Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are not only a playground for creativity, but also a much-hyped asset class in which popular projects such as the Cryptopunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club often attract only the most solvent investors.
A new initiative now wants to remedy this situation and make coveted collectibles accessible to the “little people” by using the concept of “fractional ownership”. In the course of this, the Unique Network – an NFT project based on Kusama and Polkadot – has bought a CryptoPunk, which is to be broken up into 56,000 parts and divided up to interested investors.
In this way, a democratization of the elite NFT market is to be ensured, as Unique CEO Alexander Mitrovich explains:
“This is an exciting moment for interoperability. With the splitting of CryptoPunk #3042, we are ushering in a new era of NFTs that is accessible to everyone, that can be shared across different blockchains and is only a fraction of the cost.“
The CryptoPunk #3042 was acquired by the Unique Network in June 2022 for 46.95 ETH (then just under 82,000 US dollars), which was a real bargain in view of the market-wide crisis. In November 2018, the NFT was originally sold for a paltry 16 US dollars, before the project quickly became one of the most popular collections ever.
With the purchase of CryptoPunk #3042, Unique wants to prove the interoperability of blockchain networks on the one hand and to democratize the market on the other. Accordingly, participation in the initiative “Punks for the People” is free of charge, but it probably also needs the necessary bit of luck.
At a later date, one of the company’s own SubstraPunk NFTs will also be split up, which in turn are inspired by the CryptoPunks and are created on the Polkadot blockchain.
