A digital art collector learned a harsh lesson after a ‘Hashmask’ crypto-collectable they bought for $164,000 in Ethereum turned out to be worth a tiny fraction of its sale price.
Altogether, Hashmasks make up an Ethereum-powered digital art collection of around 16,000 portraits created by more than 70 artists around the world.
Each Hashmask comprises a number of stock attributes, including masks, eye colors, and items.
Just like CryptoKitties, some Hashmask combinations are far rarer — and more valuable — than others.
Unfortunately for our mystery rube buyer, the particular mask they purchased via secondary marketplace OpenSea wasn’t rare at all.
Despite forking out 97 ETH ($164,000), their NFT now attracts offers between 0.001 ($1.70) and 0.5 ETH ($845).
It’s not known why they paid so much for this specific piece — simply titled Trump — but it might have something to do with its “Hashmask #1” moniker.
Buying a Hashmask: Modern art?
Hashmasks have already captured imaginations of crypto-art collectors despite the project only launching at the tail-end of January.
The project’s Switzerland-based creator Suum Cuique Labs even sold $10 million worth of Hashmasks in just four days — their entire supply.
As with most NFT fads, the secondary Hashmask market appears to be where the real money is.
One artwork, titled sex, sold on Wednesday for 420 ETH — roughly $650,000 at the time of purchase.
[Read more: This $10,000 crypto portfolio was bought at the 2018 top]
Similarly silly, a so-called Hashy titled Monochromatic is currently listed for a trouser-tightening 2,222.2223 ETH, worth just under $3.9 million in Earth money.
In fact, Hashmasks now dominate Ethereum’s secondary NFT market. OpenSea puts the total value of Hashmask trades in the past week at more than $12 million worth of Ethereum.
That’s more than all other secondary NFT markets combined.