If you are interested in Web3 and NFTs that you would have come across the biggest influencer in the space – Pranksy. But, who is Pranksy? What do we really know about this crypto-celebrity?
A nft-whale, market influencer, and project-creator, they keep their identity hidden. Due to the transparent nature of this space there is so much we know about Pranksy. From their activities online we know the NFTs they hold, the profits they make, and projects they invest in. However, Pranksy has kept their name, their identity, and their appearance a lucrative secret. This incredibly successful crypto-art collector is one of the leaders in the NFT market, having had incredible profitability. There are so many who want to know how they have achieved such success, and whilst remaining undoxxed, Pranksy has gone on to give interviews, feature in articles, and use Twitter as a public platform to share their stories.
For some people, this is still not enough. They have questions such as ‘What does Pranksy look like?’, ‘Is Pranksy a woman?’, and ‘Where is Pranksy?’. People are searching for a more intimate look at this secretive investor. So, we have done our research. Read on to find out everything you need to know about Pranksy – the most elusive figure in NFTs.
Who is Pranksy?
This hidden collector does not give away much of their identity. What we do know is that Pranksy refers to themselves as ‘he’. Additionally, we can piece together information from an interview that they gave in 2021. During the interview, we did not see Pranksy’s face. Speaking for Wales Tech Week, Pranksy spoke at length about his involvement in the NFT space. We hear Pranksy’s voice, but do not see his face – and additionally, it does sound as if the voice is changed through a voice transformer.
Still, we can take some information from what he says. We can gather that Pranksy is a 30-year-old married man based in the UK, with two children, who works as a game developer by day. Pranksy does all of this whilst also holding one of the largest NFT collections in the world!
Outside of this, we also know a lot about Pranksy from his involvement in NFTs. Therefore, we know that he began his journey in Web3 in 2017 and has built himself a huge fortune of wealth. Additionally, he is an influencer in Web3, and he also has his own NFT brand – NFTboxes.
How did Pranksy get started in NFTs?
Pranksy started his journey in NFTs back in 2017, through the recommendation of a friend. In an interview with Cointelegraph, he says:
“So I started NFTs in 2017 after getting a tip-off from a friend (My now business partner Carlini8) that ‘digital cat pics’ were going viral and selling for loads of money. I took a look at the site, installed Metamask, deposited $600-$800 in ETH, and never looked back.”
These ‘digital cat pics’ were in fact CryptoKitties. This $600-800 soon turned into more than $30,000 as CryptoKitties skyrocketed, with the blockchain-based pet game making multi-millions in an emerging market.
Is Pranksy an NFT Flipper?
From this incredible start at NFT collecting, Pranksy then turned to look at other projects and began to use NFT ‘flipping’ as a second source of income. Pranksy would look at projects pre-launch, invest heavily by taking a huge portion of the supply, then sell these for profit.
Despite early success, Pranksy has said that this was not easy work or pure luck. Speaking on his early years, Pranksy said:
“2018-20 was a hell of a grind, scraping around for an ETH here or there, when ETH was $200,”.
Still, Pranksy made news headlines through his early collecting of NBA Topshot Moments. Cornering the Topshot market, he made almost $7 million profit from Topshot alone. Interestingly, Topshot was developed by Dapper Labs – the same developers behind the NFT whale’s first investment, CryptoKitties.
Speaking about his success, Pranksy said:
“I like to think of myself as the working man’s whale,” the 29-year game developer told Cointelegraph in an interview. “I’ve never been backed by large amounts of FIAT, and I didn’t buy Ethereum early.”
How has Pranksy influenced NFTs?
While Pranksy was becoming known as an NFT Whale there were a huge number of serious traders and investors copying Pranksy’s every move. They were striving to copy whatever Pranksy was doing. If he bought into a project, you could be sure that it was going to the moon.
Furthermore, due to Pranksy being open about how he got his start, and coming from an initial investment of less than $900, he gives inspiration to others in the space. The influencer shows that by making the right moves at the right time, we too have the possibility of turning a small sum into an enormous profit.
Additionally, the influencer has supported NFTs for good by buying artworks which donate to charitable organizations. Pranksy’s support for the Blue Dragons Children foundation by purchasing an NFT contributing to the foundation demonstrates that he is distributing his wealth where needed. When someone with such huge influence publicly shows support for a fundraiser, a portion of their huge following will certainly follow in their footsteps by also donating.
What is Pranksy’s Net Worth?
Pranksy’s net worth has been the source of much speculation. Back in January of 2021, Cointelegraph estimated that Pranksy had a net worth in his wallet of over half a billion US dollars. However, as we know, there has been a bear market since early 2022, and so many NFTs have lost a huge percentage of their value. So, with so much invested in NFTs, it makes sense that Pranksy’s net worth would decline in line with the NFT market.
