The NFT sector has yet to recapture the enthusiasm of 2021-2022, forcing many NFT-centric companies like OpenSea to pivot to more in-demand crypto use cases.
NFT marketplace turned trading platform OpenSea on Monday said it launched a $1 million reserve dedicated to buying “culturally relevant" non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
OpenSea kicked off its NFT reserve by buying a piece of digital art from the CryptoPunk collection — widely considered Ethereum's first NFT profile picture (PFP) collection.
“To us, culturally relevant NFTs are works that have made an impact: creatively, socially, or technologically,” OpenSea chief marketing officer Adam Hollander told Cointelegraph. “They might represent a defining moment in NFT history, introduce a new artistic style, or come from voices that haven’t been fully recognized yet.”
OpenSea bought CryptoPunk #5273, and plans additional acquisitions. Hollander said buying decisions will be guided by a cross-functional team of employees and external advisers from the digital art world.
Onchain data shows that CryptoPunk #5273 was purchased on Aug. 25 for 65 Ether
ETH$4,330
, valued at around $283,000, before being transferred to another wallet address on Monday.
Created in June 2017 by Larva Labs, the CryptoPunks collection has a market cap of $2.1 billion, according to NFTPriceFloor.
While strategic reserves featuring fungible tokens like Bitcoin BTC$112,347, Ether ETH4,330, and Solana SOL$220.96 have become more popular in 2025, NFT reserves have been rare if nonexistent. They also carry additional risks to investors: NFTs are less liquid than fungible tokens and could be harder to sell during a market downturn.
Upcoming purchases will “happen over the coming months”, Hollander said. “It’s not a limited campaign, it’s a living collection that will continue to grow as the space evolves.”
NFT momentum slows first week of September
The NFT sector showed signs of a comeback in recent weeks, according to data from CryptoSlam, with sales between July and August ranging from $115.4 million to $170.5 million. That momentum cooled in September, with weekly sales slipping to $92 million.
Various crypto exchanges, including Bybit and Kraken, and more mainstream companies like GameStop, have shuttered their NFT marketplaces amid falling trading volume.
In May, OpenSea announced it was rolling out a token trading platform in an effort to diversify its business. In April, NFT marketplace Magic Eden acquired crypto trading app Slingshot to undergo a similar pivot.
