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?
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.
Pranksy is one of the most elusive figures in the NFT space
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!
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.”
‘Commodore D2 PU29x2’ from the CryptoKitties collection, currently owned by Pranksy. Credit: OpenSea
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,”.
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.”
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.
#YouWillNeverBeAlone, purchased by Pranksy for 1 ETH, with 70 percent of net proceeds going towards Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.
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.
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.
Doodle #6914, bought by Pranksy for $1.2 million
You can publicly view Pranksy’s wallet by searching this address on Etherscan: 0xD387A6E4e84a6C86bd90C158C6028A58CC8Ac459.
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.
BAYC founders Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, aka ‘Gordon Goner’ and ‘Gargamel’
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.
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.
