The First 5000 Days seen on smartphone and CryptoPunks pixel art on blurred background. Source: Ascannio - stock.adobe.com

Key Takeaways:

A trader acquired a rare Ape-themed CryptoPunk (#2386) for just 10 ETH ($23,000) through a “shotgun buyout” mechanism.
The NFT had 257 fractional owners, and the buyout bypassed bids as high as 900 ETH ($2 million) from earlier in the year.
The deal, while legal, has sparked debate on ethics within the NFT community over opportunistic buyouts.

A trader acquired a rare Ape-themed CryptoPunk NFT, worth approximately $1.5 million, for just 10 ETH ($23,000) through a “shotgun buyout” mechanism.

The NFT, Punk #2386, was fractionalized in 2020 on the now-defunct Niftex platform, giving 257 people shared ownership.

Punk 2386, with a current high bid of 600 eth, sold for 10 ETH today.

A combination of clever sleuthing, followed by an unfortunate miscalculation leads to a 7 figure payday for 0x282.

🧵 pic.twitter.com/E29DLQZ0GT
— Quit (@0xQuit) September 11, 2024

Although the platform shut down, the smart contracts remained active, allowing the trader to set a low buyout price.

With no counterbid submitted in time, the trader secured the NFT, despite bids as high as 900 ETH ($2 million) earlier in the year.

The move sparked debate in the NFT community, with some hailing it as a strategic steal and others calling it a “heist.”

A prominent collector, gmoneyNFT, attempted to counter the offer but failed to act quickly enough.

I don’t consider this a heist. It’s an arb. The smart contract worked as intended.

If you want decentralized systems you have to take the good with the bad. It’s part of the game. It’s why we’re here. If you don’t like those rules, you probably shouldn’t be playing.
— gmoney.9dcc.e τh (@gmoneyNFT) September 11, 2024

Though controversial, the transaction was legal under the terms of the smart contract, further fueling discussions on the ethics of such opportunistic buyouts.