Yesterday, a rare ‘Ape’ CryptoPunk sold for $1.5 million in ETH, despite the overall downtrend in the NFT market. CryptoPunk #6915 is one of only 24 Apes in the collection of 10,000 NFTs and possesses the rare traits of an earring, eye patch, and cap. It is in the top 1% for rarity and #41 in overall rarity on Rarity Sniper.
However, recent trading activity of the Ape has led to speculation on the validity of the sale. In March of this year, data from CryptoPunks shows offers were made for the Punk that ranged between $4.6 and $6.8 million. Why those bids weren’t taken has led to some degen debates on X.
While some users think the sale is a good sign for the NFT market and CryptoPunks, others are speculating that it was a wash trade — a trade where the seller is also the receiver, potentially deceiving the market into projecting a higher price for the asset or exaggerating the market’s liquidity.
The debate will likely take some time to settle, but regardless of the nature of yesterday’s sale, CryptoPunks has shown resilience during the NFT market’s downturn. Four months ago, Alien Punk #635 sold for $12.4 million in ETH and six months ago Alien Punk #7804 sold for $16.4 million. Still, the current floor price for a Punk is around 28 ETH, down 77% from its all-time high of 125 ETH on August 29th, 2021.
Furthermore, the NFT market recorded its lowest sales of the year in August, when total sales fell to $374 million — the first time all year it has been below $400 million.
Individual Collections Shine Despite Tough Times
The NFT market started out the first quarter of 2024 with a bang, bringing in $4.7 billion in total sales, a 137% increase for Q1 2023. Since then, it’s been a rocky road. But that hasn’t stopped some PFP NFT collections like CryptoPunks from shining. Here are three stories about three PFP collections that have managed to thrive over the past six months.
First, on March 3rd, Nodemonkes, a Bitcoin Ordinals collection, recorded $1.6 million in total sales volume. The surge in sales made NodeMonkes the number one collection on Bitcoin, with over $211 million in all-time sales volume at the time.
Next, in April, after the launch of “Gacha Grab” by the AnimeCoin Foundation, Azuki experienced a surge in sales. On April 30th, the collection did $1.1 million in NFT sales volume, pushing its all-time sales volume to around $1.1 billion.
Finally, on April 29th, Moonbirds soared 225% in trading volume during the course of 24 hours after it launched a new 3D metaverse called the ‘Moonbirds Universe.’ Moonbirds is owned by Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club and owners of CryptoPunks and Meebits.
For now, both the crypto and NFT markets are in the red. But some OG NFT collections, especially CryptoPunks, have shown they have the brand name and resilience to bring in big sales during the tough times. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be on the lookout for any updates to this story.