Cyptopunks: Despite 560% spike in sales volumes, why’s there fear in the air

In March, Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club announced the acquisition of CryptoPunks. CryptoPunks have captured plenty of attention- thanks to endorsements from celebrities and athletes. However, despite the fame, the project has witnessed significant backlash from the community.

Analyzing this ‘punk’

At press time, the NFT marketplace yielded an overall sales volume of around $20 billion as per CoinMarketCap. Although, given the ongoing bearish sentiment in the crypto market, many projects have suffered a fall. However, CryptoPunks recorded a new milestone that placed the project just below Axie Infinity when it comes to the all-time ranking of NFTs by volume.

The 24-hour trading volume of CryptoPunks increased by 371% to $3.98 million, ranking second in the 24-hour trading volume of the NFT market. In fact, at press time, the platform witnessed a 560% rise as the trading volume crossed the $5.1 million mark.

Source: CryptoSlam

Looking at insights on OpenSea, CryptoPunks, indeed enjoyed a much needed uptick in the sales domain as seen in the graph below over 90 days.

Source: OpenSea

Likewise, given the demand, holders’ count increased by more 3% within the same period. Likewise, given the need, the current floor price rose to 53.8 ETH, with a market value of $1.67 billion.

Source: Larvalabs.com

Since January 2022, the NFT project grew substantially in total transaction counts, including a surge in unique monthly users, reaching 501 transactions and an approximate sales volume of $6.1 million.

All smiles here?

Well, this certainly isn’t the case here for this project. The investor who bought CryptoPunk #273  for more than $1 million less than seven months ago sold the NFT for $139,530 — at a massive almost 80% loss. Out of the last 10 CryptoPunks that have been sold, eight were sold at a loss.

Such headwinds did create a lot of speculations and FUDs for this project.