Just in, NFT Whale sells 1,010 NFTs, for a total amount of 11,680 ETH in 48 hours in what is now known as the “largest NFT dump ever”.
On the outside, it looks like a record-breaking sale in the NFT sector has been made. But what’s the real deal with this completely outrageous move?
According to data from Nansen, the culprit is NFT whale Jeffrey Hwang, known as Machi Big Brother.
In detail, he dumped 1,010 high-flying tokens for 11,680 Ether. And with 1 ETH = $1,602, this makes $18.6 million in the short space of 48 hours.
Let the madness unfold!
The NFT Whale Dump
- 90 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs sold for 5707 ETH.
- 191 Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs sold for 3091 ETH.
- 112 Azuki NFTs sold for 1644 ETH.
- 308 Otherdeed NFTs sold for 582 ETH.
Why Did he Dump The NFTs?
According to Andrew Thurman, Enhancement Technician at Nansen, the whale did not register much in terms of profit on these sales.
In the last 48 hrs:
- Whale sold 1,010 NFTs for 11680 ETH.
- Whale bought 991 NFTs for 9833 ETH.
So, the net profit is around +1847 ETH. This led us to believe that the NFT dump was done for some other ulterior motives.
The following are some reasons Thurman gave on why this might have been done:
Market Manipulation: If the NFT whale sells, he creates a panic to buy back Apes.
A Partial Dump: In view of the BLUR airdrops and token rewards planned for the 2nd season, the NFT whale is trying to book himself some steady profit.
Basically, this can be one big wash trade to generate huge Blur airdrop profits. And we’ve previously gone over how wash-trade is the downside of any token airdrop initiative! Not to mention the current ongoing gas war…
NFT Dump Causes Market Wreck
So, for selfish purposes, one man is singlehandedly causing mayhem and wrecking some markets.
After the incident, the floor price for Bored Ape Yacht Club went down by 12%. From 75 ETH all the way to 62 ETH.
Since then, the fp recovered to 68 ETH.
Not to mention that Mutant Apes suffered the same fate with the floor going down by 9%. From 16.5 ETH to 14.7 ETH!
Final Words
It’s worth noting that Machi is one of the biggest receivers of the token airdrop from the up-and-rising marketplace Blur, which recently outranked OpenSea in terms of trading volume.
In detail, the NFT whale was gifted 1.8 million Blur which they sold for over $1 million. And considering Blur tweeted this not too long before the NFT dump:
300M+ BLUR will be distributed to the community in Season 2.
What’s the secret to maximizing rewards? Loyalty.
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— Blur (@blur_io) February 21, 2023
It isn’t farfetched that Machi is trying to score some big BLUR wins in the next round by spiking up the NFT trading activity. A smart plan or diabolical scheme?
And overall, it seems that the NFT market is experiencing significant activity and that whales are playing a major role in the market’s dynamics.
Indeed, this highlights the potential for manipulation and the role that airdrops can play in incentivizing NFT purchases.
The craziness will ensue for sure when other whales and degens look to follow in the same footsteps…
Stay tuned for more breaking news!