The immutability of blockchain was highlighted on Wednesday when CryptoPunk #2386, worth around 600 ETH ($1.5 million), changed hands for just 10 ETH ($23,000) after being forgotten due to its association with a defunct NFT fork site.
CryptoPunks are considered one of the most valuable Ethereum NFTs, maintaining their appeal even after the market boom. The punks are particularly rare because of the 10,000 avatars, only 24 depict monkeys – a beloved symbol in the NFT space. A similarly rare monkey version sold for nearly $1.5 million last week, drawing a direct comparison to this sale.
During the peak of the NFT market, many CryptoPunks were so valuable that they were often fractionalized, allowing them to be divided into smaller pieces for investors to own.
As for Punk #2386, the owner fragmented it through a website called Niftex. The NFT was locked in an escrow account on the Ethereum blockchain, and ownership was split into 10,000 ERC-20 tokens in 2020. Investors could trade these fractions, but this became difficult after Niftex shut down.
According to the anonymous smart contract developer @0xquit on Twitter (now X), Punk#2386had a total of 257 investors holding shards. However, with the disappearance of the Niftex platform, trading of sharded NFTs has all but come to a standstill.
However, an investor secretly noticed Punk#2386and noticed that the smart contract was still active on the blockchain. He activated the buyback feature and successfully took ownership of the NFT for a fraction of its actual value.
“This system allows any shareholder to propose a buyback price (called a ‘shotgun’), and if no one objects within 14 days, they can buy the asset,” @0xquit explained on Twitter, mentioning that the proposal was made on August 28.
The suggested price is 0.001 ETH per piece, which is 10 ETH for all 10,000 pieces. However, the little-noticed timer has already started ticking.
Gmoney, an anonymous NFT investor and founder of 9dcc, who is one of the shareholders of Punk #2386, attempted to stop the transaction by re-auctioning via the smart contract. However, he failed due to a miscalculation of the required amount.
“I reached out to two of my most trusted blockchain experts for help,” Gmoney wrote. “I think we have it blocked.”
The transaction was successful, however, and Punk#2386was seized – in what @0xquit calls “THE HACK OF THE CENTURY.”
“Congratulations to the new owners,” Gmoney shared.
The identity of Punk #2386's current owner remains unknown, and the NFT is not currently listed for sale. However, there has been an offer for up to 600 ETH. If sold at that price, the investor would make a 60x return.
One viral tweet called the deal a “robbery.” Gmoney, however, disagreed.
“If you want a decentralized system, you have to accept the good and the bad,” he said. “Those are the rules of the game. That's why we're here. If you don't like the rules, you probably shouldn't be in it.”
Source: https://tapchibitcoin.io/cryptopunks-tri-gia-15-trieu-usd-bi-ban-voi-gia-chi-23-000-usd.html
