Rare CryptoPunk NFT listed for less than half price paid four months ago

The owner of CryptoPunk #5822, one of only nine “Alien Punks” in the collection, has listed the non-fungible token (NFT) for sale at 9,000 ETH ($9.9 million), less than half the dollar price paid four months ago. 

Data from the CryptoPunk dashboard shows the NFT’s owner — Chain CEO Deepak Thapliyal — offered it for sale today. He bought it for 8,000 ETH on February 12, when 8,000 ETH was worth $23.7 million. 

Thapliyal stated at the time of purchase that he leveraged the DeFi protocol Compound to acquire the NFT. Compound’s founder Robert Leshner even congratulated him on the acquisition. Thapliyal’s wallet, tagged as Deepak.eth, transferred the punk to another wallet a month after buying it.

Despite the new listing being for 1,000 ETH more than the price it was bought, Thapliyal stands to make a loss in dollar terms if the transaction goes through. 

Ether, like the rest of the crypto market, has seen a significant price decline throughout 2022. The price of ETH has lost almost 70% of its dollar value since the start of the year.

NFTs have also followed the broader market downturn with floor prices of even the popular collections falling by almost 33% in June. The floor price refers to the lowest listed price of a piece in the collection.

CryptoPunks in particular have experienced a sharp value drop, with the collection’s floor price tanking 50% between April and May. This decline has reversed somewhat in the last few days amid the announcement that CryptoPunks’ owner Yuga Labs hired Noah Davis, the head of NFTs at British auction house Christie’s.

While Thapliyal could lose out, the previous owner made a profit of $23.7 million on the piece. This previous owner bought the NFT from the original minter in the summer of 2017 for 8 ETH ($1,646 at the time) and held on to it for almost five years before selling it.

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