An NFT associated with the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) was purchased for 20 Ether (ETH) on July 5, despite the fund’s financial troubles. Surprisingly, this transaction occurred because the buyer had placed an offer three years ago and had never canceled it.
The sale was announced by the SuperRare Bot X channel, which regularly updates on significant sales on the Super Rare NFT marketplace. The buyer was identified as “abcdefg,” and some NFT collectors initially congratulated both parties.
However, NFT collector and X user Brian noticed an unusual fact about the transaction. The offer for the NFT had been placed three years ago, which is an unusually long time for an offer to remain unaccepted or uncanceled. Brian speculated in a post, “I wonder if the buyer just forgot his eth was deposited in the SR contract this whole time.”
Blockchain data confirms that the buyer had placed an offer of 20 ETH for token ID #26497 (Neon Village) on August 21, 2021, almost three years before it was finally accepted by the seller.
On the Arkham Intelligence platform, the buyer is identified as “Three Arrows Capital: OpenSea User (0xFf4),” indicating that the wallet is owned by the failed hedge fund. Additionally, the account sent 2,615.65 ETH (worth $7.8 million at the time) to Three Arrows Capital on August 1, 2021, suggesting that the account is either owned by the hedge fund or is one of its creditors or debtors.
Another X user named Vombatus eventually discovered the identity of the buyer. In a reply to Brian’s post, they exclaimed, “It was the 3AC wallet LMAO.”
Three Arrows Capital declared bankruptcy in July 2022, and its wallets are currently being managed by liquidation firm Teneo. However, the funds used for the purchase of Neon Village have been held in the SuperRare marketplace escrow since the offer was made in 2021, and most wallet apps would not have displayed it as part of the balance.
According to SuperRare marketplace documents, an offer can be withdrawn at any time before it is accepted by the seller.
Neon Village, created by illustrator and animator SeerLight, was minted on July 24, 2021, and sold on the same day for 7 ETH (approximately $15,301 at the time). On October 13, 2021, the owner resold it to an Ethereum user named Anonymoux.eth for 100 ETH ($360,755), who held onto it until selling it to the 3AC-associated account on July 5.
Anonymoux suffered a loss of over $300,000 on the sale, while Seerlight earned a royalty of 2 ETH ($5,964) from it.
NFT marketplace sales experienced a significant surge in the second quarter of 2024, reaching a volume of $4 billion, the highest level since the first quarter of 2023.
Magazine: Ethereum’s recent pullback could be a gift: Dynamo DeFi, X Hall of Flame