CryptoPunk owner sells NFT to himself for $532m in Ethereum

In the early hours of October 29, the NFT CryptoPunk #9998 was sold for a record 124,457 ETH ($532 million at the time of the transaction). However, the deal proved to be fictitious—the owner sold the token to himself.

Creators of the CryptoPunks collection from Larva Labs said that a user with the alias blurr bought the token with instant loan funds and repaid the loan in the same transaction. They say the trade was technically not valid.

“Some recent large bets were conducted in the same way. Ethereum was offered and withdrawn in a single transaction. And although technically the order is valid, it cannot be accepted,” the creators added.

In a transaction note, blurr left a message: “Looks rare”. message.

The transfer fee for 124,457 ETH amounted to about $800.

The user has again put CryptoPunk #9998 up for sale at 250,000 ETH ($1.07 billion). In August, the token price stood at 110 ETH.

Larva Labs has said it will add alert filters so that such invalid flash-loan-based transactions are no longer accessible. The analytics service CryptoSlam said it would remove data about this deal.

The most expensive CryptoPunks NFT was Lot #7523, also known as COVID Alien. It was purchased in June 2021 for 4520 ETH ($11.8 million at the time of the deal).

Earlier, the owner of NFT CryptoPunk #6046 refused to sell the token for 2500 ETH ($9.49 million at the time of the bid).

Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.