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Virtual Property Sells for $1.5M in Ether, Smashing NFT Record
The eye-popping 888 ETH virtual land sale is said to mark the largest NFT transaction of all time.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:09 p.m. Published Feb 9, 2021, 5:17 p.m.
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A piece of virtual land on blockchain marketplace and gaming platform Axie Infinity has just sold for a record-breaking sum in cryptocurrency.
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At around 23:00 UTC on Monday, one of the platform's newest community members, "Flying Falcon," purchased the digital estate of nine adjacent Genesis blocks for 888.25 ether, roughly $1.5 million at the time.
The transaction marks the largest non-fungible token (NFT) transaction of all time, superseding the previous $800,000 record set by Polyient Games and their purchase of "the Citadel of the Sun" from Gala Games.
"As Genesis land plots are the rarest and best-positioned plots in Axie Infinity they were a natural fit for my thesis," Flying Falcon told CoinDesk via email. "What we're witnessing is a historic moment; the rise of digital nations with their own system of clearly delineated, irrevocable property rights."
History has been made! I've just sold an @AxieInfinity genesis estate for 888.25 ETH (~$1.5M USD). This is the largest digital land sale ever recorded on the blockchain. Congratulations to the new owner - Flying Falcon 🔥 #NFTs pic.twitter.com/AoGydw9Cpv
— DANNY (@seedphrase) February 8, 2021
While the "epic 9" plot is by far the NFT sector's largest sale to date, there are roughly three other plots going for much higher: from 100 to 10,000 ETH.
Genesis NFTs are supply-capped virtual plots featuring a "unique aesthetic" and prime positioning within the Axie platform.
"As the largest digital land sale ever, this marks a significant development in the short history of NFTs," the seller, Danny (who preferred not to provide a surname), told CoinDesk. "Virtual economies will be the new frontier for an increasingly digital world."
See also: Rare Hashmasks Digital Artwork Sells for $650K in Ether
The virtual land assets will be used for an upcoming game mode known as Axie Land, aka Project K.
Danny recently purchased a rare Hashmasks digital artwork for 420 ETH (around $650,000 at the time of purchase, as CoinDesk reported last week.
CORRECTION (Feb. 10, 2:04 UTC): Corrects statement from crypto collectibles website NonFungible which incorrectly claimed F1 Delta Time held the prior record at $233K. The previous record holder was Polyient Games and their purchase of a Gala Games NFT.
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