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In recent days, CryptoPunks NFTs have surpassed the value of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection. This is a really big achievement, bringing the floor price of CryptoPunks to 60 ETH, while Bored Ape NFTs fall below 60 ETH.
What are CryptoPunks NFTs?
CryptoPunks are the unique 24×24 pixel, 8-bit style avatars which are effectively tokenized images. They are considered a work of art and a new form of asset tokenization that is very valuable in the NFT market, sometimes selling for millions of dollars.
There are 10,000 of these pixelated, punk-looking images depicting male and female characters, as well as those imitating zombies, monkeys, and aliens. Each punk is unique and is sold either by individual owners, i.e., on the secondary market, or at prestigious auction houses, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
The non-fungible tokens in the CryptoPunks collection were created by mobile software company Larva Labs, which produces apps for iOS and Android devices. Released in 2017, the project began as an experiment and at the time of release 9,000 were given away, while the blockchain kept only 1,000. The experiment started as an entertainment idea, and no one, including the creators imagined that it would become something so big and valuable.
Today, we can easily say that it is one of the most popular NFT products of the moment, surpassing Bored Ape‘s NFTs. CryptoPunks is one of the products with the most expensive price tag.
This leads the NFT product to be purchased at very exclusive figures, resulting in many famous people owning one, among the most famous names we have: JayZ, Snoop Dogg and Serena Williams.
The lowest value recorded on Tuesday 15 November sees CryptoPunks’ NFTs at around 66 ETH, or $73,000. As for Bored Ape Yacht Club, the lowest value recorded is around 58.5 ETH.
CryptoPunks arrive in art museums
Yuga Labs devised a plan to donate CryptoPunks NFTs to modern art museums around the world, starting with Punk #305. The NFT was donated to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, which offers free admission, and will be on view there after a private opening event on 2 December during Art Basel. The reason why Punk #305 was specifically chosen among the 10,000 NFT is that it corresponds to one of Miami’s prefixes. It is the first donation in a larger initiative called Punks Legacy Project.
Noah Davis, brand leader of Yuga Labsper CryptoPunks, told Decrypt that many more NFTs will be donated to other museums in the future:
“It’s not about a number of punks, but rather finding museums and mainstream arts organizations that want to get into Web3 for the right reasons.”
Davis explains that his goal is to focus on quality rather than quantity.
In conclusion, the Non-Fungible Token inspired by the Punk movement is indeed fashionable. It is now to be considered a true work of art. The now skyrocketing price makes these NFTs a true collector’s item.