By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
A pseudonymous owner and NFT collector identified as 0x650d on Twitter had surprisingly pulled away from a CryptoPunk collection auction minutes before it was about to go live. After sharing its excitement in partnering with famous auction house Sotheby to hold one of the largest auctions since the digital asset class became a thing, the hodler withdrew unexpectedly, leaving other participating collectors in perplexity.
The collection numbering around 104 CryptoPunks and reportedly worth about $30 million, was to be sold by Sotheby on Thursday. However, the event was canceled due to the unexpected withdrawal of the anonymous NFT owner.
Rug Puller Ridicules Sotheby
As if pulling away from a special NFT auction minutes before the event wasn’t enough, 0x650d poked fun at the fine-art auction center for their attempt to organize the event. 0x650d would later post a meme of popular Canadian artist Drake to ridicule the auction platform.
The meme insinuated the pseudonym was taking CryptoPunks to the broader audience by rug pulling the auction center. Although this isn’t the exact case of rug pulling, the collector was meticulous and opted to use the term because it shares a similar meaning to the act they perpetrated. This was one of the darkest days in the crypto and NFT community.
It’s uncertain why the hodler made Sotheby a subject of ridicule. However, after the cancellation of the event, the crypto enthusiast published a casually calm post on his Twitter handle to his thousands of followers with the sentence “Nvm, decided to hodl.”
Basketball Researcher Voulgaris called the owner a clown. He added that the collector may have vividly indicated their reasons for pulling out of such an auction, which is poking fun at Sotheby for their expensive transaction fees.
The NFT Sector Is Still Growing At a Fast Pace
The nascent sector has grown exponentially since 2021, amassing billions of dollars in sales. CryptoPunks, an NFT collection by Larva Labs, has garnered over billions in sales since 2017.
Although disappointed in not having to host the auction of the NFT collection, Sotheby has had a fair share of success in selling this digital asset class. Last year, the auction house sold more than a hundred million worth of NFTs, of which $24 million was sold at a single event.
The CryptoPunks V1 collection vs. V2 collection battle of authenticity is still ongoing as Larva Labs have withdrawn recognition of the former collection and released the V2 group. Larva Labs explains that taking down the V1 collection wouldn’t be possible without taking down V2 Punks.
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