cryptopunk

NFTs still in ‘great demand’ as unique traders rise 18% in Oct: DappRadar

A DappRadar report found that despite a fall in NFT trading volumes and sales counts throughout October, monthly unique traders increased.

October may have seen a decline in nonfungible token (NFT) trading volume and sales, but analytics firm DappRadar says an 18% growth in monthly unique NFT traders shows the market is still in “great demand.”

According to a Nov. 3 report from DappRadar, the number of monthly unique NFT traders in October reached 1.11 million, increasing 18% from September, of approximately 950,000.

This is despite trading volumes falling 30% to $662 million in October, the lowest registered in 2022, while the sales count decreased by 30% to 6.13 million, the firm said, adding:

“The rise in the unique traders’ count indicates that new people are entering the NFT market, and it is still in great demand.”

*Number of monthly unique NFT traders (millions). Source: DappRadar*

The month was a busy one for the NFT community.

At least two more NFT marketplaces shift to an optional royalty model, including Solana-based Magic Eden and Ethereum-based LooksRare.

The report also highlighted that Yuga Labs has continued to dominate the NFT market, with seven of the top ten sales for the month coming from CryptoPunk and Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Of these sales, CryptoPunk#924 was the most valuable, selling for a whopping 475 Ether (ETH) on Oct. 27, which is valued at $731,435 at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s NFT trading volume continued to decline for the second straight quarter, falling 21% over the last month to $324 million, which represents the lowest volume registered by DappRadar since June 2021.

In brighter news, Polygon’s NFT trading volume has spiked 770% over the last month, driven by the success of the Reddit NFT collections as the main driver behind the surge, according to DappRadar.

Since their launch in July, more than 2.9 million Reddit avatars have been minted, which have found their way into more than 2.8 million wallets, with Dune analytics data suggesting October finished with the collection having a sales volume of $10.1 million.

The trading volume seems likely to continue increasing for the layer-2 solution over the next month, with Meta announcing on Nov. 2 that Polygon would be its initial partner for its upcoming NFT tools.

The report also mentioned that Dogecoin (DOGE) had been the best-performing token of the month, closing the month 50% higher than when it began and citing Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and the announcement of Dogechain’s future roadmap as the drivers.

It also highlighted an increase in the average number of unique active wallets, up 6.84% from the previous month. DappRadar pointed to staking provider Lido being incorporated within Arbitrum and Optimism as well as a partnership between the Near Foundation and Google Cloud as the drivers for this increase.

A slice of the punk: CryptoPunk NFT to be split into 56,000 pieces

A valuable CryptoPunk NFT is to be fractionalized as more than 56,000 addresses sign up for a share of ownership.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to capture the imagination of the cryptocurrency space, with some of the most popular projects attracting hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. Projects such as CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club epitomize the exclusivity of the most lucrative collections, with each NFT far from accessible to the average investor.

A new campaign intends to give a wider base of investors a stake in some of the most valuable NFTs by fractionalizing ownership to reinstate accessibility. Unique Network, an NFT infrastructure running on the Kusama and Polkadot networks, will split the ownership of a CryptoPunk to more than 56,000 addresses that have signed up for a share.

The campaign offers users a chance to participate in what has become a highly siloed environment, as Unique Network CEO Alexander Mitrovich explained in a statement:

“This represents an exciting moment for interoperability. With our fractionalisation of Cryptopunk #3042 we are heralding a new era of NFTs that are accessible, interchangeable and can be shared across chains, and at a fraction of the cost.”

CryptoPunk #3042 was bought for 46.95 Ether (ETH) ($82,000) by Unique Network in June 2022 as cryptocurrency markets slumped to yearly lows. The NFT had originally been sold for $16 in November 2018 before CryptoPunks became one of the most exclusive Ethereum-based projects in the ecosystem and the trail-blazer for crypto-art and NFTs.

Unique Network’s acquisition of CryptoPunk #3042 was aimed at democratizing the asset as well as showcasing blockchain interoperability. There is no cost associated with signing up for a share of the CryptoPunk, which forms part of the firm’s Punks for the People campaign.

Interestingly, once addresses are airdropped with their individual refungible token, there will be significantly more owners of the single CryptoPunk on the Polkadot blockchain than the entire 10,000 original CryptoPunks running on Ethereum.

Unique Network will also fractionalize the ownership of one of its flagship Substrapunk NFTs. Inspired by CryptoPunks, Subtrapunks were the first NFTs to be minted on the Polkadot blockchain.