In March of 2022, Dappradar estimated Pranksy’s net worth at over 20 million US dollars. In late September 2022, the same analysis platform estimated Pranksy’s worth at $6.7million. This total includes $260,469 in tokens and $6.43 million in NFTs with a HUGE 35k NFT collection. The dominant token that Pranksy holds is ETH – with 190ETH at $1,356USD per ETH at the time of writing.
What are Pranksy’s biggest purchases?
With so many NFTs in his collection, Pranksy has made some huge purchases. This includes paying $1.2 million for Doodle #6914. This was an all-time high record for the collection and led to a week of amazing sales and trading activity for the Doodles team. $1.2 million for a single NFT!
However, the collector also dives into projects head-on by buying large portions of a collection. For example, he bought 200 Party Degenerates – 2% of the total collection. He also held 2.175 CryptoKitties, 300 HashDemons, 500 Polymorphs, 427 World of Women, and 46 Art Blocks. So, Pranksy not only spends large amounts on iconic blue-chip NFTs but also invests heavily into projects by buying large portions of a supply.
A look at Pransky’s wallet
With such an incredible collection, many people look to see what Pranksy is purchasing. Pranksy’s OpenSea wallet has seen so much activity. In fact, in 2021, he was included on the ‘NFT Leaderboards’ list by Nansen, under the title ‘Best Overall Profits’. At the time the leaderboard piece was written, Pranksy had a total spend of 1860 ETH, spending over three times the amount of anyone else featured on the leaderboard.
Additionally, Pranksy purchased from more projects than anyone else on the top 10 of the leaderboard, with a total purchase of 9390 NFTs (at the time of writing). Therefore, he is diverse in his purchases. As of June 2022, the whale owned 35 thousand NFTs – including 250 Bored Ape Yacht Club and 101 Doodles. That figure grew to 36.9 thousand NFTs by late September 2022.
You can publicly view Pranksy’s wallet by searching this address on Etherscan: 0xD387A6E4e84a6C86bd90C158C6028A58CC8Ac459.
Will we ever see Pranksy doxxed?
Pranksy has been active in the NFT space for 5 years now, and we still do not know the influencer’s true identity. Therefore, we cannot say for sure whether Pranksy will ever doxx. However, there have been many other NFT influencers and project founders who have chosen to keep their identity hidden, only to doxx at a later point. Such personas include Bianca ‘de Medici who was later identified as the pop star SIA; Jim Carrey, who created art on under his alia String Bean, and Bored Ape Yacht Club Founders ‘Gordon Goner’ and ‘Gargamel’.
However, the BAYC founders did not choose to doxx themselves – their identities were revealed by a journalist a Buzzfeed, and this sparked a conversation around whether founders should have their wishes to remain undoxxed respected, or whether the public is entitled to know the person/people behind the brand.
A look at Pranksy’s NFT project
A collector and creator, Pranksy also has his own NFT project. However, this venture is unique to other businesses in Web3. Harnessing the essence of a ‘subscription box’, the influencer, together with Carilini8, created NFTboxes. Founded in January of 2021 (following the success of Pranksy’s NFT Advent Calendar), the boxes bring together quality NFT pieces in a single monthly box. By doing this, he aims to bring ‘inspiring art pieces to NFT collectors and beyond’ by spotlighting digital artists.
Collectors can purchase an individual box or save money by signing up for 3, 6, or 9 boxes. Each box is linked together by an overarching theme. September 2022’s box contains 1 NFT from the headlining artist Hackatao and 7 NFTS from a team of supporting artists. Additionally, the box also contains 1 in-game item from The Sandbox Game, 1 puzzle piece to contribute to the unlocking of the final box of the year, and 1 month’s free protection from Coin Cover Global. All of this for only 0.65ETH!
The Truth About Pranksy
The truth about Pranksy is that we know so much about this NFT influencer whilst still knowing so little. We may not know his identity, and our questions about Pranksy’s looks and whereabouts remain unanswered. Yet, his accomplishments in web3 speak volumes about his character.
We know that Pranksy has worked hard for what he has. Whilst he had an initial stroke of good luck with CryptoKitties, he has gone on to make carefully considered moves in web3. Beginning as a short-term flipper and moving on to become a long-term investor, the crypto-art collector has certainly been diverse in his actions. Additionally, the investor has also become a creator. His curated NFT box marries his keen eye for art with his desire to grow the NFT space. Finally, we can see that Pranksy has had some incredible profits during his time in web3. These are profits that he has gone on to share with good causes by supporting charity-driven NFT projects.
There you have it – everything we know about the person known as Pranksy. Perhaps in time, we will get to know more about this elusive figure.
Source NFT Evening
