Nine rare non-fungible token (NFT) digital collectibles known as CryptoPunks have sold for almost $17 million at physical auction house Christie’s, according to a Twitter announcement on Wednesday.
- All nine CryptoPunks are among the first 1,000 minted in the early days of creator Larva Labs and fetched a total of $16,962,500.
- The NFTs, taken from Larva Labs' own collection, were part of the "21st Century Evening Sale" at Christie's, the 255-year-old, U.K.-based auction house.
- NFTs are blockchain-based tokens incorporating various attributes representing artwork or assets in the digital domain and can be used to verify proof of ownership.
- In March, Christie's sold an NFT representing digital artist Beeple's work for a record $69 million.
- The CryptoPunks sale highlights the continuing demand for digital art validated by blockchain technology.
- On Wednesday, eCommerce company eBay announced it would allow the sale of NFTs on its platform including trading cards, images and video clips.