CryptoPunks NFT Sells for $6 Million in Ethereum—At a $10 Million Loss

A CryptoPunks owner sold their NFT for $6 million worth of Ethereum on Thursday, netting a $10 million loss in the process. 

CryptoPunk #3100, one of nine Alien Punks in the 10,000-piece collection and the only one with a headband, sold for 4,000 ETH or about $6,076,840 at current prices via a private offer on the CryptoPunks marketplace. The deal was allegedly brokered by crypto art brokerage Fountain. 

The anonymous seller had initially purchased the #3100 in March 2024 for 4,500 ETH, or around $16 million at the time—the third largest all-time, on-chain sale of a CryptoPunks NFT.

Now though, the 500 ETH loss has amounted to a net loss of around $10 million on the asset, given how much the value of ETH has fallen over the last year. The price of Ethereum has fallen by 57% over the last 12 months, per data from CoinGecko.

While the buyer and seller have not been identified, the purchasing wallet funded its account early Thursday afternoon with 4,001 ETH from an account that Ethereum block explorer Etherscan labels as “Coinbase Prime 2.” The wallet has taken no other on-chain actions at this time. 

CryptoPunk #3100 now graces the top sales leaderboard on the CryptoPunks marketplace three separate times, having previously sold for $7.58 million and $16.03 million. Today’s sale is the largest on-chain CryptoPunk sale since April 25, 2024. 

On that day, Punk #7804—an Alien with a cap, shades, and pipe—sold for $16.42 million, the second largest on-chain CryptoPunks sale of all-time.

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Earlier this month, Pudgy Penguins came within striking distance of dethroning CryptoPunks as the most expensive NFT collection in the world.  It’d been a long, long time since any other brand had come close to accomplishing that feat, and Pudgy had wind in its sails: Riding momentum from an upcoming token airdrop, the collection soared to unbelievable highs, exploding from a floor price of $19,000 at the start of November to more than $138,000 by mid-December.  It looked like the flip might hap...

Alien CryptoPunks are the most rare “type” of Punk, edging out Zombies and Apes, traits that are available on 88 and 24 Punks, respectively. Sales of Aliens make up the seven highest on-chain Punk sales, including the highest ever—when Punk #5822 sold for $23.7 million in February 2022. 

While CryptoPunks has maintained its status as the premier profile picture NFT collection, the asset’s financial performance has been less than desirable for owners. The collection's floor price, or the lowest value of an asset listed on the marketplace, has dropped 44% in the last 90 days to $64,727 according to NFT Price Floor. 

Created by Larva Labs in 2017 and originally free to claim, the collection previously established an all-time high floor of more than $400,000 in November 2021. The IP was later sold to Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs in 2022.

Edited by Andrew Hayward