XCOPY, one of the pioneers of crypto-art, sold 7394 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 10 minutes, allowing him to raise nearly $23 million. How do you explain such a success?
XCOPY sells 7,394 NFTs in 10 minutes
The Nifty Gateway marketplace in collaboration with XCOPY launched an open sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called “Max Pain and Frens”.
The NFTs all have the same visual namely a GIF featuring a skull, with the artist’s signature glitchy aesthetic. XCOPY is recognized as one of the very first crypto-artists in history and also one of the most famous.
As a reminder, an open edition does not have a limit on the number of NFTs available. Instead, the sale takes place over a limited period of time. In other words, collectors could buy as many NFTs as they wanted during the allotted time.
Thus, on March 24 between 11:30 and 11:40 p.m., the artist XCOPY sold several thousand NFTs for 1 Ether (ETH) per unit. More precisely, 7,394 NFTs were sold in 10 minutes, generating the equivalent of $23 million. The artist said: “It was pretty intense”.
However, this sale has provoked some criticism by highlighting the lack of creativity (all NFTs are the same) and the greedy aspect of the initiative. Regardless, it is difficult to question XCOPY’s position as its reputation is so important.
The rise of the artist XCOPY
XCOPY was one of the very first artists to create a work on the SuperRare platform with the work “Death Dip”. In early November 2021, an NFT by the artist titled “A Coin for the Ferryman” sold on this marketplace for 1,330 ETH, the equivalent of $6 million. As another example, XCOPY’s “Right Click and Save As Guy” sold for $7.1 million in late 2021.
These two sales illustrate XCOPY’s meteoric rise. In 2018, the first buyer of NFT “Right Click and Save As Guy” had acquired the work directly from the artist for approximately $139.
While the Max Pain and Frens open edition is not as valuable as XCOPY’s rarest works, those who have purchased one of the NFTs are already seeing a return on their investment. Currently the minimum price on OpenSea is about 1.6 ETH.
Additionally, a cryptic message coming from the artist on Twitter might suggest that a few surprises could be revealed. Unless XCOPY is playing with the nerves of collectors…
