Mark Cuban Wants To Offload $100K In NFTs
Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor famous for his role on the popular TV show "Shark Tank," is making headlines again in the NFT world. Over the past two days, Cuban sold 14 NFTs for approximately $38,500 through his crypto wallet, "markcuban.eth", which had been inactive for the last two years.
The most significant sale was Pudgy Penguin #6239, which fetched 9.06 Wrapped Ether (WETH), worth nearly $30,600. Additionally, Cuban has listed two other high-value NFTs: Hashtag NFT #MFFL for 15 ETH (around $50,000) and Deuteronomy 25:4 from the BibleNFT collection for 5 ETH ($16,000). If these NFTs sell at their current listing prices, total sales would exceed $102,200.
Cuban's Return to NFTs
Cuban’s wallet last transacted on January 13, 2022, with the sale of a Roc Aero Pitch Deck NFT for $33.73. Known for supporting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Cuban has also invested in the renowned NFT marketplace, OpenSea.
Reflecting on his NFT journey, Cuban shared at The North American Bitcoin Conference in 2022, “I always paid attention to Bitcoin, the pricing, the tokens, and the [crypto]currencies. But what really got me into it was, about a year ago, when I minted my first NFT.” He was fascinated by the ability to attach royalties to a digital file, a feature unique to NFTs.
Pudgy Penguins Announce New Parent Company
Interestingly, Cuban's decision to offload his Pudgy Penguins NFT comes at a time when the team behind Pudgy Penguins has announced the launch of a new parent company. Partnering with OverpassIP, an NFT licensing platform, they revealed Igloo Inc. on June 22. Igloo offers an end-to-end environment to introduce people to crypto without diluting existing assets.
Launched in 2021, Pudgy Penguins has quickly risen to become the third-largest NFT collection by market cap, with a valuation of $262 million. They’ve inked partnerships with retail giants like Walmart and Target, resulting in over a million toys sold. Pudgy Penguins was the most traded NFT collection on Ethereum over the last 24 hours, with $1.93 million in sales according to Dappradar.
NFT Sales Plunge
Despite these developments, the overall NFT market appears to be struggling. According to CryptoSlam, total NFT sales plummeted by 50% in June, dropping to $480 million. While Ethereum remains the top blockchain for NFT sales, the value of its leading collections has taken a hit recently.
The bearish trend is attributed to the completion of the third season of incentives on Blur, the top NFT marketplace by volume. In the last 30 days, Ethereum’s top four collections by market cap have each suffered losses ranging from 17% to 26%.
Overall, the NFT market faces turbulent times, even as high-profile investors like Mark Cuban continue to engage in major transactions.
