NFTs belonging to bankrupt crypto firm fetch nearly US$2.5 million at auction

AUCTION house Sotheby’s announced on Friday (May 19) seven non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital sold for about US$2.5 million.

Of the tokens, Fidenza #725, an image with graphic dashes and curves in a muted palette of cream, yellow, pink and black, fetched the highest price at over US$1 million. Three Arrows Capital purchased it for 135 ether in 2021, equal to about US$341,786 at the time, according to DappRadar.

The auction was part of liquidating Three Arrows, according to a February memo from Teneo, one of the court-appointed liquidators.

Singapore-based Three Arrows was the first major crypto firm to go bankrupt in 2022, brought down by the collapse of cryptocurrencies Luna and TerraUSD. It filed for bankruptcy in the British Virgin Islands in late June 2022.

The company at the time estimated its assets at around US$1 billion, with its extensive NFT collection valued at about US$22 million, according to a filing seen by cryptocurrency news site The Block.

NFTs are a blockchain-based asset that represents ownership of a digital item, such as an image, video or piece of text.

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The market for NFTs exploded in 2021, and auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s joined the craze.

But sales volumes and prices have since dropped, as the demand for speculative assets has cooled. REUTERS