NFT CryptoPunks Break $1 Billion Lifetime Sales Mark

Ethereum-based NFT CryptoPunks becomes the second NFT project to cross $1 billion in sales after Axie Infinity, the NFT game.

CryptoPunks was released in 2017, and each of these was 24×24 pixel 8-bit style avatars. These avatars are punks that were initially created to be a part of a videogame. However, the developers later launched them as NFTs.

Today there are over 10,000 punks available on the project, and no two punks are alike. These include 6039 males, 3840 females, 88 zombies, 24 apes, and 9 aliens. While the developers kept 1000 for themselves, the rest were up for claims by the people. Every punk also varies in price based on their attributes.

While Axie Infinity accomplished this milestone on August 8th, CryptoPunks quickly followed and joined the billion-dollar club on August 28th. In the last week leading up to that day, the project made about $408 million.

According to Cryptoslam.io, as of September 24th, the lifetime sales of Axie Infinity are the highest, with $2,109,712,255 in its name. CryptoPunks is second in line with about $1,336,764,218.

This boom has been prevalent across the NFT space and isn’t restricted to Axie Infinity or CryptoPunks. There are multiple reasons for the same.

• NFTs, originally thought of as overhyped entities without many purposes, are now finding their purpose in numerous industries such as gaming, art, books, entertainment, etc.
• Celebrities are leveraging it to connect with their fans and capitalize on this connection. Indie creators are using NFTs as an opportunity to increase their growth both in terms of an audience, customer base, and earnings.
• Besides these, crypto enthusiasts and traders looking to invest in the crypto world are inclined towards NFTs to diversify their strategies and the avenues they invest in.

While all these developments unfold, people wonder if these incidents with CryptoPunks are merely bubbles, and the surge/growth wouldn’t be sustainable.

Though some people feel that this isn’t the case with most NFTs, as the increase in demand would result in a price increase, some are skeptical.

For instance, on August 28th, after CryptoPunks broke the $1 billion barrier, Figma CEO Dylan Field tweeted that people need to be more careful and show restraint. This is because there are various speculators in the market currently, and hence it might be easy to get swayed. He encouraged buying NFTs of things that people love and intend to hold on to for a long time.

While this advice sounds pretty fair, only time will tell how NFTs perform in the future.

What are NFT’s?  Check out our article on Top 5 NFT Innovations & the Industries They’ll Disrupt to find out more…