According to a Twitter announcement, Christie’s will auction 9 Cryptopunk non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the next month. The first NFT project released on the Ethereum blockchain – for $7 million to $9 million in the next month.
Christie’s has announced its intention to hold another high-profile NFT auction in May. It will feature 9 Cryptopunk as part of an event, “21st Century Evening sale” on May 13 in New York. Will sell nine punks from the personal collection of CryptoPunk creators Matt Hall and John Watkinson.
Like the recent Beeple NFT sale, Christie’s will accept bids and payments in the form of ether, Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency. In a statement, Christie’s art specialist Noah Davis describes the CryptoPunks as the “alpha and omega of the CyptoArt movement” and said, “This is a historic sale.”
Released in June 2017 by software companyLarva Labs, CryptoPunks features a collection of 24×24 8-bit-style pixel images. . In total, there are 10,000 unique collectible characters. It will record proof of ownership for each character in a contract on the Ethereum blockchain. Each of the special characters sports different characteristics, accessories, and traits, and some CryptoPunks are considered rarer than others.
The creators of the CryptoPunk series said in the statement: “Taken together, the set represents both the rarest possible CryptoPunks and highlights from the variety of attributes that are the signature of the project.”
All nine CryptoPunks are from mints below 1,000, meaning they create the company’s digital collectibles in the earliest days. The mint numbers include 2, 532, 58, 30, 635, 602, 768, 603, and 757, with a “rare alien” collectible to include in the auction.
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In answer to environmental damage, the auction house said: “The environmental impact associated with minting the NFTs themselves is an issue that all responsible participants in the market are cognisant of, and Christie’s continues to prioritize working with vendors that are aligned with us on our long-term sustainability pledge to be net-zero by 2030.”
For the CryptoPunk sale, the NFT will remain in the Larva Labs digital wallet until after the auction. At this point, it will transfer it to the new owner’s digital wallet with the transaction recorded on the blockchain. Until then, the Punks will be “invading LCD screens” throughout New York, according to Davis. “They’re on their way, and they can’t stop,” he says.
