Someone Just Spent $10M in Ethereum on a Rare CryptoPunk NFT

CryptoPunk #4156 sold for $10 million today, making it one of the most expensive sales in the collection’s history.

Rare CryptoPunk NFT Fetches $10M

A rare ape CryptoPunk just sold for over $10 million.

LarvaLabs’ list of sales suggests that today’s sale for CryptoPunk #4156 is the largest by cash value, with an exact sale price of $10.26 million.

The token’s high price can be explained by its rarity. It is one of just 24 ape CryptoPunks, the second rarest type of CryptoPunk between aliens, of which there are only nine, and zombies, of which there are 88. The vast majority of CryptoPunks are humans, of which there are 9,879.

The high sale price seen today does come with some caveats, though. Due to variations in the price of Ethereum, it is only the third largest sale in terms of ETH. In March, two CryptoPunks sold for 4,200 ETH each, while today’s sale only garnered 2,500 ETH.

The sale is also outranked by Sotheby’s sale of CryptoPunk #7523 for $11.75 million. LarvaLabs does not register this sale, as it appears to be an off-chain sale conducted with cash.

Another CryptoPunk NFT also sold for the high price of $538 million in October, but it was the result of the owner transferring the token to themselves in something of a wash trade rather than a true sale.

Seller Says Auction Houses Reached Out

CryptoPunks is one of the earliest series of Ethereum-based NFTs, dating back to mid-2017. That status has helped the collection attract attention from Ethereum natives, celebrities, and Christie’s and Sotheby’s, two of the world’s most prestigious auction houses.

Incidentally, the original owner of CryptoPunk #4156 said that auction houses reached out to suggest that the item could have fetched an additional 1,500 ETH ($6.3 million) with their assistance.

While it is hard to say how much the token could have actually garnered, major auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s have previously auctioned items from the series with great success.

As such, Punk #4156 may not be the only rare NFT that auction houses have tried to get hold of.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held less than $100 of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins.