In the most recent drop, a London based crypto artist XCOPY sold more than $24 million worth of NFTs in just 10 minutes. The majority of the money was earned by the mints of the “MAX PAIN” piece, which was sold as an open edition, although a series of ranked auctions also yielded considerable sums.
XCOPY has shown that high-value NFT artwork will not be phased out. The NFT drop “MAX PAIN AND FRENS” was made available via Nifty Gateway on Thursday. The event was the open edition sale of a work called “MAX PAIN” and some other more limited pieces. Approximately $24.4 million has been generated from the drop, with more than $23 million of that amount coming from the open edition sales.
The sale of “MAX PAIN” began at 22:30 UTC on March 31st. Patrons had a 10-minute window to mint an NFT, and there was no limit on the number of NFTs that could be minted. A total of 7,394 NFTs were minted and sold for $3,108 per piece – the price of 1 Ethereum when the sale started.
XCOPY generates $23 million with the piece titled “MAX PAIN”. Source: XCOPY
In addition to “MAX PAIN,” two auctions for additional, more limited-edition XCOPY works were held concurrently. The first, named “WASTER,” was released with six limited edition copies and employed a ranked auction system. The top six offers, which varied in value from $101,000 to $91,000, were unsuccessful and earned an NFT.
Another limited edition item, “DAMAGER LUXE,” was sold for $79,999 after being auctioned off in the same manner. Fans who had five NFTs backed by the Nifty Gateway marketplace were eligible to join the raffle to get one of 24 “GOURMET SPICY” pieces available for $1 each.
Additionally, within the follow-up to XCOPY’s most recent open edition drop, “Afterburn” holders were able to burn either one or two of their NFTs to obtain a selection of previously unpublished works from the artist.
“Afterburn” was published in March 2021 and sold for $999 in a five-minute open edition and two additional non-fiction titles. The drop, named “TRAITORS,” was limited to only 1,127 pieces, demonstrating the current surge of interest in NFTs. Those NFTs, like the majority of other early XCOPY items, are now worth substantially more than they were when first listed.
As early as 2018, XCOPY was among the first digital artists to adopt NFTs, with works minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Their unique glitch-based style has served as an inspiration to a plethora of other prominent artists in the field, with names such as Beeple and FEWOCiOUS.
While “MAX PAIN” isn’t nearly as precious as some of XCOPY’s more costly pieces—which can fetch millions of dollars at auction – there is already a return on investment for those having minted one of the NFTs. The floor price on OpenSea is now at 1.125 Ethereum, around $3,559. If the prices of these newest NFTs rise in line with those of other XCOPY crypto art, they might potentially be valuated higher in the future.