On Friday, Sotheby’s completed the auction of several valuable non-fungible tokens (NFTs) confiscated from the extensive collection of the defunct cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), making $2,482,850 to make up for part of the money that was lost.
NFTs from the Grails collection, which was primarily created as part of 3AC’s asset portfolio, were the first items sold as part of the auction house’s multi-part sale in 2021. A hedge fund with its main office in Singapore filed for bankruptcy in July.
In February, Teneo, 3AC’s liquidator, announced its intention to sell a broad range of NFTs with an estimated value of millions.
According to Sotheby’s, the items in the Grails collection are “some of the most significant digital artworks ever assembled.” The generative artworks Fidenza #725 by Tyler Hobbs and Ringers #375 by Dmitri Cherniak were among the NFTs up for sale this round. The auction also includes CryptoPunk #1326 and Autoglyph #187, both of which were created by Larva Labs.
According to Sotheby’s description in its catalog, “This painstakingly chosen collection showcases the works of four leading artists who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary algorithmic art.”
Seven generative pieces of art were available in total. More NFTs from the collection of 3AC will eventually be made available in chapters through auctions or private sales.
Fidenza #725, which was expected to sell for between $120,000 and $180,000, and Autoglyph #187, which was expected to fetch between $120,000 and $180,000, are the two most expensive NFTs from Part 1 of the Grails collection. The prices for the NFTs were $1,016,000 and $571,500, respectively.
Following the hedge fund’s bankruptcy filing in July 2022, the NFTs were recovered by 3AC’s liquidators. Before being severely impacted by the current bad market in cryptocurrencies, 3AC’s estimated assets under management peaked at $10 billion. The company owes creditors $3.5 billion in total.
