Daily Trading Volume Reaches $41.5 Million! Coinbase Angel Investor Sparks CryptoPunk Frenzy Weekend

The CryptoPunk craze has been ongoing since the concept of NFTs emerged in February, with Coinbase angel investor Gary Vaynerchuk purchasing a CryptoPunk NFT for 1,600 ETH, igniting the frenzy over CryptoPunks last weekend.

Data Shows Market Frenzy

According to data from NonFungible, the daily trading volume of CryptoPunks has exceeded $30 million since last Friday, reaching as high as $41.5 million.

The number of active wallets in the market (independent wallets that have bought or sold assets) has surged from an average of below 50 per month to over 300 in a single day.

The average price of a single CryptoPunk NFT has increased from the original 34 ETH ($86,700) to 52 ETH ($132,600) after this weekend's frenzy, achieving an almost 53% increase in just three days.

Single CryptoPunk Listed for $5.4 Million

The frenzy was kicked off by well-known American entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, who, also an angel investor in Coinbase, purchased CryptoPunk #2140 for approximately 1,600 ETH, equivalent to $3.7 million, last Friday, setting the fourth-highest price in CryptoPunk's trading history.

The third highest was #5217, which was sold for 2,250 ETH (approximately $5.4 million) a few hours after Gary Vaynerchuk's transaction. The frenzy continued as an anonymous investor named 0x650d bought 88 CryptoPunks for 2,700 ETH (around $7 million) shortly after.

Interestingly, CryptoPunks #2140 and #5217 have very similar appearances, both featuring a monkey portrait and wearing an orange knitted hat. Among the total of 10,000 CryptoPunks, only 24 feature a monkey portrait, and 419 have the knitted hat in this style.

It is evident that rarer CryptoPunks are considered more valuable by investors.

Responding to criticisms of the exorbitant prices of these CryptoPunks,Gary Vaynerchuk stated:

"I understand the curiosity, cynicism, or debate my actions may generate, but I have great confidence in this asset. And I'm sure people have had the same opinions about Jackson Pollock's paintings at some point in the past."

In addition, institutional investors also participated in this event. Three Arrows Capital 3A, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund, bought 10 CryptoPunks, including one with a zombie portrait, listed for $2 million.

With the huge trading volume this week, the NFT market is gradually heating up, with more and more people joining the ranks of investing in crypto art, especially in these more well-known top protocols. However, how long this trend will last remains unknown. Some believe it is a new art collection model for this generation, full of business opportunities, while others think it is like a growing bubble that will eventually burst."