Deep-dive into the wallets of three recognized NFT collectors: Pranksy, Dingaling, and Wilcox
In this Whales Report we look at the trading patterns and habits from three NFT collectors; Pranksy, Dingaling and Wilcox. When do they buy, when do they sell and how do they flip their NFT assets for a profit?
The NFT market is experiencing a positive trend despite a more bearish scenario affecting the crypto market. Factors like the increase of celebrities and brands’ exposure to the space and the launch of a community-based marketplace have improved NFT metrics even further. To put it into perspective, NFTs have amassed $6.7 billion in trading volume (plus $15.7 billion traded on LooksRare) in 40 days or 60% of the impressive Q4 2021.
As the NFT market continues on its upward trajectory, it is worth analyzing what some of the most influential actors in the space are currently doing. We’re talking about NFT whales or top holders with significant buying power. In this report, we turn the attention to three of the most prominent NFT collectors in the space to identify trends and patterns based on their trading behavior over the past six months.
Key Takeaways
- According to the DappRadar Portfolio tool, the net worth of the three whale wallets in scope exceeds $242.7 million.
- NFT whales follow different investment strategies; while Pranksy is an active NFT trader (over 5,000 minted NFTs and over 5,200 flipped NFTs), other investors like Wilcox tend to be more passive (1,000 minted NFTs, less than 100 NFTs flipped).
- Whales are highly exposed to the metaverse, especially to virtual lands and voxel avatar NFTs.
Table of Contents
- Getting to know the NFT whales
- High exposure to virtual worlds
- Whale wallets prone to fake NFTs
- Showing the Doodles some love
- Mixed perception of Larva Labs
- Supporting new projects
- Closing
Getting to know the NFT whales
Whales are one of the most relevant concepts in the industry. Wallets holding significant amounts of a particular token, including NFTs, are considered whales. These wallets strongly influence the market and even wield enough influence to exert pressure on buying or selling.
This time, we focus on three renowned NFT collectors or NFT whales: Pranksy, Dingaling, and Wilcox. The first two should also be considered NFT influencers due to their active engagement with the NFT community.
Pranksy is perhaps the most renowned NFT collector and holds one of the largest NFT Ethereum collections. This person is the mind behind NFTBoxes – a set of NFTs that include existing collections and curated pieces from digital artists – and, at the time of writing, owned more than 32,000 NFTs with a net worth estimated above $120 million. Pranksy is the fourth-largest holder of Doodles (101 pieces) and holds more than 2,100 CryptoKitties, 1,450 Avastars, and controls one large parcel inside The Sandbox. More than 340,000 people follow the collector’s account on Twitter.
Furthermore, in the last six months, Pranksy has acquired more than 2,100 pieces. They flipped 5,200 NFTs over the same timeframe, which shows that this person follows an active investment strategy.
Dingaling is another important person in the NFT space, as the owner of one of the most interesting collections. Dingaling currently holds more than 3,600 NFTs and is the second-largest holder of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) with 106 pieces. Besides the high exposure to the BAYC ecosystem (over 300 NFTs), Dingaling is an avid Top Shot and Ghxsts collector.
In addition, Dingaling holds almost 400 Pixel Vault NFTs, 60 Cool Cats NFTs, and manages a well-positioned big land plot in The Sandbox. This person has nearly 80,000 Twitter followers and has supported the LooksRare community. The net worth of this wallet’s NFT portfolio is estimated at $53.4 million.
Wilcox is the third wallet in scope. Although Pranksy and Dingaling remain anonymous, they are active on social platforms and influential in the NFT community. On the other hand, Wilcox is entirely unknown, with only rumors about his true identity. Nonetheless, Wilcox is the largest CryptoPunk whale and the fourth biggest Meebit holder. Hence, it is worth analyzing whale patterns from the Larva Labs perspective. This wallet holds more than 1,200 NFTs, including exposure to Pixel Vault and CyberKongz. Despite not boasting that large a collection, Wilcox’s wallet worth is estimated at $66.7 million.
Contrary to Pranksy, Wilcox follows a passive investment strategy, where his trading (flipping) activity is less dynamic than that of other whales. In the last six months, Wilcox has minted over 1,000 NFTs but flipped less than a hundred. Passive strategies are best suited for individuals who invest for the long-term and will likely not be involved in strong trading activity in the years to come.
High exposure to virtual worlds
Since Meta’s announcement, interest in the metaverse has skyrocketed, and the sub-category of NFTs that has gained the most out of it is virtual worlds. Digital parcel NFTs have seen their value appraise tremendously. This is the case with established projects like The Sandbox, Decentraland, Somnium Space or CryptoVoxels, and newer virtual world projects like WorldWideWebb3 or NFTWorlds.
