Jay-Z Changes His Twitter Profile Picture To A CryptoPunk NFT
Jay-Z Changes His Twitter Profile Picture To A CryptoPunk NFT
Jay-Z has added a CryptoPunk as his Twitter profile picture seemingly revealing what may be one of his Ethereum addresses. The CryptoPunk that is now 51-year-old Jay-Z’s Twitter avatar appears to be a digital version of himself rocking a gold chain and his signature free-form locs.
Ethereum is the most actively used blockchain, and after Bitcoin, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 NFTs (which stands for non-fungible token) on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. Jay-Z’s CryptoPunk was reportedly purchased on April 25 for 55 ETH, worth $126,000 at the time. However, it has reportedly dropped in value to just $102,000.
After Jay-Z seemingly identified the CryptoPunk as his, other crypto users have started sending NFTs to the Ethereum address associated with his CryptoPunk. This could result in a huge payout, earlier this month a CryptoPunk alien sold for $11.8 million in a sale hosted by Sotheby’s Auction House. It was the most expensive CryptoPunk sale to date.
In addition to that, Jay-Z will also be auctioning an NFT based on his debut album Reasonable Doubt at Sotheby’s Auction House. According to reports, Jay-Z has hired a digital artist to create a one-of-one animated digital collectible that is meant to “recontextualize” the album cover, which was initially released over two decades ago.
The exhibition will be available at Sotheby’s New York and digitally in the virtual world Decentraland, which uses the Ethereum blockchain. The bidding starts at $1,000 and the sale ends on July 2. People that are interested have the option of paying in ether, bitcoin, or fiat currencies. A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation.
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