An Alien CryptoPunk that sold for $24 million in February 2022 has a new owner. Deepak Thapliyal, Chain CEO and NFT investor, announced the sale on X over the weekend, writing, “End of an Era. #5822, Enjoy your new home.”
#5822 is a reference to the NFT ID of the Punk, which ranks #17 in terms of rarity according to our metrics. Aside from being an Alien, of which there are just nine in the entire 10,000 collection, it has just one attribute: a blue bandana.
Thapliyal did not disclose the amount #5822 sold for or the identity of the new owner, and a quick peruse of Etherscan, Ethereum’s blockchain explorer, did not reveal much either. Given the paucity of information, NFT degens on X speculated that Thapliyal sold the Punk for a loss.
Alien Punks have remained popular this year, even as the NFT market in general has struggled to recapture 2021-2022 highs. This spring, three changed hands, selling for $12.4, $16.0, and $16.4 million respectively.
CryptoPunks itself continues to be the top NFT collection in the space. According to NFT Price Floor, the collection is trending at No. 1 above all others, generating $2 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours and sitting at a 26.3 ETH or $68,300 floor price.
Thapliyal has been quiet this year, reposting some content from Jesse Pollack, the architect of Base, and Bored Ape Yacht Club, of which he is a holder. He has also participated in some of the memecoin shenanigans, posting that he bought a bag of $CHKN, which is down 42% in the past 30 days according to CoinGecko.
CryptoPunks Remains Legacy NFT Collection
Launched in 2017 as an experiment to see if code could contribute to a feeling of ownership, CryptoPunks has become the legacy NFT collection, especially for the profile-picture category.
The 10,000 Punks set a new standard for NFTs. The creator, Larva Labs, used an algorithm to randomly generate traits so that no two Punks are alike, and, in an unusual move, gave them away for free. While the Punks would trade for hundreds of dollars early on, it wasn’t until later that the NFTs in the collection would fetch hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.
Since the NFT boom in 2021-2022, Punks have entered the mainstream art world, appearing in museums, art galleries, and other exhibitions. Yuga Labs, which acquired the project in 2022, has even donated Punks to traditional art institutions through the Punks Legacy Project.
Although the NFT market has not recovered since its fall in mid-2022, Punks have persevered. And that’s a good sign for the Web3 space overall, no matter if Thapliyal sold for a loss or not.
For more information about the CryptoPunks collection, check out our guide: ‘What are CryptoPunks NFTs?’