IOI
A cryptopunk has become Jay-Z’s Twitter profile picture as he prepares to sell NFT for the first time at the prestigious Sotheby’s auction house.
Known as CryptoPunks, CryptoPunks are a collection of 10,000 NFTs that have been released on the Ethereum blockchain by software company Larva Labs in 2017. There are different pixelated faces for each Punk, including humans, apes, aliens and zombies. The non-fungible token is a cryptocurrency token that represents images, videos, or music in the form of a cryptocurrency.
On April 25, CryptoPunk was purchased with 55 ETH which, at the time, was worth $126,000 (although today the value is only $102,000). This punk is male and has wild hair and a golden chain, both relatively uncommon traits.
The Blockchain address associated with the CryptoPunk has received NFTs since Jay-Z identified the CryptoPunk as likely, his. NFTs themed after the Shiba Inu have already been sent to him, as well as one from TheWickedCranium collection.
Although the address contains ether (ETH) in the form of $166, it does not contain any other ERC-20 tokens, including CryptoPunk. Since CryptoPunks were the first NFT on Ethereum, they had to make do with – and slightly modify – the ERC-20 standard. (The majority of NFTs are based on the ERC-721 standard).
The collection of unique, pixelated characters has remained popular among the crypto community. The most expensive CryptoPunk sale to date occurred on June 11 in a sale held by Sotheby’s, where a rare crypto-alien sold for $11.8 million.
An NFT will be auctioned at Sotheby’s by Jay-Z
Jay-Z also plans to sell NFTs in addition to buying them.
At Sotheby’s, the musician will auction off a painting based on his debut album Reasonable Doubt. The original album cover of Jay-Z’s ’25’ album will be ‘recontextualized’ by digital artist Derrick Adams.
The composition is called Heir to the Throne, and it features bright colors, textures, and flat surfaces. This image is said to be inspired by Jay-Z and Adams’ experience with “life on urban streets.”
The exhibit will be on display at both Sotheby’s New York and Decentraland, a virtual world powered by Ethereum. Starting bids will be at $1,000 until the sale ends on July 2. Alternatively, buyers can pay in fiat currency, ether or bitcoin. Shawn Carter Foundation, which assists people from low-income backgrounds in obtaining post-secondary education, will receive a portion of the auctioneer’s proceeds.
