CryptoPunks, a blue-chip non-fungible token (NFT) collection, just had yet another record-breaking sale this month.
CryptoPunk #7804 sold for a substantial 4,850 ETH (Ether) on March 20 – which amounts to an estimated $16 million.
The impressive sale beat many previous records, becoming the second-biggest CryptoPunk NFT sale.
A Rare, Record-Breaking CryptoPunk
CryptoPunk #7804 may be only one among the 10,000 NFTs currently in the collection – but its unique features are what determined its impressive value.
The NFT’s character is particularly rare in terms of attributes, with its cap being forward.
This rare trait is shared by only 254 CryptoPunks – an especially small proportion when compared with the entire collection.
Additionally, the character within the NFT has a pipe – which only 317 NFTs have. While the small shades being worn by the character is an attribute shared by a mere 378 NFTs.
But what made the character so lucrative was the fact that it was among only nine alien CryptoPunks.
The rarity of alien CryptoPunks cannot be understated. Only a couple of weeks before the record-breaking sale, another hard-to-find alien character sold for a similar amount.
On March 4, sixteen days prior to #7804’s record-breaker of a sale, CryptoPunk #3100 sold for 4,500 ETH – which translated at the time to an estimated $16 million.
Despite becoming the second largest CryptoPunk sale, #3100’s record would be broken by #7804 only two weeks later.
The recent record-breaking sales have propelled CryptoPunks’ position to such a degree that it has progressed further than some of the biggest NFTs – such as Mads Lads and NodeMonkeys – in weekly sales.
After the sale of #7804, NFT data tracker CryptoSlam showed that CryptoPunks had amassed $21.5 million in sales over the following week.
A Simple Guide To NFTs
If you’re not as clued up on the linguistics of cryptocurrency, this section is for you. The terminology relating to the various facets of NFTs can be confusing at the best of times, so here’s a simplified definition.
According to Coinbase, NFTs are “a special kind of crypto asset in which each token is unique — as opposed to “fungible” assets like Bitcoin and dollar bills, which are all worth exactly the same amount. Because every NFT is unique, they can be used to authenticate ownership of digital assets like artworks, recordings, and virtual real estate or pets.”
In essence, it is the lack of cohesion among NFTs that differentiates them from more static currencies.
Unbiased explains that “an NFT is a digital asset representing a real-world object, protected using blockchain technology. An NFT cannot be replicated, […] and when you buy an NFT, you are recorded as the sole owner in the blockchain.”
To find out more about the many thousands of CryptoPunks characters, check out the official website.
