The first NFT project : CryptoPunks!
CryptoPunks is made up of 10,000 unique characters and punk-focused 8-bit features. CryptoPunks, created by development studio Larva Labs, is a series of 10,000 images tokenized as Ethereum-based NFTs.
A Larva Labs creation:
CryptoPunks was created by Larva Labs, a two-person development team working on projects ranging from mobile games and utilities to web infrastructure, digital design and art.
It's been a lon... short time!
CryptoPunks started in 2017 as an experiment to evaluate the value of NFTs and art, which ultimately helped popularize what we know today as crypto art. Despite the lo-fi aesthetics of the projects, the CryptoPunks collections are often credited with catalysing interest in :
- NFTs
- digital art
- blockchain-based collectibles
If you are interested in NFTs, and you probably are if you are here, then you should know that there are now methods to increase your notoriety on networks like Twitter in order to quickly sell your NFT collection. Back in the CryptoPunks days, buying Twitter subscribers was not a common practice but today, 80% of NFT projects use it.
An Ethereum collection:
CryptoPunks are collectible pieces of art provided by the Ethereum NFT. CryptoPunks are digital collectibles traded as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum network. Some experts compare buying and collecting CryptoPunk to trading in collectibles like maps and physical artwork.
The first one of all NFT collection:
In short, CryptoPunks is an Ethereum-based NFT project since 2017, making it one of the first examples of collectible cryptocurrencies. CryptoPunks started months before the launch of CryptoKitties, a popular blockchain game/NFT cat breeding project.
It also became a watershed proof of concept for how NFT technology could operate in the open market, illustrating the incredible demand for crypto art and digital collectibles around the world. Since 2017, CryptoPunks has evolved from a simple Internet niche to a full fledged NFT project.
A Cyberpunk inspiration:
Created by the secret duo in 2017 as an experimental NFT proto-project, CryptoPunks is a digital art collection inspired by the cyberpunk movement and electronic music group Daft Punk. Created by New York-based software company Larva Labs in 2017, the CryptoPunks project is a set of 10,000 algorithmically generated pixelated and tokenized art images in 24x24, 8-bit style. The result was CryptoPunks.
On June 23, 2017, Larva Labs launched Nine Punks. CryptoPunks is a 24x24 collection of 8-bit pixel art geeks and quirks. When the creators of Larva Labs launched CryptoPunks in June 2017, they issued 10,000 NFTs for free with proof of ownership tied to the Ethereum blockchain. At the time, the Ethereum ERC-721 non-fungible token standard didn’t even exist, so a two-person Larva Labs team launched CryptoPunks as an experiment.
By June, John Watkinson and Matt Hall had created 10,000 characters with different hairstyles, hats and glasses for an emerging Ethereum blockchain NFT platform called CryptoPunks.
A lot of assets:
John Watkinson and Matt Hall have created 10 different hairstyles, hats and glasses, and since 2017 they have launched another generative art project called Autoglyphs. Inspired by the London punk movement of the 1970s, the creators of CryptoPunk designed CryptoPunk as a collection of "mavericks and anachronisms," according to Hall and John Watkinson. As one of the earliest known NFT projects, CryptoPunks has inspired many crypto artists and even developed the ERC-721 token standard for digital collectibles.
The most popular NFT collection:
CryptoPunks are some of the most popular and expensive NFT collectibles in the world, with some Punks selling for tens of millions of dollars. As one of the earliest NFT projects on the Ethereum network, despite the lack of utility 10, merchants still make huge profits trading CryptoPunks. 10 are initially released for free, and every Ethereum blockchain wallet owner has access to 10 collections. The limit is 10,000, and 10 is a collection of NFTs that are currently in high demand.
Visa acquired one of them:
Visa recently announced that it has acquired one in Ethereum from CryptoPunk for around $150,000. CryptoPunks are also featured on CryptoPunks on OpenSea, the leading Ethereum-based NFT platform. One of the most popular non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are CryptoPunks, whose value has increased with the popularity of CryptoPunks.
A NFT world far away than the current one:
While there are now hundreds, if not thousands, of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each aiming to be the next mega-hit, the entire NFT craze began with one project: CryptoPunks.
When the CryptoPunks project was first released, NFTs were not exactly NFTs yet. While CryptoPunks is widely considered an NFT, it technically predates the Ethereum ERC-721 NFT token standard that is used for many other popular NFT collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Despite the onslaught of projects such as Art Blocks, Bored Ape Club Yacht Club, Meebits, Cool Cats and many others, CryptoPunks is one of the collections with a big future.
After selling Beeple by major auction houses for $69 million in March, auction house Christies unveiled a collection of nine CryptoPunks in May that sold for a whopping $16.9 million.
Ethereum-based wallet owners seized 9,000 CryptoPunk, which were released to the public, while development studio Larva Labs kept the rest. Larva Labs said they have pegged all CryptoPunk attributes and images to the Ethereum blockchain, which will help ensure the longevity and reliability of several CryptoPunk investments.