Tyler Hobbs' Fidenza NFT Project Gets $1M Pump Over 48 hours

Fidenza, a generative Ethereum non-fungible token (NFT) project from artist Tyler Hobbs, has seen a sudden rise in popularity over the past few days, with one wallet snapping up eight Fidenzas for close to $1 million.

A series of back-to-back purchases were flagged by Fidenza Bot, an automated Twitter bot that scans OpenSea for Fidenza sales, on Wednesday morning. Notably, there were three transactions within 12 minutes, totaling 280.50 ETH (approximately $356,294) with an average price of 93.50 ETH (approximately $118,765).

All of the NFTs were purchased by the same wallet – 808450 – and for much higher than their previous sales, seemingly out of the blue. For example, Fidenza #459 last sold for 0.29 ETH, or about $687, on June 11, 2021. Fidenza #726 last sold on June 14, 2021, for 1.2 wrapped ether (WETH) (approximately $3,098) and Fidenza #18 sold on July 15, 2021, for 8.5 ETH (approximately $16,294).

There were 3 sales in the last 12 minutes:

Fidenza #459, 97.50 ETH ($131,918)
Fidenza #18, 95.00 ETH ($128,535)
Fidenza #726, 88.00 ETH ($119,064)#fidenza https://t.co/eNCh6PrwRV pic.twitter.com/lsJlgXVuWS

— Fidenza (Bot) (@ab_fidenza_bot) September 21, 2022

The transactions bumped the project's market cap to 90,609.30 ETH (about $121 million) and helped raise its floor price to 94 ETH (approximately $116,154).

In a show of prosperity, three more NFTs were purchased by the same wallet within 17 minutes on Thursday morning, each selling for at least 98 ETH (approximately $125,244).

There were 4 sales in the last 17 minutes:

Fidenza #946, 99.00 ETH ($126,522)
Fidenza #604, 98.00 ETH ($125,244)
Fidenza #196, 104.75 ETH ($133,871)
Fidenza #12, 100.00 ETH ($127,800)#fidenza https://t.co/eNCh6Ps4Ht pic.twitter.com/Q3IUnBBawX

— Fidenza (Bot) (@ab_fidenza_bot) September 22, 2022

Another NFT – Fidenza #136 – was transferred to wallet 808450 on Friday afternoon, leaving the well-to-do investor with eight Fidenza NFTs totaling 689.95 ETH (approximately $910,271).

Separately, wallet 0x9B67e bought Fidenza #4 for 94 ETH ($124,268) on Thursday, contributing to a 781.25 ETH (approximately $1.03 million) pump into the project over a 48-hour period.

So, what led to the sudden surge of interest in the algorithmic-based art project? It's unclear, though Twitter user Jollytime.eth speculated in a series of tweets that the NFTS may have been purchased by an investment firm linked to Leslie Alexander, a successful bond trader and the former owner of the Houston Rockets.

"Who's buying?" always runs through my head when I see these types of sweeps, so I dug in a bit. Prepare for some rampant speculation... https://t.co/E8TYtdv9I9

— Jollytime.eth (@Jollytime345) September 21, 2022

The thread also noted that Daryl Morey, former general manager of the Houston Rockets, is a major crypto and NFT advocate and spoke to CoinDesk in June 2021 about his ability to sniff out trends. Neither Alexander's firm CEAS Investments nor Morey could be reached for comment.

At the time of writing, the project's total volume is 51.5K ETH, or approximately $68.2 million. Notably, Art blocks, the Ethereum-based NFT creation platform behind Fidenza, now ranks above other popular NFT collections including Doodles and CryptoPunks in terms of sales volume, according to Crypto Slam.

In August 2021, Fidenza #13 sold for 1,000 ETH, or about $3.3 million – the highest Art Blocks sale to date.