A ‘CryptoPunk’ NFT called ‘Covid Alien’ was bought for $11.8 million by DraftKings’ largest shareholder in a Sotheby’s auction

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The non-fungible token of a character from the "CryptoPunk" series fetched $11.8 million Thursday, setting a new world auction record for a single CryptoPunk, luxury auction house Sotheby's said.

The NFT, dubbed "Covid Alien," was bought by Shalom Meckenzie, the largest shareholder of online sports gambling firm DraftKings.

The sought-after token called "CryptoPunk #7523" is one of the nine alien CryptoPunks made by artists Matt Hall and John Watkinson, the founders of Larva Labs, in 2017. It is the only one with a mask.

Before the sale, a collector known as Sillytuna owned the token.

-Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 10, 2021

In total, there are 10,000 24 x 24-pixel CryptoPunks with no two that are exactly alike. Other characters in the collection are composed of 24 apes, 88 zombies, 3,840 females, and 6,039 males.

The NFTs were initially released for free besides a small transaction fee but the record-breaking amount seen from Covid Alien indicates the massive interest investors have.

Following the sale, the auction house announced it will offer five "exceptionally rare" CryptoPunks later in June.

Sotheby's

NFTs have soared in popularity this year. The market thus far has seen immense growth and buyers now vastly exceed sellers, according to a report from L'Atelier BNP Paribas.

These tokens are digital representations of artwork, sports cards, or other collectibles tied to a blockchain, typically on ethereum. Each NFT has a signature that can be verified in the public ledger and cannot be duplicated nor edited.

When people buy NFTs, they gain the rights to the unique token on the blockchain, not the artworks themselves. But the fact that the information on a blockchain is next to impossible to alter makes NFTs appealing, especially to artists.

Many have speculated the space is in a bubble, and apart from some massive sales, evidence shows the craze may be cooling for now. The number of NFT sales for June is about half of what they were during March's peak, the industry tracker NonFungible.com showed.

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