MoonPay — the unicorn snapping up NFTs for celebs — just bought a $3 million punk

MoonPay, the crypto payments firm valued at $3.4 billion, has this morning splashed 900 ether (roughly $3 million) on a rare item from the CryptoPunks collection. 

The pixelated punk in question — CryptoPunk #2681 — is a purple cap-wearing zombie with blue ‘clown eyes,’ all rare traits.

MoonPay acquired the piece through an account linked to its ‘concierge’ service, which The Block unearthed in November.  Through this setup, the startup has been industriously brokering big-ticket NFT purchases on behalf of celebrities — including the likes of Snoop Dogg, Martin Garrix, Diplo and Jimmy Fallon.

So far, MoonPay has dealt primarily in items from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection. Its modus operandi has been to acquire apes and then transfer them to addresses belonging to celebrity clients, and later invoicing them for the trouble. The concierge service has also offered celebrities like Post Malone assistance with investments in cryptocurrency.

Now, MoonPay appears to be gearing up for punk action. OpenSea data shows that it also acquired CryptoPunk #4222 roughly one month ago, and it now has a second punk after today’s 900 ether purchase. 

The CryptoPunks collection is perhaps the most sought-after set in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, having generated close to $1.9 billion in sales to date, according to data site CryptoSlam.

The sale of punk #2681 is the twelfth largest in the collection’s history, according to data from DappRadar.