One can imagine the shock of those present at the evening auction on February 23 when the auction suddenly had to be cancelled. With big words, Sotheby's announced the first evening auction that was to be held only NFTs. Since its launch in 2021, Sotheby's has generated around $100 million with NFT sales to date.

On February 23, things were to get really busy. 104 CryptoPunks were offered with an estimated value of $20 to $30 million. That's the highest estimate for digital art to date. Apparently, Sotheby's was very optimistic. In June 2021, a CryptoPunk was auctioned for $11.8 million. CryptoPunks from the studyo Larva Labs are among the most valuable NFTs in the world. But just before the start of the live auction, the seller, under the user name 0x650d, merely sent a casual tweet to his 12,000 followers saying "nvm, decided to hodl".

Why this happened is now the subject of eager speculation. It cannot be ruled out that the withdrawal has to do with the war in Ukraine. Russian troops entered Ukraine almost at the same time. This may give the seller hope that the price of NFTs will rise even further.

For Sotheby's, the cancellation is a setback. Christie's is moving much faster with its NFT sales. The rival auction house realized $150 million last year.