A slice of the punk: CryptoPunk NFT to be split into thousands of pieces

A valuable CryptoPunk NFT is to be fractionalized as more than 56,000 addresses sign up for a share of ownership.

The campaign offers users a chance to participate in what has become a highly siloed environment, as Unique Network CEO Alexander Mitrovich explained in a statement:

“This represents an exciting moment for interoperability. With our fractionalisation of Cryptopunk #3042 we are heralding a new era of NFTs that are accessible, interchangeable and can be shared across chains, and at a fraction of the cost.”

Interestingly, once addresses are claimed by people who have signed up, there will be significantly more owners of the single CryptoPunk on the Polkadot blockchain than the entire 10,000 original CryptoPunks running on Ethereum.

Unique Network will also fractionalize the ownership of one of its flagship Substrapunk NFTs. Inspired by CryptoPunks, Subtrapunks were the first NFTs to be minted on the Polkadot blockchain.

Tiffany & Co turning CryptoPunk NFTs into $50K custom pendants

The customized pendants are set to cost 30 ETH a pop and will go on sale on August 5.

Luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co has announced the sale of 250 diamond and gemstone encrusted pendants for CryptoPunk nonfungible token (NFT) holders.

The handcrafted CryptoPunk pendants were announced by the jewelry brand on Sunday on Twitter, and are priced at 30 Ether (ETH), equivalent to $50,600 each at the time of writing.

We’re taking NFTs to the next level. Exclusive to CryptoPunks holders, NFTiff transforms your NFT into a bespoke pendant handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. artisans. You’ll also receive an additional NFT version of the pendant. Learn more: https://t.co/FJwCAxw8TN #NFTiff #TiffanyAndCo pic.twitter.com/pyKlWejHv4

— Tiffany & Co. (@TiffanyAndCo) July 31, 2022

According to an NFTiffs FAQ page, the NFTiff token sale is set to launch on August 5 at 2:00 pm UTC, and will only be available for purchase NFTiff tokens via its website.

Each CryptoPunk is limited to a maximum of three NFTiff tokens that allow them to mint a customized pendant. There are 87 different attributes and 159 colors that can be used to custom design the pendants, and the pendant itself will be composed of 18-Karat rose or yellow gold, based on the color palette of the NFT.

Should all the limited edition pendants sell out, Tiffany & Co stands to make 7,500 in ETH, currently $12.7 million at the time of writing.

The campaign was first promoted by Tiffany & Co vice president Alexandre Arnault, who owns CryptoPunk #3167 in April. In a tweet, Arnault revealed his new rose gold and enamel CryptoPunk, which was transformed with a new sapphire and Mozambique-colored set of glasses and a yellow diamond round earring.

When punks go wild at @TiffanyAndCo

#3167

Rose gold and enamel Cryptopunk.

Sapphire and Mozambique baguette Ruby glasses, yellow diamond round earring.

LFG! pic.twitter.com/M2c8AmwU0R

— Alexandre Arnault (@alexarnault) April 7, 2022

Community reacts

The crypto community on Twitter appears largely excited about the new NFT offering from the luxury jewelry brand.

Twitter user markfidelman, chief marketing officer of SmartBlocks Agency, called the NFT project an “incredibly tasteful activation,” adding:

“More Web2 firms looking to dip their toes in Web3 need to be learning from the quality of this $NFTiff offering and taking notes.”

This is actually a really excellent way to enter the NFT space. Very much “on brand”

Lots of people hate Tiffany’s and think they’re overpriced (they kinda are, you’re paying for the brand and packaging).

But there’s clearly a market for them — and this suits that market

— Zeneca_33 (,) (@Zeneca_33) July 31, 2022

The jewelry company first ventured into NFTs in March when they purchased an Okapi NFT from contemporary artist Tom Sachs for $380,000. Tiffany & Co have since set the rocket-styled NFT as their profile picture on Twitter.

On April Fools’ Day, April 1, Tiffany & Co also produced TiffCoins, a limited-release of 400 18-karat gold coins with the company logo individually engraved on each coin.

Luxury brands are no strangers to the crypto space, with many beginning to accept crypto as payment, such as Gucci, Balenciaga and Farfetch.

Last April, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Prada joined forces to launch Aura, a consortium blockchain that will utilize NFTs so that high-end shoppers can authenticate goods, track products and materials and also fight counterfeits.