Christie’s to Auction Bored Apes, Meebits, More CryptoPunks NFTs

By Will Gottsegen

NFTs from three of today’s buzziest collections—Bored Apes, Meebits, and CryptoPunks—will be among the lots at an upcoming auction at Christie’s.

A specialist at Christie’s confirmed the news to Decrypt.

NFTs are non-fungible tokens: blockchain-based collectibles that can be bought and sold as proof of ownership for files on the internet. Christie’s sold its first NFT last year, along with a corresponding physical sculpture. Sensing a nascent market (and competition from Sotheby’s), the auction house has only expanded its digital asset operations since then. In March, Christie’s sold an NFT by the digital artist Beeple for $69 million.

CryptoPunks—a set of pixelated mugshots attached to NFTs—are among the oldest and most prized crypto art experiments. Each possesses certain “traits,” some rarer and more valuable than others; one might have blue skin, and another might be wearing a cap or smoking a cigarette. As of this morning, the cheapest CryptoPunk NFT costs more than $100,000. Some have sold for upwards of $7 million.

In May, Christie’s sold a group of CryptoPunks for around $17 million.

Meebits are another generative crypto art project from Larva Labs, the developers behind CryptoPunks. And Bored Ape Yacht Club is the heir apparent to CryptoPunks—a new iteration on the same formula. The collection was the subject of a recent column in The New Yorker.

The NFTs for the upcoming auction all come from a single-owner collection, though Christie’s declined to identify the owner. The sale is set for late September at the auction house's Hong Kong saleroom.

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