Tiffany & Co. is courting the CryptoPunks.
The LVMH-owned jeweller is launching a program exclusively for owners of the pixelated NFT characters, among the best-known and most-valuable NFT collections. For 30 ETH, or the equivalent of about $51,000 at the time of writing, CryptoPunks holders will be able to buy an “NFTiff” from Tiffany entitling them to a Tiffany-designed custom pendant featuring their CryptoPunk avatar.
The pendants will be made of 18k rose or yellow gold, and each will contain at least 30 gemstones or diamonds, according to Tiffany. Buyers, who won’t be able to make requests on the design, will receive a rendering of their pendant in October, and Tiffany plans to deliver the finished products in early 2023. While there are 10,000 CryptoPunk NFTs, Tiffany is only issuing 250 NFTiffs and will limit purchases to three per customer, since some may own multiple CryptoPunks.
Although the crypto market has tumbled this year, many fashion and luxury brands have continued working on crypto-related projects and experimenting with NFTs as they remain optimistic about web3′s long-term potential. These efforts can help attract the crypto audience, which has a recognised taste for luxury goods, and allow them to test out uses for NFTs like serving as a rewards programme for fans. Prada announced a new NFT collection today, for instance, that will grant one holder an invite to its upcoming runway show in September.
Alexandre Arnault, son of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and the executive VP of product and communications at Tiffany, is a CryptoPunk owner himself. In April, he tweeted images showing the making of a pendant based on his CryptoPunk and asked followers in a poll if Tiffany should make CryptoPunk pendants available for the NFT owners to order. About 80 percent of respondents to the poll said yes.
”Looks like we listened to the community,” he tweeted today.
