NFT trader sells CryptoPunk after a year for nearly $10M loss

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An investor has sold a CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) at a nearly $10 million realized loss, reflecting the continued decline in the once-booming blue-chip NFT market.

A whale, or large cryptocurrency investor, sold a CryptoPunk NFT for 4,000 Ether (ETH) worth more than $6 million at the time of writing.

The investor originally purchased the NFT for 4,500 ETH, or roughly $15.7 million, a year ago, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.

“Did he only lose 500 $ETH($774K)? No—he actually lost $9.73M!” Lookonchain wrote in an X post. “When he bought it, $ETH was trading at $3,509. By the time he sold, $ETH had dropped 57%,” the platform added.

CryptoPunk buy and sell. Source: Arkham Intelligence / Lookonchain

Despite the steep loss, the $6 million transaction still ranks as the largest NFT sale over the past 30 days, according to data from CryptoSlam.

Top NFT sales past 30 days. Source: CryptoSlam

The sale comes during a period of stagnation for NFTs, which have been lacking wider trader interest. NFT trading volume on Ethereum is down more than 53% over the past month, while Polygon’s NFT trading volume fell 41%.

CryptoPunks saw a temporary floor price surge of 13% after rumors that its owner, Yuga Labs, might be “in the process” of selling the collection’s intellectual property, Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 14.

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Blue-chip collections see steep drop

The top blue-chip NFT collections remain significantly down from their 2021 highs amid a lack of trading activity.

CryptoPunks currently have a floor price of about 43 ETH, or $68,000, down more than 61% from their record high of 113.9 ETH in October 2021.

CryptoPunks NFT floor price, all-time chart. Source: NFTpricefloor 

The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price is also down 89%, while the Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection is down 93%, NFTpricefloor data shows.

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However, the Pudgy Penguin collection remains an outlier. It reached a new all-time high of over 25 Ether on Dec. 16, 2024, and amassed the highest sales volume of over $72 million in the first quarter of 2025, Cointelegraph reported on March 28.

Source: Yuga Labs 

At the start of March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its three-year investigation into Yuga Labs, an investigation initiated under former Chair Gary Gensler, which aimed to probe NFT creators and marketplaces, to see if some NFTs, such as fractional NFTs, were securities.

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