CryptoPunks Fever: Alien NFT Sells for $16 Million Amid Ethereum's Dip

Ethereum faced a downturn this week despite recently reaching its highest price in over two years. However, the market's quietness didn't deter a significant purchase on Wednesday: a CryptoPunks NFT was acquired for over $16 million worth of ETH.

Punk #7804, one of only nine Alien Punks in the influential Ethereum NFT collection, changed hands for 4,850 ETH on Wednesday afternoon, equivalent to $16.42 million at the time of the sale. This transaction marks the second-largest CryptoPunks sale ever, whether measured in ETH or USD.

This sale follows closely after another Alien Punk (#3100) was sold for 4,500 ETH, valued at $16.03 million at the time of the March 3 transaction. Similar to the previous purchase, the buyer of this recent Punk has not been publicly identified. The Ethereum wallet used for the purchase was funded for the first time on Wednesday via Coinbase.

On the other hand, the seller of Punk #7804, who bought it in 2021 for 4,200 ETH, or $7.57 million at the time, expressed regret on Twitter for not "elevating" the profile of that specific Punk during their ownership.

"End of an era. I've long since felt like an imposter. Holding Punks, and potentially NFTs [as] a whole hostage by not elevating 7804 in the way he deserves," the pseudonymous Peruggia wrote. "After over a year of looking around, I feel I've found the right buyer with the right vision to appropriately elevate this asset."

The highest CryptoPunks sale occurred in February 2022 when a crypto startup CEO purchased another Alien Punk (#5822) for 8,000 ETH, or $23.7 million.

This recent purchase now ranks as the fifth most expensive NFT sale of all time. The current record holder is Mike “Beeple” Winkleman, whose digital artwork collage "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" fetched $69.3 million at a Christie's auction in March 2021, sparking the initial NFT craze.

Created in 2017 by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks helped establish the standard for tokenized profile pictures, a concept later expanded upon by the Bored Ape Yacht Club and many other collections. Despite being originally distributed for free, CryptoPunks have generated nearly $2.8 billion worth of secondary trading volume to date, according to CryptoSlam data.

Even the least expensive available CryptoPunks NFT on the market is listed at about 51 ETH, or $177,000. The CryptoPunks IP was eventually acquired by Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, in 2022.