Christie’s Auctions Nine Rare CryptoPunk NFTs for Nearly $17M
Christie’s has sold nine non-fungible tokens (NFT) from the CryptoPunks series for a total of nearly $17 million. This is one of the biggest sales since it auctioned an NFT artwork by Beeple for $69 million.
British auction house Christie’s sold nine CryptoPunk NFTs for nearly $17 million, according to a tweet posted on May 12. This marks one of the biggest involvements in NFTs by Christie since it began dabbling with the new asset class recently.
Christie’s first announced that it would auction the CryptoPunks NFTs in early April. The auction house seems to be aware of the popularity of NFTs, hence the sale. Given the success of this auction, it’s likely that more such NFTs sales could happen.
CryptoPunks are a set of NFTs created by Larva Labs. The NFTs are based on characters from famous movies, including those from Blade Runner and Neuromancer. The demand is strong enough that a CryptoPunks NFT Index was even launched on SushiSwap.
Recently, the team announced that they would be working on a set of voxel art NFTs called Meebits. They believe that the timeless nature of the art would be a strong appeal. Furthermore, the art can be integrated into compatible game engines and virtual worlds.
The sudden surge of NFT projects is a sign of the times, with brands like Reebok also joining in on the fun. The exclusivity and collectible nature of NFTs have taken the mainstream world by storm — and now several large companies are embracing it.
eBay to allow NFT sales on its platform
eBay announced on May 11 that it would allow the sale of NFTs on its platform. This would include trading cards, images, or video clips. This makes eBay the first incumbent e-commerce platform to allow the sale of NFTs.
Jordan Sweetnam, senior vice president and general manager for eBay’s North American market, said that eBay would launch more related capabilities. Another major rumor that has been swirling is that eBay may allow cryptocurrency payments on its platform in the near future.
The arrival of established platforms like eBay and PayPal highlights the growth of cryptocurrencies and related assets in the mind of the public. Such developments have lent the asset class some legitimacy, which has spurred more retail and institutional investments.
However, no one could have predicted the meteoric rise of NFTs, which have become the main headline, outside of the bull run, since the year’s start. The NFT space is expected to grow even further, as more celebrities and high-profile names jump on the bandwagon.
