Indonesian NFT ‘selfie guy’ makes $1.8M, CryptoPunks sells for $16M: Nifty Newsletter

In this week’s newsletter, read about how an Indonesian man who sold nonfungible token (NFT) selfies in 2022 is making a comeback through memecoins. Check out how asset manager BlackRock’s crypto wallet received memecoins and NFTs after depositing a stablecoin in the wallet. In other news, find out how the CEO of Pixelmon is betting on fractionalized NFTs, and learn about a new CryptoPunk transaction taking the second-largest sale record for the collection. 

Indonesian NFT “selfie guy” makes $1.8 million in memecoin comeback

Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali, who gained popularity from selling selfie NFTs in 2022, is making a comeback with a hybrid project combining NFTs and memecoins. Ghozali announced the project, its details and a presale address on March 24. 

Days after the announcement, the presale address had 527 Ether (ETH), worth about $1.8 million. Despite this, Ghozali said he would refund the amount exceeding the 400-ETH cap he set for the project.

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BlackRock receives memecoins, NFTs after depositing $100 million USDC on-chain

Asset management company BlackRock received at least $40,000 worth of memecoins and NFTs after on-chain sleuths found out about one of its wallets connected to a new tokenization fund. After BlackRock made a filing to offer its BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, a $100-million USD Coin (USDC) deposit was flagged. 

Because of this, unnamed crypto users sent at least 40 different tokens and 25 NFTs to the BlackRock labeled address on Etherscan. This ranged from Bitcoin Ordinals’ Pepe coin to a “CryptoDickbutts S3” NFT.

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Pixelmon CEO bets on fractionalized NFTs for its huge comeback

Crypto project Pixelmon, once mocked as the “worst NFT project,” has tapped into fractionalization to make a comeback. CEO Giulio Xiloyannis told Cointelegraph in an interview that they would redo the artworks of the project apart from “Kevin,” a popular NFT piece in the Pokemon-inspired project. 

Xiloyannis said that Pixelmon will be free to play but will have Web3 elements. By owning an NFT, holders could earn royalties when the likeness of the NFT is used outside the game. Traders can also own fractions of an NFT and earn according to the percentage they own. 

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CryptoPunks record another $16-million NFT sale in March

Blue-chip NFT collection CryptoPunks saw another $16-million transaction in March, becoming the collection’s second-largest NFT sale. On March 20, CryptoPunk #7804 sold for 4,850 ETH, worth about $16.4 million at the time of the transaction. 

Peruggia, the long-time owner of the NFT, bid farewell and described the sale as the “end of an era.” The NFT owner purchased the CryptoPunk for 4,200 ETH in 2021 (worth about $7.5 million).

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Thanks for reading this digest of the week’s most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively evolving space.