Cryptopunk Trader Loses $10M

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NFT trader, 0x705, acquired an Alien Cryptopunk just over a year ago for 4,500 ETH, worth $15.79M then. Today, he sold the same NFT for 4,000 ETH or $6.06M, locking in his loss of 61.7% or almost $10M. With only 9 Cryptopunks with the trait, the Alien trait is the rarest of all, resulting in its significant premium over other traits. Currently, only 1 other Alien Cryptopunk remains on sale, with a price tag of 5,000 ETH, or ~$7.67M.

This transaction highlights the compounded risk of denominating high-value collectibles in volatile cryptocurrency. While the asset itself only lost about 11% of its value in ETH terms—showing some resilience in a down market—the simultaneous drop in the dollar value of Ethereum magnified the financial hit. This "double whammy" demonstrates that NFT investors effectively hold two positions at once: a bet on the specific collectible and a bet on the underlying currency.

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Cryptopunks always ranked as one of the top NFT collections on Ethereum, having been around since 2017 as one of the first relevant NFT collections. At its peak, Cryptopunks traded at a floor of over 113 ETH in 2021. Since then, NFTs have fallen out of favor in the market, with Cryptopunks trading at a floor of ~42 ETH currently. Additionally, the acquisition of the Cryptopunk IP by the Yuga Labs team has been largely viewed as bearish for the project, resulting in its further decline from its peak.

The community’s skepticism toward the Yuga Labs acquisition stems largely from a perceived cultural clash. Many early collectors prized the original "cypherpunk" ethos and hands-off management of creators Larva Labs. The shift to Yuga Labs, known for the commercialized and gamified Bored Ape Yacht Club, raised concerns that the historical prestige of CryptoPunks could be diluted by aggressive branding or roadmap-driven utility that contradicts the project's origins as pure digital art.