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In the letter
- An anonymous bidder bought the “most expensive NFT” of the year in 2019.
- Now, that buyer has come forward under the pseudonym “Metakovan”.
- In an interview with the Blockchain Gaming World podcast, Metakovan explains why he made the extravagant purchase.
In May 2019, a anonymous bidder spent over $ 110,000 in Ethereum on a virtual race car add-on for a blockchain video game. The game was F1 Delta Timeand the car – massive, jewel-encrusted and definitely not real – was called 1-1-1.
Now, that anonymous whale NFT has turned out … more or less.
The pseudonym “Metakovan” has come forward as a buyer, according to a Average post from Animoca Brands, the creators of F1 Delta Time and the broadcasters of the NFT. Metakovan is the main lender behind it Metapurse, a company that invests in virtual art, real estate and other digital collectibles via non-fungible tokens. In a short bio, he describes himself as an “investing angel in blockchain technology since 2013” and a “student of Y Combinator”.
Now, you might be forgiven if the whole thing feels a bit like that episode of The Simpson in which Milhouse is the sad and newly divorced father brags to Homer sleeping in a race car bed.
But, in reality, non-fungible tokens, which are certifiably one-to-one and irreproducible assets on the blockchain, have become one of the most exciting investments among cryptocurrency enthusiasts over the past year. Last month, Christie’s auctioned an NFT (and accompanying real-world artwork) for over $ 130,000.
In an interview with the Podcast Blockchain Gaming World, Metakovan said the virtual car was a worthwhile investment in part because of the history behind it, and that other bidders competing for ownership made it attractive; their interest piqued his.
“NFTs are only about stories,” he said in the podcast. “Anything of value is about the story behind it.” The value, he said, was that other people seemed to be interested in the mystery behind this virtual machine.
Metakovan spent 415.9 Wrapped Ethereum (a token with the same value of ETH compatible with the ERC-20 protocol and more easily traded) on the encrypted racing car. At the time, it was worth exactly $ 111,111, he said. (At today’s prices, however, it’s closer to $ 193,000.) According to Animoca’s post on Medium, it was the most expensive NFT sold in 2019.
“I thought, OK, either this game is going to be big, or this is going to be the worst buy of my life,” he said during the interview. “I’m, like, sitting and thinking, I could have bought a real car for this. And that’s what makes good stories, actually, at the end of the day. “
