CryptoPunks price surges to $200k, $PUNKS loaner Gondi accused of facilitating chandelier bids

As the ground value of CryptoPunks breaks by way of the $200k threshold, mortgage platform Gondi will get accused by merchants of facilitating rafter bids on-line.

CryptoPunks loaner Gondi below hearth

The NFT lending market Gondi has come below hearth attributable to allegations that the platform has been facilitating “non-public loans” used to spice up chandelier bids for PUNKS.

One dealer even accused the platform of letting one in all its advisors, Gfunk, borrow ETH (ETH) utilizing PUNKS tokens as collateral, together with tokens staked within the PUNKS staking contract. Despite the fact that, the dealer alleged that the staked PUNKS tokens didn’t belong to Gfunk.

“Gondi created a non-public mortgage for PUNKS tokens forward of the 16 CryptoPunks public sale. It was completed so Gfunk (a Gondi Advisor) might borrow ETH in opposition to PUNKS tokens,” wrote Enterprise Capitalist for GM Capital and PUNKS collector Beanie on his X account.

In a screenshot he shared, the Gondi person vault held a compensation with 194 ETH in debt, occurring after a principal mortgage of 194 ETH in the identical time interval made one month in the past.

On July 29, the ground value for the OG crypto assortment of 10,000 distinctive CryptoPunks (6,039 male and three,840 feminine) climbed properly above the $200,000 threshold. That is the very best peak it has ever reached inside 2025 alone. It now occupies to prime spot amongst NFT gross sales on CryptoSlam, beating out Courtyard and Moonbird.

At press time, the ground value for PUNKS has gone up by 4.6% previously 24 hours. The ground value is at present standing at 53.85 ETH or price round $205,154 for one CryptoPunk, with most of the not too long ago bought CryptoPunk NFTs rising in gross sales by 372.34% previously day of buying and selling.

In line with knowledge from CryptoSlam, 38 PUNKS have been bought throughout the span of 24 hours, indicating a 375% improve within the variety of transactions for the famend Ethereum NFT. The worth of gross sales made previously 24 hours has amounted to $8.44 million.

CryptoPunks gross sales have surged following the current flooring value rising above $200,000 | Supply: CryptoPunks

Learn extra: CryptoPunks soar to second largest NFT as transactions rise practically 20%

“The collateral used included tokens from the PUNKS staking contract. This enabled Gfunk to get funds to run up the bid,” continued Beanie.

He described the alleged stunt as being much like how AAVE (AAVE) operators have been in a position to leverage staked tokens on its platform in an effort to facilitate a mortgage. Which mustn’t have been doable contemplating the admin keys to Aave have been burned.

This collateral backed mortgage occurred earlier than the CryptoPunks #16 public sale, presumably giving Gfunk ETH liquidity to actively bid or help the public sale. To date, there have been no statements addressing the accusations.

Nevertheless, the official account not too long ago posted a “Notable Mortgage” for a Wrapped CryptoPunk #2545, which originated from a 100,000 USDC (USDC) mortgage.

“That’s 5 Punk loans at the moment alone. Liquidity isn’t slowing down, it’s accelerating,” wrote Gondi on its official X account.

Echoing this sentiment, the ground value for the CryptoPunks NFT continues to climb, reaching its highest degree since March 2024.

Ground value chart for CryptoPunks following a current surge, July 29, 2025 | Supply: CoinGecko

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