Author: William M. Peaster
Compiled by DeepChain TechFlow
DeepOcean Summary: CryptoPunks have recently seen a surge in trading volume, with two rare specimens sold for at least $3.9 million combined. Unlike previous rallies, ETH remains significantly below its previous highs, while stablecoin trading and new lending and OTC infrastructure are reshaping the transaction landscape.
CryptoPunks trading volume is surging, as the rare "Holy Grail" edition within the collection has once again sold for millions of dollars. Here's everything you need to know.
In April this year, I wrote "Are NFTs Back," discussing the unexpected rebound of top Ethereum NFT collections at the time. At the end of the article, I concluded that what ultimately matters most is trading volume, not just floor price fluctuations.
Fast-forward to today, and CryptoPunks are entering the beginning of a new surge in trading volume. Sales have exploded over the past few weeks, and yesterday, two of the rarest Punks sold for at least $3.9 million combined.
Additionally, a new infrastructure layer has now entered the fray: tools that didn’t exist in previous cycles are now using Punks as collateral for lending and borrowing, facilitating brokerage, and enabling purchases and reallocations. However, this rally also has some intriguing quirks—let’s break them down.
Trading volume surges
Last week, from September 19 to September 26, according to CryptoSlam, Punk became the top-selling NFT collection with approximately $8.2 million in unadjusted trading volume—about 11.7 times that of the previous week.
What triggered it? Around September 23, a buying spree occurred: buyers reportedly purchased approximately 63 Punks for about $6 million, raising the floor price from around 29 ETH to about 34 ETH within roughly two days.
Put this pulse into the broader context: Over the past four weeks, official Punk marketplace sales of unencapsulated Punks totaled approximately 4,490 ETH (around $12 million). In other words, roughly half of that volume occurred in the days surrounding the September 23 buying spree.
As for the floor price, it has remained much more subdued. At around 33 ETH (approximately $89,000), it is up about 31% since January 1, but still about 39% below the peak of approximately 54 ETH reached in late July 2025. In other words, at least for now, NFTs are moving faster than their prices.
Rare and highly sought-after item sold
Yesterday, October 1, two of the rarest Punks were traded in USDC within approximately 12 hours, both facilitated through GONDI—the popular NFT lending platform whose "Sell & Repay" feature allows borrowers to sell NFTs pledged as loan collateral and repay their debt in a single transaction.
The first sale was Punk #8348, the only Punk with seven attributes, sold for 3 million USDC plus an undisclosed amount, marking the largest single transaction in GONDI history. The seller, who has held the seed phrase since 2020, called the offer one he “couldn’t refuse.”
The second sale was Punk #3609, one of 88 highly sought-after Zombie Punks, sold for 875,000 USDC, equivalent to approximately 326 ETH at the time; the transaction was facilitated by Eli Scheinman, founder of Canon Punks.
Notably, both Punks were traded as wrapped CryptoPunks ERC-721 tokens, and both buyers paid using USDC rather than ETH.
Additionally, neither of these sales threatened the series' record—the 8,000 ETH sale of Alien #5822 in 2022; in fact, the sale price of #3609 was lower than its 440 ETH purchase in May 2025, reminding us that rare items don't always go up in value.
New market pipeline
Punks were created in 2017, before the ERC-721 NFT standard existed, so for years they were primarily traded on their own native, ETH-denominated marketplace. Today, a full suite of tools and services has been built around this original contract:
Look at these projects together to understand their combined impact. Each Punk tied up in a loan, or in PunkStrategy, or in FWA, means one fewer Punk available near the floor. To what extent these new mechanisms have diluted floor supply and amplified market volatility remains an open question—but this thread is worth watching.
A different round of price increase
In the previous cycle, the popularity of the Punk market often moved in tandem with ETH's strength. When the floor price surged to approximately 54 ETH (over $200,000) by the end of July 2025, ETH was trading around $3,745 and reached its all-time high of approximately $4,954 on August 24, 2025.
This time is slightly different. Currently, ETH is around $2,690, about 46% below its peak; although ETH hasn't been entirely stagnant recently, Punks have been heating up without a breakout surge in ETH's price.
Either Punks are serving as an early read on on-chain risk appetite, or they’re beginning to trade according to their own logic.
Of course, the fact that the rare edition was traded in USDC further points to the latter. Paying with a stablecoin suggests the buyer seeks exposure to Punk assets without taking on ETH volatility, or is entering via a TradFi channel.
Regardless of the interpretation, this batch of native Ethereum NFTs is moving again, accompanied by a new set of building blocks. What remains to be seen is whether this surge in trading volume can be sustained and whether it will spark broader bullish sentiment across the NFT market.