A CryptoPunk NFT Was Recently Sold for $23.7 Million

NFTs were one of the most trending topics in 2021. The CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collections are among the most talked about. 

The CryptoPunks NFT collection was created in 2017 by Larva Labs. The collection includes 10,000 different pixelated characters on the Ethereum blockchain.

Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of a blockchain-based company called Chain, purchased the CryptoPunk #5822 on February 12 for 8,000 ETH ($23.7 million). He posted a picture of the NFT on his Twitter account, as you can see below:

👽 pic.twitter.com/lQg6DzSttr

— Deepak.eth ⛓ (@dt_chain) February 12, 2022

The NFT was purchased with leverage using Compound Finance’s DeFi protocol, as he stated on his Twitter account.

There are only nine aliens out of the 10,000 NFTs, and this is one of them. According to the Larva Labs’ website, this same CryptoPunk was last sold for 8 ETH (about $1,646 at the time) in July 2017.

The Most Expensive CryptoPunk Ever Sold

This CryptoPunk surpassed its previous most expensive sale, which was CryptoPunk #7523 sold for $11.8M in a Sotheby’s auction in June 2021. Although, according to NonFungible data showed that CryptoPunk #4156 was its previous most expensive, sold for $10.2 million (2,500 ETH) in December 2021.

Last week, CryptoPunk #5577 was sold for $7.7 million (2,501 ETH), becoming the third most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold.

Sotheby’s announced last week they will be hosting the sale of “Punk It! 104 CryptoPunks” later this month on February 23.  

Celebrities Are Entering the NFT World

Over the last couple of months, celebrities are buying NFTs, especially from the CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club collections.

World-known celebrities such as Jay-Z and Jason Derulo own CryptoPunk NFTs. Both have their CryptoPunk NFT as profile pictures in their Twitter account.

On the other hand, Neymar Jr. is one of the latest celebrities to join the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, joining Eminem, DJ Khaled, and others.

Other celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Gal Yosef are entering the space by launching their own NFT collection.

Millions of people have been attracted to the NFT world. With more celebrities entering the NFT world, more new users will feel more comfortable entering the space.