CryptoPunk NFT Worth $95,000 Burned and Replaced with Bitcoin Ordinals Inscription
A valuable Ethereum NFT from a prominent Web3 PFP collection, CryptoPunk #8611, has been permanently removed from circulation and symbolically tied to an Ordinals inscription.
The move was celebrated by a group of Bitcoin enthusiasts, who saw the costly and eye-catching action as a significant event.
CryptoPunk #8611 was sold for approximately 55 Ethereum or $95,000 on Saturday, according to Etherscan.
CryptoPunk #8611 inscribed onto Bitcoin
Hours after the sale, the NFT was burned and linked to inscription 12,456,749, an NFT-like asset on Bitcoin bearing the same image as its predecessor.
The decision to destroy CryptoPunk #8611 was a community-led effort, initiated by Wolf Capital Developer Nathan Stein on Twitter, and supported by holders of Bitcoin Bandits, a Western-themed collection of Ordinals inscriptions.
A spokesperson for the project told Decrypt that around 150 people contributed to the cause.
CryptoPunk #8611 now resides in a well-known burn address that also contains $21 million worth of Ethereum.
When a digital asset is burned, it is locked away forever in a digital wallet that nobody controls.
The first CryptoPunk teleburned from ETH to BTC.
— Minh (@MINHxDYNASTY) June 18, 2023
[feat.]
◘ @OrdinalMaxiBiz
◘ @banditsbtc
◘ @ZK_shark
◘ @ChartFuMonkey
◘ + more legends. pic.twitter.com/BFNfrcJyyM
Why is this important?
CryptoPunks, a collection of 10,000 unique pixel art images created by Larva Labs in 2017, are the pioneering NFTs stored on the Ethereum blockchain.
The recent burning of CryptoPunk #8611 marks a significant milestone in the NFT space, as it is the first NFT to be burned on Ethereum and inscribed onto Bitcoin.
The burning of CryptoPunk #8611 indicates the maturation of the NFT space, demonstrating that NFTs are not merely digital collectibles but also valuable tools for creating new applications and services.
The ultimate goal is to create a series of Ordinals inscriptions that correspond to a share of ownership in CryptoPunk #8611, even though the original asset can no longer be owned by anyone on its initial chain.
Members of the Bitcoin Bandits community who contributed funds to purchase CryptoPunk #8611 have also been entered into a contest related to a separate inscriptions project.
