Tiffany and Co. made their NFT debut on Friday and tasted instant success as they managed to sell out a limited collection of 250 custom jewel-encrusted pendants. These were sold to CryptoPunks holders, an early NFT collection that has become quite popular. In order to purchase an NFT, customers must already have a CryptoPunk in their possession. The debut attests to the growing popularity of NFTs, and their innate potential which has been attracting quite a crowd. Read along to know more.
The What and Why
Following its debut, Tiffany’s managed to sell out 250 ‘NFTiffs.’ These are digital passes that the customer can mint and redeem for custom-designed Cryptopunks pendants and a matching NFT art piece to go with it. The pre-requisite is that the customers must already have a CryptoPunk in their possession.
CryptoPunks started its journey back in the year 2017. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain and consists of 10,000 8-bit-style generated characters. CryptoPunks prides itself on being a “successful, community-based NFT project.”
For each of the NFTiffs that has been sold out, custom pendants will be created by the Tiffany designers. This will be entirely based on the buyer’s CryptoPunk. Each CryptoPunk comes with a unique combination of 87 attributes like a medical mask, a hat, an earring, etc, in addition to the 159 colors which can be seen reflected on the pendant. As per the reports from Tiffany’s, the pendants will be rendered in 18- karat gold complete with over 20 gemstones.
The NFTiffs come at a price as dazzling as the pendants to which they give access. Each NFTiff costs around 30 ETH, which is approximately close to $50,000.
According to Noah Davis, the brand lead of CryptoPunk, “Owning an NFT means that you own an entry on the blockchain. It is an indelible entry that can never be modified fraudulently, cannot be faked, cannot be copied, cannot be destroyed. It’s there forever. Owning an NFT is a really powerful thing for the digital era.”
Tiffany’s project also indicates the growing number of collaborations between luxury brands, cryptocurrency, and NFTs, and the gradual progression of virtual goods into the mainstream. Not so long ago, Christie’s and Sotheby’s sold NFTs for mindblowing prices. And in May, Gucci made an announcement about letting customers use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payment.
