Someone just paid $11.8 million for 'CryptoPunk' NFT digital artwork

I don't know why, but someone has just paid $11.8 million for a non-fungible token (NFT) of a digital artwork called a CryptoPunk.

CryptoPunk #7523 is described as a "sought-after Alien variety with blue-green skin, and wearing a medical mask" according to Reuters, and was purchased with bitcoin, with the transaction taking place through Sotheby's, adding that "CryptoPunks are a set of 10,000 pixel-art characters made by Larva Labs in 2017".

Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie, who is the largest shareholder of digital sports company DraftKings, is the one who purchased the CryptoPunk #7523 NFT. CryptoPunk #7523 was part of Sotherby's online auction Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale.

27 digital artists sold $17.1 million worth of NFTs during the sale, with Michael Bouhanna, a contemporary art specialist at Sotheby's telling Reuters: "We are excited to continue to explore new and interesting ways in presenting these cutting-edge works".