An NFT from the “CryptoPunk” collection, “CryptoPunk #7523”, was sold for $11.8 million yesterday at an auction held by Sotheby’s. It is one of the most popular cryptopunks thanks to its blue-greenish skin and medical mask.
The name of the online auction was “Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale”. The artwork was sold for $11,754,000 while the total amount cashed by the auction was $17.1 million. 27 digital artists had their work auctioned.
Shalom Meckenzie bought the NFT. He is the largest shareholder of digital sports company DraftKings.
Moments ago in our #London saleroom, an extremely rare “Alien” CryptoPunk #7523 from the collection of @sillytuna sold for $11.8M as part of our #NativelyDigital NFT auction – setting a new world auction record for a single CryptoPunk. pic.twitter.com/PDVUSttI3o
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 10, 2021
Michael Bouhanna, the contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s, believes that this same proves the demand for NFTs remains popular.
“We are excited to continue to explore new and interesting ways in presenting these cutting-edge works.”
In related news, Sotheby’s opened its first-ever virtual gallery in the online virtual world Decentraland which represents a reproduction of its real-world building in London.
“To those who say, ‘Yeah but you can’t hang ’em on your wall,’ this is where virtual social worlds like Decentraland come in,” commented Dave Carr, a spokesman for the Decentraland Foundation. “Virtual worlds are the natural home of digital art NFTs.”