The Defiant

Collector Sells $18M in NFTs on Blur — Then Buys Some Back

Machi Sells 1,000 Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, and Other NFTs in Wild Weekend

By: Samuel Haig Loading...

Collector Sells $18M in NFTs on Blur — Then Buys Some Back

An NFT collector roiled the marketplace over the weekend in a series of trades that left investors’ heads spinning.

Machi, a major collector, sold 1,010 prized NFTs in just 48 hours on Blur, the newly-crowned top NFT marketplace by volume, according to Nansen’s Andrew Thurman. The sales included 90 Bored Ape Yacht Clubs, 191 Mutant Ape Yacht Clubs, 112 Azukis, and 308 Otherdeeds for 11,024 ETH ($18M).

NFT Dump

Jpegjohny of NFT Alpha Call described the trades as “the largest NFT dump ever.”

Thurman said Machi then turned around and repurchased 57 BAYC, 190 MAYC, 11 Azukis, and 285 Otherdeeds for 8,479 ETH ($13.9M).

Floor prices for most of the collections Machi offloaded posted just single-digit losses for the week, with BAYC dipping 4% and MAYC tumbling 6.4%, according to NFT Price Floor. Otherdeeds bucked the trend to rally 15% over the same period.

Blur Blows Away OpenSea and Wins 82% of NFT Trading Volume

Blur Blows Away OpenSea and Wins 82% of NFT Trading Volume

OpenSea Slashes Fees to Zero in Vain Attempt to Counter Marketplace Upstart

The Defiant The Defiant

“In the past 48 hours, NFT degen Machi sold 1,010 NFTs for $18.6m,” Andrew Steinwold of the metaverse-focussed investment firm, Sfermion, told his 73,000 followers. “The TOTAL NFT trade volume for 2019 was ~$8m. We have come a long way. The NFT market will only become more liquid, with lower fees, and much much larger from here.”

Taking Profits

Machi’s sales came after OSF and Mando, a pair of high-profile NFT collectors, made headlines in the NFT community for “taking profits” by offloading 71 BAYC, 11 MAYC, and seven Azuki, among other NFTs, on Feb. 22.

Mando and OSF executed their sell orders into bids Machi previously placed for around 77 ETH each, according to NFT statistics. Beeple, the popular digital artist and NFT adopter, parodied the incident with an artwork titled “SEVENTY-TWO APES” on Twitter.

DeFi AlphaPremium Content
Start for free

Many of Machi’s recent BAYC trades were executed for roughly 59 ETH each, suggesting the collector may be incurring significant losses on the sales.

Blockchain sleuths are speculating regarding the motivations underpinning Machi’s trades, despite the collector posting that he was “bearing the costs to decentralize OSF and Mando’s apes.”

“I did it for the club. You’re welcome,” he added.

Thurman speculated Machi may be locking in some profits while also generating significant volume on the platform to secure a sizable airdrop allocation from Blur. He also suggested the trades could comprise “pretty naked market manipulations,” stating Machi’s sales could create panic in the markets and create opportunities for the trader to buy back in at lower prices.

Blur’s Airdrop

HashBastardsNFT, a social media influencer, noted that Machi and fellow BAYC whale, Franklinisbored, have been trading Bored Apes between one another, presumably to bolster trade volume for Blur’s airdrop.
Liam Herbst, an NFT analyst, tweeted that whales seeking to wash-trade NFTs on Blur are “losing 0.5% in fees on every flip.” He warned that prices for top collections could fall if the marketplace’s top traders decide to stop executing the strategy and withdraw their bids from the market.

“One whale may decide the risk of losing $ on NFTs exceeds the benefit of Blur points and then they’ll dump their bag onto other farmers,” Herbst said. “These farmers will likely do the same and cause a cascade of bids accepted and listings undercut.”

Subscribe to DeFi Daily Newsletter and Get Smarter on DeFi & Web3.

80k+ investors informed every day.