Sotheby’s Gets ‘Punked’ On CryptoPunks, Forced To Cancel Largest NFT Auction Yet
Earlier this month, auction house Sotheby’s announced that it was going to hold what might’ve been the largest non-fungible token auction ever, comprising a collection of highly-coveted CryptoPunks tokens fetching around US$30 million—if it had actually taken place.
The collector of the tokens, who Sotheby’s acquired them from, suddenly tweeted that they had decided to withdraw from the auction on Wednesday night, just before the Punk It! auction was about to begin.
“[Nevermind], decided to hodl,” the collector, who goes by the pseudonym 0x650d, nonchalantly broadcasted on their Twitter account.
Attendees were already mingling, a panel having taken place, before the news was suddenly announced, ARTnews reports. It’s unusual for last-minute withdrawals to happen at a single-lot sale such as this one.
But why? Shortly after making their announcement, 0x650d tweeted a meme implying that they’d rather “take the punks mainstream” through “rugging Sotheby’s” rather than selling via them.
“Rugging” refers to pulling the rug out from under someone’s feet, which Decrypt states is a scam where the developer leaves the project with the investor’s funds. Although there weren’t lost funds in this instance, the collector did metaphorically pull the rug out from the auction house, and the potential bidders’, feet.
— 0x650d (@0x650d) February 24, 2022
In other words, in the name of giving the NFT collection even more publicity, it seems the collector decided to troll the auction house.
However, the publication also reports that there could be another reason that is being kept under wraps. In a now-deleted tweet, 0x650d referred to the auction house’s purportedly hefty commission fees as a reason for withdrawing from the Punk It! sale.
Following discussions with the consignor, tonight's Punk It sale has been withdrawn. Thank you to our panelists, guests and viewers for joining us.
— Sotheby's Metaverse (@Sothebysverse) February 24, 2022
