An NFT Investor Has Bought A Punk For $1.5M – Was It By Accident Or Deliberate?

On Feb 1, 2024

The non-fungible token market has recorded positive growth today after a crypto investor bought a cryptopunk NFT collection for more than $1.5 million. The mega sales have increased the global non-fungible token market by 14% from the previous day.

Punk #5363 NFT Sells For $1.5M

Data recorded by Cryptoslam.io, an on-chain data aggregator, confirms that CryptoPunks #5363 NFT collection has sold on the secondary market. The gigantic sale has left the global NFT market soaring, navigating the recent short NFT market downtrend.

Launched in June 2017, CryptoPunks is a non-fungible token collection previously from the digital asset incubation studio Larva Labs but now owned by Bored Ape Yacht Clun creator Yuga Labs. CryptoPunks, an NFT collection with a limited supply of just 10,000 pixilated NFT hosted on the Ethereum blockchain network, is now one of the most successful NFT projects.

Based on sources familiar with the matter, the anonymous buyer possibly accidentally placed a 655 ETH bid on Punk #5363 instead of 65.5 ETH, and the previous owner just gladly accepted. The bid could have happened because the bidder conveniently had a balance of almost 655 ETH.

A bidder accidentally* placed a 655E bid on this punk instead of 65.5E.
Owner just gladly accepted. pic.twitter.com/QbCigmcfa1
— quit (👀,🦄) (@0xQuit) January 31, 2024

Nonetheless, there are still speculations that the incident might be a wash trade. By description, wash trading is a form of market manipulation where crypto investors simultaneously sell and buy the same NFT collections, creating a false impression of NFT market activity.

The NFT Market Health Check

The non-fungible token market looks bullish today following the recent gigantic punk sales. In the past 24 hours, the global NFT market has amassed a trading sales volume of $34 million, representing a 14% spike from the previous day. The number of NFT investors buying NFTs has also increased slightly after the punk sale.

source: Cryptoslam.io, global NFT sales in the past 24 hrs

Ethereum, the popular blockchain network for NFTs, is the top most-traded blockchain network in the NFT ecosystem, amassing a trading sales volume of $13.9 million. Ethereum-based NFTs, led by CryptoPunks, have pushed Ethereum trading sales volume up 40% in the past 24 hours.