening Sale. The 9 choice NFTs ultimately sold for $16,962,500.
One interesting aspect is the partnerships Christie’s is establishing with crypto companies that are becoming leaders in the emerging financial infrastructure connecting old worlds to new which is Christie’s role in the art world.
Those choosing to pay with ETH have to use digital wallets from “Coinbase Custody Trust; Coinbase, Inc.; Fidelity Digital Assets Services, LLC; Gemini Trust Company, LLC; or Paxos Trust Company, LLC.”
Sneaker Punks
One of the cooler projects inspired by the CryptoPunks auction is the RTFKT Punks Project from RTFKT studios. It offered the chance to mint NFT sneakers based on one’s CryptoPunks with both a Voxel image and a Voxel metaverse sneaker AND a physical sneaker to be created in June. Very smart project!
RTFKT Punks Projects Sneaks
Pixelated
Another awesome project is Pixelated, organized by SaveArtSpace, a two-part public art exhibition that took place in Miami for a month and just launched in New York for a month. Pixelated features a variety of CryptoPunks on billboards, digital displays and bus shelters.
Here’s more from Barron’s on the project including insights from SaveArtSpace cofounder Justin Aversano.
Valuing CryptoPunks
sciencevienna alerted me to the final project included in this newsletter, an evaluation of their market capitalization by the Institute For the Future (IFF) at the University of Nicosia:
“The IFF research team has analyzed CryptoPunk sales data from January 1st, 2021 to present with various machine learning models to estimate a value for each individual CryptoPunk. The team estimates that the aggregate value of the individual CryptoPunks as of May 9, 2021 is 476,113 ETH (or $1.95B at current exchange rates). ”
NFTValuations also closely predicted the outcome of the auction. The final take was $16,962,500. NFTValuations predicted $16,740,000!
NFTValuations: Website ~ Twitter
CryptoPunks Billboard by SaveArtSpace
In Closing
Meebits are off to a strong start and the drop was a bigger financial event than the CryptoPunks auction. However, Christie’s auction and all the related projects and responses revealed the emergence of a much more complex ecosystem.
Meebits may one day achieve this level of cultural impact but, for the moment, CryptoPunks Rule!
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