Key Takeaways
- The owner of CryptoPunk #6046 has turned down an offer of $9.5 million for his NFT
- Had the sale taken place, it would make it the most expensive Punk sold on chain.
- Total sale volume of CryptoPunk project has reached $1.5 billion
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — It is no secret that CryptoPunks have taken the word of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) by storm. As digital collectibles continue to become more trendy by the day, the Punk NFT collection created by LarvaLabs does not lose its popularity or value. On the contrary, CryptoPunks become even more expensive.
Several iconic NFTs from the series have already fetched a couple of million dollars in the market. Those that own a Punk keep getting new offers every day.
Astoundingly, Richerd, the owner of CryptoPunk #6046, has turned down a $9.5 million offer for his NFT. His NFT would have been the largest on-chain CryptoPunk sale in the dollar value had he accepted the offer.
Of course, the most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold is Punk #7523, which billionaire Shalom Mechenzie bought for $11.7 million. However, that sale happened in a Sotheby’s auction last June. Mechenzie did not buy it by bidding on the blockchain itself.
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Who wants to buy CryptoPunk for $9.5M?
While the rejection of $9.5 million is mind-boggling in its own right, another question is of equal importance. Who was it that did not mind shelling out that much money for the NFT, and why?
The entire incident began after Richerd, the NFT owner, tweeted, “My Punk is not for sale. Don’t care what anyone offers me.” He was contesting a challenge on his tweet by fitness trainer Josef Rakich, who claimed: “everyone has a price,” in reply to Richerd’s idea that 10,000 NFT owners could make their possessions priceless by not selling them.
Hours later, NFT platform POAP placed a bid of 2,500 ETH (around $9.5 million) for the NFT. In doing so, they were essentially testing if Richerd’s bragging held any water or was it just hot air.
As it turned out, Richerd wasn’t simply bragging. Instead, he declined to accept the offer, opting to keep the CryptoPunk NFT.
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Why reject millions for a CryptoPunk?
According to the Punk’s owner, Richerd, the NFT has become his and his brand’s “identity.”
He has successfully used Punk #6046 as his identity, building up a significant brand around it.
“My identity along with identity of other iconic Punks and apes have value beyond the NFT itself. Because I value my personal brand and identity, this was an easy rejection for me,”
Richerd explained.
Richerd is the Co-Founder of Manifolds XYZ, a technology company that provides infrastructure for NFTs.
According to him, turning down $9.5 million to maintain his brand image was “an easy rejection.”
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Not a PR gimmick but a huge conviction in CryptoPunks
The idea that someone would turn down such a large amount for an NFT raises suspicion. Was the offer from POAP genuine or a planned PR ploy?
Richerd answers this in his chain of tweets. In detail, he refused to sell Punk #6046 because he has a huge conviction in NFTs and CryptoPunks.
“When it comes to NFTs space I think very long term. To me, my brand, identity, and what I’m building in the NFT space will be way more valuable in the long run,”
he claimed.
Moreover, according to Richerd, the bid was not scripted, and he could have accepted the offer and walked away with the money. Although he acknowledges having exchanged emails with the founder of POAP before, he insists he had no prior knowledge of the offer coming from them.
He believes they made the offer as a PR move because his NFT is not worth that much as a mid-tier punk.
According to DappRadar, CryptoPunks has amassed a volume of close to $1.5 billion in NFT sales to date.
Talk about taking the NFT world by storm.
