Why Deepak Thapliyal bought a Cryptopunk for $24M?

Cryptopunks are notoriously known for leading the ‘most expensive’ NFTs leaderboard and now, thanks to a somewhat loyal community, the price goes up again, touching a cool $24 million! Soon after the purchase the new owner of the Cryptopunk surfaced and it turned out to be Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain.

Now, increasing the value of Cryptopunks is great but we decided to find out what moves Thapliyal, to make such, in some regard outrageous acquisitions. After all, he is known for owning a whole set of Space Bored Apes, but is this just an attempt to go viral, or a well thought out move?

Why are Cryptopunks so valuable?

Brought to life by a company called Larva Labs, Cryptopunks are considered to be the OGs of the NFT movement. However, many industry specialists may argue that the real original project began life as early as 2015, which is no match for Cryptopunks and its release in June 2017.

Given all this, Cryptopunks still deserve credit, since it is one of the projects that really took the NFT name global. This is also supported by $2 billion traded volume, achieved by the project on the secondary markets, which is no match for any NFT competitor. Not even Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The NFTandGameFi team has recently conducted a thorough evaluation of how value of NFTs is formed. Cryptopunks wise, it is believed to primarily hold on the resell value that these NFTs hold.

Spending $24 million on an NFT

To better understand why Thapliyal was drawn to Cryptopunk #5822, we decided to consult with his social media accounts. We were after hints, but it turned out that the question was already answered by the bearer himself.

Thapliyal, being quite active on Twitter, explained in detail what pushed him to purchase a BAYC NFT for $5.8 million and below are the key takeaways…

‘After my purchase of a Bored Ape, I realized that this #BAYC movement is real. We are at an intersection of history being made and we can choose to ignore it and go one way or fully embrace it and go the other way.’ This stipulates that he sees high potential behind this NFT series, and as per his words, the potential is global.

‘NFTs can literally be used for anything today, I don’t even need to list them, I’m pretty sure we all agree on this point. But what some may disagree on is what do you price these NFTs at, especially those from collections such as @BoredApeYC.’ Highlights that value is set by the market and follows the ‘How much are you ready to pay?’ valuation logic.

‘In my opinion, the price reflects in two categorical ways: Rarity & Adoptability. BAYC is by far the most interactive/adopted NFT collection available. They’ve flipped the epic Cryptopunks & represent a cultural movement mixed with memes, laughter and financial freedoms.’ Thapliyal is on the lookout for collections that have a chance to become big. This can be achieved with a strong community, marketing, utility. As for BAYC, it is the community and marketing that took the collections to the masses.

‘Now the questions: Why did I pay nearly double the price on a Mega Mutant Serum (better known as M3)? Why did I pay ATH by a long shot for any BAYC product? The answer is simple.’ By paying over what the NFT is valued at, Thapliayal looks to attract more attention to the collection and himself. This of it as a marketing feat, where both the client and the collection wins.

‘It goes back to my two reflections. Adoptability is taking over. The #BAYC & #MAYC NFTs have taken the world by storm. The partnership w/ @animocabrands is a big deal in bringing global adoption to #BAYC. These and punks will go down in history as the #BTC & #ETH of NFTs.’

‘Rarity. What is the rarest, alien-punk style, NFT in this collection? M3 Mutant Apes since there’s only 13 of them. Plus this serum can potentially unlock a gold or trippy Mutant Ape. It’s no surprise a VC backed by @a16z tried to outbid me.’ Wherever there is a renowned VC fund involved, you just know there is a bright future set for the NFT collection.

‘So all-in-all my cost of this mutant will be around $7.2M (Bored Ape + the Serum), but I will not sell the M3 Ultra Rare Mutant Ape for anything less than 4206.9 ETH. I probably will never sell at all. This should be the floor for any Mega Mutant.’ Such comment shows that the bearer believes in his ability to manipulate the market. Not necessarily a bad thing or a move supported by bad intentions, this shows how fragile NFT market currently is.

‘So I did it “For The Culture. Because “I am become meme”. Maybe it’s because mom gave birth to me on 4/20. Whatever the reasons may be, it’s mainly because I have conviction that this is the future & that we are early (even still).’ An NFT collection must make its community believe that there is a future to it all. Investors inject funds in order to profit from it in the future, and NFT art world is no different. But how many NFT collections can truly make it big? Only a handful, which serves as a slight proof that perhaps these stellar collections do indeed have a chance to become the bitcoins and ethereums of the NFT art world.

How crazy is a cheque for $24 million?

Regardless of how outrageous such purchases may seem, there is always logic behind such moves and surely, for Thapliyal, the perks greatly overweigh the costs. Be it the media coverage the Chain’ CEO is after, the profits or both, let’s hope he knows what he is doing. Once thing we are confident in though, is that it is this kind of market activity, that makes NFTs global.