Record $900 Million for NFT Sales as CryptoPunks Go Strategic

UTC by Patrick Kariuki · 3 min read
Record $900 Million for NFT Sales as CryptoPunks Go Strategic
Photo: Larva Labs / Twitter

Earlier in the summer, the appeal of NFTs appeared to have gone down, with the market slumping and only achieving sales of less than $60 million in the month of June.

With nearly $900 million spent to buy non-fungible tokens, August appears to be the record-breaking month. As per data from Nonfungible.com, a tracking portal, $896 million has already been used to purchase NFTs in the last 30 days. By the close of the month, this number is expected to surpass $900 million, marking a new record in the nonfungible tokens industry. The current figure is three times more than the past record-breaking month (May) when NFT sales amounted to $255 million. The August NFT sales have been attributed to CryptoPunks and Axie Infinity.

As per Cryptoslam, CryptoPunk has made a record sale of $397 million in August, and the average sales for pixelated punks are $214K. The most expensive to have been sold is #7523, an $11.5 million alien punk that had a face mask. It was sold in June at a Sotheby’s auction.

New CryptoPunks NFT Investors

At the start of the week, Visa, a major credit card dealer, revealed that it had purchased CryptoPunks amounting to 49.5 ETH. At the time of purchase, 49.5 ETH was equivalent to $150,000. The crypto head at Visa was quoted saying that with the CryptoPunk purchase, they’re jumping in feet first and that it was the beginning for them in that space. Wu Blockchain, a Chinese industry outlet, revealed that Chinese investors were buying the CryptoPunks like the proverbial hotcakes. Another investor, Cai Wensheng, Meitu’s founder, a smartphone software company, spent 125 ETH to acquire CryptoPunk #8236, which was roughly $387,000. Meitu is the first Chinese company to go big on crypto, acquiring $100 million worth of BTC at the beginning of the year. Bo spent 1600 ETH, roughly $5.33 million on CryptoPunk#7252.

Recently, NFTs have been a major driver for the Tezos, a staking cryptocurrency. According to an xtz news blog written in April, Tezos adoption experienced big growth in March, NFTs being a major catalyst. The NFT market exploded on Tezos platforms including Tzcolors, Kalamint, Alchememist, and many others. Tezos Nonfungible Token platforms have continued to appeal to artists who intend to collect, mint, and even sell their art items thanks to Tezos low fees and low energy utilization.

Earlier in the summer, the appeal of NFTs appeared to have gone down, with the market slumping and only achieving sales of less than $60 M in the month of June. According to an NYpost article, the NFT craze appeared to be fading fast and some market watchers had even declared the craze dead. However, August sales appear to be proving the naysayers wrong. If the figures are anything to go with, the market is growing exponentially and is becoming bigger than ever. Recent high-profile NFT sales include cartoon rock sold for $1.3M, a $51,500 NFT that was a version of the popular friendship breakup meme.

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