Renowned auction house, Sotheby’s, was about to host a highly anticipated auction of 104 CryptoPunk Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) earlier this week. However, the auction house canceled the event minutes before the launch.
‘Determined to HODL’
Several months ago, a pseudonymous collector with the initials 0x650d purchased the lot titled “Punk It!” for $7 million worth of crypto. A few weeks ago, Sotheby’s announced that it will auction the NFTs in the collection, with price estimates ranging from $20 million to $30 million. However, the owner of the collectibles he retired of the event shortly before it began.
His decision caused great disappointment among users hoping to participate in the auction. The founder of the decentralized media platform RugRadio – Farokh – said:
“Brother, stop acting like you’re Sotheby’s, you made everyone look stupid. Even the press here laughs at us because of you. Stop hiding the blame behind silly memes.”
The seller later posted another tweet, hinting that the reason for the cancellation could be Sotheby’s high commission.
Minted in 2017, CryptoPunks are among the earliest NFT collections. They are some of the most popular and expensive digital collectibles today, with some spending millions of dollars to acquire them. Earlier this month, CryptoPunk #5822 broke records when Chain CEO Deepak Thapliyal bought it for nearly 8,000 ETH. At the time of the transaction, the amount was equivalent to almost $24 million.
Sotheby’s interaction with the crypto world
The leading art and luxury auction house has been a part of the digital asset universe for some time. In November of last year, he joined forces with Future Perfect Ventures to invest $20 million in tech firm NFT Mojito. Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart commented on the matter:
“We believe in the future of using blockchain to expand ownership of digital assets. There is a great deal of focus and interest in NFTs… Sotheby’s mission is to promote access to and ownership of rare art and luxury objects, so focusing on and developing this area makes a lot of sense.”
In January this year, the company announced that it will host an auction for a rare 555.55-carat diamond that can be sold as digital assets. Earlier this month, American businessman Richard Heart bought it for a whopping $4.3 million in cryptocurrencies and renamed it after his company: “HEX.com Diamond.”
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This post Sotheby’s pulled the auction of 104 CryptoPunks minutes before the event
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