An auction for a collection of 104 CryptoPunks NFTs with a $30 million value estimation has been canceled at the last minute, leaving art collectors and NFT lovers confused. The event, hosted by world-famous auction house Sotheby’s was on track to be one of the largest NFT auctions of all time — up until the owner of the ‘Punk It!‘ collection abruptly withdrew from the auction leaving only a tweet behind as a clue to the reason.
The CryptoPunk owner’s reasons remain unclear, however in the aftermath of the canceled auction, the anonymous owner who goes by ‘0x650d‘ on Twitter sent out a tweet to his twelve thousand followers saying, “nvm, decided to hodl.” Which means they no longer wanted to sell them. Instead, they’d rather hold them until a higher value could be achieved.
The collector went on to make light of the situation, posting a meme that they were “taking punks mainstream by rugging Sothebys”. Importantly, this wasn’t a real ‘rug pull’ where investors are illegally stripped of funds as no financial transfers occurred.
Those interested can see the 104 punks from 0x650d in their wallet. These punks arguably are the most regular ones in the collection. The collection has a floor price of $153,000, suggesting that this collection is worth at least $16.1 million.
Auction house already into NFTs
Sotheby’s has already shown a desire to capitalize on the lucrative NFT market, selling over $100 million worth in NFTs last year alone, $24 million of which occurred at a single auction.
In January, еxcluding LooksRare $10.7 billion in sales volume, the NFT space amassed $5.3 billion in trades; almost 90% were transacted in OpenSea. Moreover, the floor market cap for the top 100 NFT collections estimated at $14.8 billion decreased only 15% from November despite the 50% drop in ETH’s price over the same period.
However, this latest episode further demonstrates the considerable divide between fine art and fringe NFT collectors and web3 communities as the two worlds collide. Arguably the holder of the CryptoPunk collection decided that selling at this moment in time would be a lousy move despite any agreement in place with Sotheby’s. Pulling the collection, however petulant, was the right of the NFT holder.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds ETH, BTC, AGIX, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, IMMUTABLE X, GALA, AVASTR, GMEE, CUBE, RADAR, FLOW, FTM, BNB, SPS, WRLD, ATOM, and ADA.
