Tiffany Sells Custom Cryptopunks Pendants Called “NFTiff” for $50,000

THE Tiffany & Co debuted on Friday (5th) a limited collection of 250 personalized jewel-encrusted pendants for holders of CryptoPunks, a popular collection of non-fungible tokens that sold out in less than two days.

CryptoPunks was launched in 2017 and consists of 10,000 unique characters generated in 8-bit style stored on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection is “essentially the rock paintings of Web3 art,” according to Noah Davis, new CryptoPunks brand leader and former head of digital sales at Christie’s, in an interview. to CNN .

“We are talking about the first successful and enduring community-based NFT project.”

Tiffany sold 250 “NFTiffs”, digital passes that can be minted and exchanged for custom CryptoPunks pendants and a corresponding NFT artwork, according to its website and Twitter. To buy an NFT, customers already had to own their own CryptoPunk.

For every NFTiff purchased, Tiffany’s designers will create a custom pendant based on the buyer’s CryptoPunk. Each CryptoPunk has a unique combination of 87 attributes, such as a medical mask, hat or earring, and 159 colors that will be reflected in the pendant. Each piece will be processed in 18 karat gold and will contain at least 30 gemstones and/or diamonds.

Furthermore, each NFTiff, which provides access to a pendant and a corresponding NFT digital rendering, costs a “small” amount: 30 ETH, or about $50,000.

Davis, head of the CryptoPunks brand, told CNN that Tiffany’s pendants are just one iteration of potential designs tied to the NFTs.

“Having an NFT means you have an entry into the blockchain,” Davis explained. “It is an indelible entry that can never be fraudulently modified, cannot be falsified, cannot be copied, cannot be destroyed. It’s there forever. Owning an NFT is a really powerful thing for the digital age.”

In March, Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, another famous early NFT project, acquired all of CryptoPunks’ intellectual property (IP) — and announced plans to grant commercial rights to all holders. It opened the door to projects like Tiffany pendants. “Having a token doesn’t just mean that this JPEG belongs to you,” Davis said.

“That means you have certain rights as to what you can do with your CryptoPunk, what kind of IP you can build around it. There are very few restrictions,” he argued.

Tiffany’s pendants “perfectly illustrate the license being released,” Davis said. “In this case, Cryptopunks owners are essentially commissioning Tiffany’s to create a new IP for their CryptoPunk, and that new IP is a pendant. You need to own CryptoPunk to own the pendant IP.”

The project also represents the growing entanglement between luxury brands, cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Historic auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s sold NFTs at jaw-dropping prices. And in May, Gucci announced plans to allow customers to pay for purchases with Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies.

“If we are entering an era where the virtual world will become more important and essential to our life experience, owning virtual goods will be much more valuable,” said Davis. “To have a head start on that, for these luxury companies to come into the space now, when we’re still very early on, is brilliant and makes perfect sense.”

Davis told CNN that he hopes that opening up commercial rights to CryptoPunk holders will lead to more exclusive community-oriented projects as NFT holders use their IP as the basis for their own ventures.

“The utility for CryptoPunks is the community,” he added. “There’s no need to add more because the incredible utility that already exists is community members. Finding ways to amplify those voices, provide more networking opportunities and really keep the Punks going – that’s the goal.”