Sotheby’s called off its auction for a lot of 104 CryptoPunks Wednesday after the pseudonymous owner decided against selling the NFTs.
Sotheby’s called off its auction for 104 CryptoPunks minutes before it was scheduled to launch last night.
The New York-based auction house said it was cancelling its “Punk It!” event Wednesday. The 104 NFTs make up more than 1% of the total supply of LarvaLabs’ CryptoPunks. As the collection is highly sought after, the lot was expected to fetch between $20 million and $30 million per Sotheby’s estimates.
Sotheby’s had heavily promoted the sale in the lead-up to the auction. Through its Sotheby’s Metaverse platform, it described it as “one of the most historic NFT sales yet.” As NFTs have started to find a place in the mainstream, Sotheby’s has helped showcase the technology to the fine art world. It has previously sold CryptoPunks NFTs, including a rare Alien Punk that fetched $11.75 million last June. It also auctioned auctioned 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs for $24 million in September.
