Sotheby’s First Sale of NFTs From Three Arrows Capital’s Collection Pulled in a Stunning $2.4 Million, Obliterating Estimates

At a moment when the auction market for blue-chip art works appears to be sobering up somewhat after years of exceeding estimates, a sale of NFTs at Sotheby’s New York has shown the appetite for premium on-chain digital assets remains strong.

In the first of a series of sales hosted by Sotheby’s to sell off the hundreds of NFTs collected by bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, the auction house sold seven NFTs for more than $2.4 million.

The sale took place on May 19 as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction with all seven lots far exceeding their pre-sale high estimates. The sale’s title “Grails,” which in NFT verbiage refers to historical NFTs that are believed to have enduring value, proved true with works from Tyler Hobbs, Larva Labs, Dmitri Cherniak, and 0xDEAFBEEF all maintaining high demand.

One highlight was Tyler Hobbs’s , one of his numerous generative colorful flowfields, which sold for more than $1 million, well above its $120,000–$180,000 estimate. Another was Larva Labs’ , a Sol LeWitt-inspired series that is considered the first generative work to have been minted on the blockchain, which sold for $571,500 over a $120,000 to 180,000 pre-sale estimate.

“The depth of bidding and strong results for the first group of seven works offered from the Three Arrows collection is a clear indication that the market remains active and that collectors are willing to pursue works of the highest quality,” Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s Head of Digital Art and NFTs, told Artnet News.

Three Arrows Capital, which was founded by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, went bankrupt in July 2022 following the collapse of Luna and TerraUSD, two cryptocurrencies the Singapore-based hedge fund had heavily backed. Alongside its crypto activities, Three Arrows Capital was striving to create a peerless NFT collection in part through collaboration with renowned NFT connoisseur Vincent Van Dough.

Following its collapse, consulting firm Teneo became the fund’s liquidator and set about trying to recoup money. In February 2023, Teneo released a notice listing Three Arrows Capital’s NFTs which included 30 of Hobbs’ Fidenzas, 17 of Cherniak’s Ringers, and 11 CryptoPunks. In addition to the NFTs seized by Teneo, there is a separate collection—the so-called Starry Night collection—which Teneo is still trying to obtain.

Teneo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

More Trending Stories:  

A Philadelphia Man Paid $6,000 for Cracked Church Windows He Saw on Facebook. Turns Out They’re Tiffany—and Worth a Half-Million 

Mona Lisa’s Other Secret—Where the Portrait Was Painted—May Have Been Solved by an Art Historian Using Drone Imagery 

A Dutch Museum Has Organized a Rare Family Reunion for the Brueghel Art Dynasty—And the Female Brueghels Are Invited to the Party 

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s Director Has Resigned After Less Than Two Years, Citing ‘Resistance and Backlash’ 

‘We’re Not All Ikea-Loving Minimalists’: Historian and Author Michael Diaz-Griffith on the Resurgence of Young Antique Collectors 

The First Auction of Late Billionaire Heidi Horten’s Controversial Jewelry Proves Wildly Successful, Raking in $156 Million 

An Airbnb Host Got More Than They Bargained for with a Guest’s Offbeat Art Swap—and the Mystery Has Gone Viral on TikTok 

Not Patriarchal Art History, But Art ‘Herstory’: Judy Chicago on Why She Devoted Her New Show to 80 Women Artists Who Inspired Her 

An Artist Asked ChatGPT How to Make a Popular Memecoin. The Result Is ‘TurboToad,’ and People Are Betting Millions of Dollars on It 

An Elderly Man Spray-Painted a Miriam Cahn Painting at a Paris Museum After Right-Wing Attempts to Censor It Failed 

The Netflix Series ‘Transatlantic’ Dramatizes the Effort to Evacuate Artists From France During World War II. Here’s What Actually Happened in Real Life