OpenSea инвестирует $1 млн в культурные NFT, начиная с CryptoPunk #5273 Translation: OpenSea invests $1 million in cultural NFTs, starting with CryptoPunk #5273

The OpenSea marketplace has announced the establishment of a $1 million reserve comprised of “culturally significant” non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The platform’s first acquisition was CryptoPunk #5273. On-chain data reveals that the token was purchased on August 26 for 65 ETH (approximately $283,000 at the current exchange rate) and was transferred to another wallet on September 8.

“CryptoPunks were among the first NFTs on Ethereum—10,000 pixelated characters that inspired an entire cultural movement. Our OpenSea Punk perfectly embodies the essence of outsiders, hackers, and creators,” stated the marketplace in its publication.

OpenSea plans to continue purchasing NFTs and has created a dedicated page to track its portfolio.

According to CryptoSlam, the non-fungible token sector showed signs of recovery in July and August, with weekly volumes ranging from $115.4 million to $170.5 million during that period. However, the trend slowed in September, with volumes dropping to $92 million.

Despite the summer rebound, several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit and Kraken, as well as larger companies like GameStop, have shut down their NFT trading platforms.

In September, the British auction giant Christie’s joined this trend. According to Now Media, the organization will continue to sell digital art but under a broader category of 20th and 21st-century art.

Christie’s consultant Fanny Lacoubay stated that the company’s actions may be related to the “current contraction in the art market.”

“Auction houses cannot justify maintaining an entire department if it generates less revenue than others, even with a few recent successful sales,” she noted.

Currently, the only fully successful segment in the NFT market is Telegram gifts. According to GiftStat, the capitalization of this sector nearly doubled over the past month, rising from 26.5 million TON to 50.9 million TON (from approximately $79 million to $159 million).

Howard Pén of TVM Ventures highlighted five major sales from the past week.

Recall that in July, the public company GameSquare acquired an NFT from the CryptoPunk collection for $5.15 million to add to its treasury reserve.