Seller cancels $30M CryptoPunks Sotheby’s auction minutes before going live
After increasing $30 million Sotheby's auction just minutes before it was set to go live, the anonymous NFT collector made fun of the luxury art auction house on Twitter.
NFT enthusiasts and fine art collectors have been left confused after an auction for a collection of 104 CryptoPunks estimated to be worth approx $30 million was rejected at the last minute.
The event hosted by famous auctioneer Sotheby's was on track to be one of the largest NFT auctions in history the pseudonymous owner of the Punk it! collection suddenly withdrew from the auction.
The CryptoPunk holder's reasons behind the move remain unclear, however, in the aftermath ofo the canceled auction, the anonymous owner who goes by '0x650d' on Twitter sent our a seemingly nonchalant tweet to his 12 thousand followers noting "nvm, decided to hod!"
nvm, decided to hodl https://t.co/WdQ5H7I0fl
— 0x650d (@0x650d) February 24, 2022
The collector went on to make light of the situation, posting a meme insinuating that they were "taking punks mainstream by rugging Sothebys." While this wasn't an actual "rug pull" where investors are illegally stripped of funds. it certainly left Sotheby's and the community in the dark.
— 0x650d (@0x650d) February 24, 2022
Haralobos Voulgaris, a quantitative researcher for the Dallas Mavericks, called the collector a "clown",
“[0x650d] may have made their motivations about their decision to pull out slightly more clear — choosing to poke fun at the high fees charged by auction houses like Sotheby’s.”
Salty that you're going to have to buy at retail now?
— 0x650d (@0x650d) February 24, 2022
The NFT industry has witnessed near-exponential growth in 2021, with CryptoPunks, developed by Larva Labs, generating over 2$ billion in sales volume since inception.
Sotheby's first entirely NFT-focused event, the auction house has shown an aptitude for capitalizing on the lucrative NFT market, selling over $100 million worth in NFTs last year alone, $24 million of which occurred at a single auction.
This recent clash shines a light on the ideological chasm between the nonconformist "cyberpunk" culture of Web3 and the more composed, "highbrow" culture of traditional institutions.
Read: CryptoPunk NFTs Break Sales Record as Visa Buys it at $150k
