CryptoPunk is a series of digital tokens that are released free of charge to anyone with an Ethereum crypto wallet.
Now Visa has bought one of the bad guys, number 7610 to be exact, for $150,000 in 49.5 ether, he writes. Bloomberg.
The image is a so-called NFT – a non-fungible token – which means that it is stored on the blockchain, which certifies that the digital asset is unique and therefore not interchangeable.
NFTs are used to represent a variety of data elements such as audio, video, and video, and work by giving ownership of a file.
- Irreplaceable Token: A digital certificate of ownership associated with a digital object
- It uses blockchain technology to ensure that an item is unique and not pirated
- Often associated with artwork
- The most expensive NFT was artwork by a digital artist called Beeple. It was sold at auction for $69 million.
“We believe NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment and commerce,” Cuy Sheffeld, Visa’s head of crypto, wrote in a blog post on the company’s pages.
The prices of CryptoPunk images have skyrocketed since they were released for free in 2017 by Larva Labs. The most expensive “CryptoPunk” was sold at Sotheby’s for $11.8 million. Prices have also gone up since the Visa purchase, and the cheapest price is now around $225,000, according to Bloomberg.
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”