- The 278 years old auction house Sotheby’s hosted its first ever auction which was entirely dedicated to the Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
- The participants of this event include Griffin Cock Foster, Duncan, and Nicole Muniz.
- It should’ve been a pinnacle for CryptoPunks as a collection, but the NFT collection failed to perform in this auction.
“Punk It” Auction
Sotheby’s, the ancient auction house, never has to struggle to lure attention from the folks for their auctions. But this time, the sale was distinct as the event was entirely dedicated to NFT sales.
The event was called “Punk It!,” as a truly historic sale for an undoubtedly historic NFT project. A total of 104 CryptoPunks were for sale as a whole in the form of all or nothing deal, estimated to go for around $20 Million to $30 Million.
The event witnessed some prominent players of the industry including, co-founders of Nifty Gateway Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, NFT influencer Andrew Wang, and Yuga Labs’ CEO Nicole Muniz.
Things didn’t go as planned, as the time passed, an announcer made the declaration that this auction wasn’t happening, and no one knew the reason.
Holding On For Dear Life
After making discussions a lot was pulled from CryptoPunks seller, but finally the conclusion was given that the seller has decided to HODL the tokens.
It is common for lts to pull back from sales, although this is due to some legit concerns or fear of getting flopped, as highlighted by The New York Times.
AS per an NFT collector, the sale failed because the auction house told the seller that it was unlikely for the CryptoPunks collection to be sold at a lower estimate.
This should’ve been an apex point for CryptoPunks as a collection. Just some months ago, a bundle consisting of 101 BAYC NFT got sold for $24 Million, and fans of the CryptoPunks were anticipating some similar results.
In spite of the risks, there is an actual value to putting NFTs up for auction. Just some weeks after this event, the anon seller took a loan of $8 Million against the CryptoPunks NFTs with the assistance of MetaStreet and NFTfi.
Before the whopping $69 Million sales of Beeple NFTs in a Christie’s auction, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s were known as the places to acquire precious objects from the collections, but now both are auctioning NFTs too.
This didn’t occur overnight. Considering the current circumstances, bot the auction houses were forced to keep up with the escalating young and global collector base.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/06/08/the-last-minute-collapse-of-30-million-cryptopunks-auction/