In what seems to be an unbelievable purchase, a pseudonymous blockchain bidder named “09E282” has apparently paid over $113,000 in Ether (ETH) for a non-fungible token (NFT) representing a virtual Formula 1 race car, according to data from Etherscan and as reported by CoinDesk.
The virtual car was sold in a 4-day auction that included 15 bidders with 40 competing bids and ended on May 27.
The virtual Formula 1 race car was created for an unreleased racing game called F1 Delta Time and was made by Animoca Brands, a global developer and publisher of games and other apps. As reported by CoinDesk, F1 Delta Time is a blockchain-based game that bears the official seal of approval from Formula 1 races.
Was This Purchase a Marketing Ploy?
Spending $100,000 on a virtual item for a game that hasn’t even been released yet is strange, to say the least. It’s hard to believe that anyone, even a wealthy F1 fan, would buy this crypto collectable before the game has yet to be released.
As reported by CoinDesk, someone from GTPlanet, a popular online community dedicated to the Gran Turismo racing game series, said:
“Why would anyone spend that much money on a virtual car in an unreleased racing game that few people know anything about? While NFT-based cryptocurrency games like F1 Delta Time are interesting and exciting new ways to use blockchain, this investment is so outrageously bizarre that it seems almost suspicious.”
Moreover, crypto influencer and self-proclaimed thought leader Richard Heart doesn’t believe this was a real purchase.
Joking via Twitter, he said he recently bought his own left sock for $100,000:
I just bought my left sock from myself for $100,000.
— Richard Heart Pumpamentals.com (@RichardHeartWin) May 28, 2019
Heart was referring to the likelihood that whoever bought this virtual F1 racer was already the owner of it in the first place. If true, this may have been a big marketing ploy for the upcoming release of the F1 Delta Time racing game.
Do you think somebody actually bought this virtual car or did they just buy it from themselves? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
