{"id":44192,"date":"2021-06-11T16:07:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T13:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=44192"},"modified":"2025-08-31T15:50:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:50:29","slug":"sothebys-sold-the-covid-alien-cryptopunk-nft-for-11-8m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/sothebys-sold-the-covid-alien-cryptopunk-nft-for-11-8m\/","title":{"rendered":"Sotheby\u2019s sold the COVID Alien CryptoPunk NFT for $11.8m"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Founded in 1744, the auction house Sotheby\u2019s set a world record by selling NFT CryptoPunk #7523, also known as the COVID Alien, for 4520 ETH ($11.8m at the time of the deal).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Moments ago in our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/London?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#London<\/a> saleroom, an extremely rare \u201cAlien\u201d CryptoPunk #7523 from the collection of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sillytuna?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sillytuna<\/a> sold for $11.8M as part of our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NativelyDigital?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NativelyDigital<\/a> NFT auction \u2013 setting a new world auction record for a single CryptoPunk. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PDVUSttI3o\">pic.twitter.com\/PDVUSttI3o<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sotheby\u2019s (@Sothebys) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sothebys\/status\/1402996062474760193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 10, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The non-fungible token depicts an alien wearing a mask.<\/p>\n<p>The previous owner of the COVID Alien, using the handle Sillytuna, acquired it in an off-exchange transaction. After the close of the auction, he tweeted: \u201cNFTs are DEAD!\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">4520 Eth for a cryptopunk.<\/p>\n<p>NFTs are DEAD! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eEwTKYju2w\">pic.twitter.com\/eEwTKYju2w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sillytuna \ud83d\udcaf (@sillytuna) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sillytuna\/status\/1402997178767790082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 10, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He also hinted that he had already used part of the proceeds to purchase another artwork.<\/p>\n<p>CryptoPunks \u2014 one of the first NFT collections on the Ethereum blockchain, released by software developer Larva Labs in 2017. The tokens are 24-by-24-pixel eight-bit images.<\/p>\n<p>The previous record for the price of a single CryptoPunk was set in March 2021 by an anonymous user. He <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/unknown-buyer-purchases-cryptopunk-nft-for-4200-eth\">spent 4200 ETH<\/a> ($7.5m at the time of the deal).<\/p>\n<p>In May, nine CryptoPunks NFTs sold at Christie\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/nine-cryptopunks-nfts-sold-at-christies-auction-for-nearly-17-million\">for almost $17m<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Follow ForkLog News on Telegram: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklogfeed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForkLog Feed<\/a> \u2014 all the news, <a href=\"https:\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForkLog<\/a> \u2014 the most important news, infographics and opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founded in 1744, the auction house Sotheby\u2019s set a world record by selling NFT CryptoPunk #7523, also known as the COVID Alien, for 4520 ETH ($11.8m at the time of the deal).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[526,1213],"class_list":["post-44192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-auction","tag-nft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"38","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44194,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192\/revisions\/44194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}