CryptoPunk Bought for Record $24 Million in 2022 Resold as Ethereum NFT Prices Decline

The most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold changed hands on Monday for an undisclosed sum, amidst a historic downturn in the value of “blue chip” NFTs. 

CryptoPunk #5822—one of nine ultra-rare Alien Punks in the collection of 10,000 Ethereum NFTs—previously sold for nearly $24 million to crypto executive Deepak Thapliyal back in February 2022. Early Monday, Thapliyal announced he had finally parted ways with his Punk, without disclosing who he sold it to, or for what price. 

Decrypt reached out to Thapliyal regarding the sale but did not immediately receive a response. On-chain data confirms CryptoPunk #5822 was sent from the executive’s address to an anonymous Ethereum wallet containing nothing except the NFT. 

The sale comes at a time when NFT collections—even once-untouchable brands like CryptoPunks—are falling to lows not seen since the novel token format took off in 2021.

At the time of Thapliyal’s multi-million dollar Punk purchase at the peak of the NFT bull run, even the cheapest listed CryptoPunk cost over $200,000. That figure—known as a project’s price floor—has since fallen for CryptoPunks to about $59,000 at writing, according to data from NFT Price Floor.

Earlier this month, the CryptoPunks price floor fell below $44,000—a grim milestone that appears to have not been achieved since the collections’ initial surge to eye-popping valuations in 2021.

Given the cult status of CryptoPunks as perhaps the first NFT collection to define the promise of the entire asset class, Punks have enjoyed plenty of attention from mainstream cultural gatekeepers like museums, luxury brands, and auction houses.

But even in the art world, the collection’s once-unshakeable grip may now be slipping. Over the weekend, a Sotheby’s digital art sale that included two CryptoPunks failed to attract any bids for the NFTs above their minimum asking price of $60,000. 

On Monday, Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s head of digital art, announced that the minimum asking prices for both CryptoPunks, or reserves, had been lowered to $45,000 apiece. At writing, both still appear to have garnered zero bids.

Despite the recent declines, it was just this past spring that three Alien Punks garnered at least $12 million apiece over the course of several weeks, with the top sale reaching $16.42 million worth of Ethereum at the time of the transaction.

Edited by Andrew Hayward