It is interesting to see that these NFT whales have high exposure to digital pieces of land. Pranksy, for instance, is the owner of a large plot of land in The Sandbox and has flipped over 500 pieces of Sandbox land in the last six months. In addition, Pranksy owns more than 130 pieces of NFT Worlds, one of the hottest virtual world projects recently. The floor price of NFT Worlds has grown by 1,046% in two months. Pranksy’s wallet also shows 100 apartments of the interoperable pixelated world of WorldWide Webb and around 50 Decentraland NFTs, including wearables and names.
Dingaling’s metaverse appeal leans more towards avatars – another critical aspect of the metaverse. Their wallet shows numerous pieces from important avatar projects, including 157 Voxies, 150 VoxoDeus, and 17 RTFKT’s Clone-X.
Dingaling is also the owner of a large plot of land in The Sandbox and in Decentraland and various MetaKey NFTs.
Wilcox has also shown interest in metaverse avatars. The wallet currently holds Sandbox voxels, one piece of CryptoVoxel land, Meta Key NFTs, and five CyberKongz VX.
Whale wallets prone to fake NFTs
It is well known that whales possess a strong influence over the market. For the same reason, scam projects are constantly looking to make it look like their wallets are involved with these types of projects. The contracts associated with the fake collections send the tokens to the receiving address without any action triggering the transaction, making them look like mints.
A clear example is found in Pranks’s wallet. A total of 4,700 fake adidas NFTs appear to be minted by the prominent collector, although all are counterfeit versions of the NFTs issued by the sportswear brand. That’s the same case with Dingaling, who appeared to have minted 476 of these NFTs, while Wilcox is related to the other 99.
Whale and celebrity wallets will remain a common target of these types of actors thus it is essential to use analytic tools like DappRadar portfolio to confirm the validity of a genuine NFT.
Showing the Doodles some love
Launched in October, Doodles has become one of the top NFT projects. The floor price has consolidated above 10 ETH and is one of the most demanded collections. One of the collectors that were aware of this potential was Pranksy. Despite not minting a single Doodle, Pranksy acquired around 60 Doodles in 2021, adding another 41 this year.
At writing, Pranksy is the fourth largest Doodle holder, owning some unique NFTs of this popular collection. Dingaling also acquired two collection pieces, while Wilcox does not own any Doodles. Оther NFT collectors that hold several Doodles include Gary Vee, Loopify, and Steve Aoki.
Mixed perception of Larva Labs
Larva Labs, the team behind CryptoPunks, Meebits, and Autoglyphs, is one of the most influential brands in the web3 space. CryptoPunks is perhaps the symbol of the NFT mainstream tendency, while the distribution of the Meebits laid an essential utility blueprint that became the standard for other projects.
Wilcox is the biggest CryptoPunk whale (246 Punks) and owns 281 Meebits as the fourth largest holder, indicating a particular sentiment towards Larva Labs NFTs.
Dingaling appears to be the most neutral. They hold one of the most diversified portfolios with exposure to some of the most enticing NFT projects. As the second-largest BAYC holder, Dingaling shows room for Larva and Yuga Labs in one wallet. We see three CryptoPunks and 20 Meebits in this wallet despite an apparent inclination for BAYC NFTs; none of them has been moved for at least the past six months.
Pranksy appears to have been less attracted to Larva Labs recently. First, it is surprising to see a lack of CryptoPunks. Even more striking is that he sold 96 Meebits in August 2021, leaving Pranksy’s with a single Meebit. Whether he prefers other web3 brands or voxel avatars remains a mystery. However, it is worth noting his strategy of maintaining exposure in Larva Labs by holding at least one piece.
Supporting new projects
There are numerous established projects owned by these whales, each of whom has their preferences. Exposure to top projects is expected and demonstrated, while these whales’ support for new projects is positive for the NFT space.
Besides prominent collections like Doodles, Clone-X, and Azuki, we see whales supporting recently launched projects, such as Killer GFs – a collection launched less than a month ago. At least 50 GFs are held in Pranksy’s wallet, with another nine owned by Dingaling. CryptoBatz, Mfers, and Party Degenerates also figure among these whales’ holdings.
Closing
The three wallets analyzed in these reports are among the most recognized collectors in the space, each with their unique style. While Pranksy owns many CryptoKitties, Avastars, and virtual lands, Dingaling has a well-diversified collection that includes almost all of the top NFT projects. Wilcox prefers to concentrate on Larva Labs, a brand that produces mixed sentiments among these whales.
Nonetheless, there are certain aspects that these whale collectors have in common. The first thing that stands out is that these collectors favor the metaverse narrative – whether they own digital land or voxel avatars.
There is also support for new projects. With tens of NFTs launched daily, the space is undoubtedly growing. It is positive to see that whales identify and invest in new projects, showing the way to collections still within an affordable range and indicating their potential.
All in all, these collectors follow a diversification strategy, getting exposure in those projects with established roadmaps, high-performing teams, and, usually, tangible utilities supporting them.
