History & Timeline:
I think it’s important to start with a trip down memory lane and run through the history of CyberKongz …
It all started on March 3rd 2021, when an unknown tattoo artist created and launched 1,000 pixelated gorillas for 0.01ETH. That artist is Myoo (@myoo_ck), now highly respected as a true pioneer within web3. What started as a passion project, seeing a window of opportunity with a lack of alternatives to the famous CryptoPunks collection, quickly turned into something completely unexpected …
Over the following days, many of the CryptoPunk OG’s that we all know today started buying as many CyberKongz they could get their hands on, flooding into the newly opened CyberKongz discord to discuss these mysterious pixelated gorillas. Unbeknownst to all at the time, a special community was forming which would pave the way for a paradigm shifting new wave of innovation and show the heights a community could reach.
A month went by, with many more pouring into the Kongz discord. Legendary auctions took place, which were dominated by Coco__Bear. But a lot were left wondering: what is next for these 1,000 colorful gorillas?
Introducing: $BANANA and Breeding. CyberKongz were one of the first NFTs to launch an ERC-20 token. $BANANA was introduced on April 17th 2021 and the way the token was ‘yielded’ was fascinating. Each Genesis Kong generates 10 $BANANA per day, for ten years. Meaning that generation stops on April 17th 2031. On top of this, there was an immediate use case for $BANANA with the concept of breeding; you needed two Genesis CyberKongz and 600 $BANANA to create a Baby CyberKongz. Since, Baby CyberKongz have become one of the most iconic PFPs in NFTs, having done 33,000 $ETH volume, which puts them 54th on the all-time OpenSea volume list.
Some months went by with the community occupied by breeding and trying to roll a Baby Kong with rare traits, when suddenly the 3rd CyberKongz collection dropped on August 15th 2021. They launched CyberKongz VX, the first non-native VX model to Sandbox, which solved important integration issues. These VX’s have since been integrated into over 20 metaverses, making them one of the most interoperable digital assets in existence. On top of this, the collection has amassed 35,000 $ETH volume, putting them 52nd on the all-time OpenSea volume list.
With the launch of three collections in just five months, Kongz were well and truly flying. Genesis CyberKongz hit a floor of 210 $ETH, breaking the record for the highest ever PFP collection floor; $BANANA had sky-rocketed in price; and Baby CyberKongz hit an 18 $ETH floor. But, was all of this sustainable? The simple answer is: no. Many people in the space started speaking about the yield of Genesis Kongz, stating that they would never have to work again, with YouTube videos coming out like the one shown below. Breeding was coming to an end and thus $BANANA spending was coming to an end, ultimately leading to a decline in prices across the board. So, the team had to think and come out with something …
Introducing: Play & Kollect, an on-chain game that launched on Polygon March 3rd 2022 (the one year anniversary of the Genesis launch). Play & Kollect, in simple terms, is a gamified minting experience where you can send VX CyberKongz on adventure runs to win loot and prizes. Each asset in the CyberKongz ecosystem plays a vital role in the success of these ‘adventure runs’. Real utility was introduced in a complex on-chain game that required advanced coding and strategic thinking.
At the same time, CyberKongz pushed the boundaries in NFT security, launching the ‘Guardian Contract’, which was developed by Owlofmoistness. You can think of this as on-chain 2FA, where you can delegate a guardian to lock your wallet, meaning that even if your private seed gets leaked, your NFTs are still safe.
I left out much of what CyberKongz have done, but in the above passage I have outlined the key innovations and features of the CyberKongz ecosystem, which provides context for the main part of this medium post to elaborate on how CyberKongz has shaped the NFT space to what we know it as today.
Timeline:
- March 3rd 2021–1,000 CyberKongz Genesis launched
- April 9th 2021 — Wall-Street-Kongz was born, one of the first ever alpha groups in NFTs
- April 17th 2021 — launch of $BANANA, an ERC-20 token generated through Genesis Kongz (10 per day)
- April 17th 2021 — CyberKongz Babies are introduced through a ‘Breeding’ mechanic (two Genesis Kongz can breed a Baby for 600 $BANANA)
- August 15th 2021 — launch of CyberKongz VX, the first non-native VX model to Sandbox, solving important integration issues
- CyberKongz VX migration to Polygon
- March 3rd 2022 — launch of Play & Kollect, an on-chain gamified minting experience
- March 7th 2022 — Introduction of the ‘Guardian Contract’, On-chain 2FA to protect digital assets even if a seed phrase is leaked
- September 23rd 2022 — The Klaw goes live, a unique mechanic integrated into Play & Kollect, which allows holders to win NFTs
The Shaping of the NFT space:
Disclaimer: I mean no disservice to any of the projects mentioned in this section, as for me to even mention them means they have achieved great success and also pushed the boundaries of web3 innovation themselves. Influence can be seen in a direct, or indirect manner, as many times influence arrives in the sub-conscious, where one merely does not know the origin of the original thought.
Utility:
Before CyberKongz, the constant desire and need from holders for utility did not exist. The constant asking of: When token? When roadmap? When announcement? simply did not occur. CyberKongz altered the paradigm of what was possible from an NFT project, they captured the imagination of many founders, and ultimately pushed the space to what it is today.
ERC-20 Token & Breeding:
By no means am I trying to say that CyberKongz were the first NFT project to introduce an ERC-20 token, because that was Hashmasks; nor am I trying to say that CyberKongz were the first to introduce the concept of breeding, because that was CryptoKitties. However, what I am trying to say is that CyberKongz really popularized the two and altered the paradigm by re-imagining what can be possible from an NFT project.
At the time of writing, there are 610 ERC-20 tokens in the ‘NFT’ category on CoinMarketCap. The influence has been substantial, and many previous CyberKongz holders have even gone onto build some of the most successful NFT projects in existence. Many remember the ‘passive income’ craze and talk about the crash of $BANANA; but few focus on the importance and magnitude of what Kongz were able to provide in terms of utility so early on.
Here are some examples of projects that have implemented both of these concepts:
- BearX — Genesis & Baby collections with token: $ROOT
- Kaiju Kingz — Genesis & Baby collections with token: $RWASTE
- Overlord (Creepz) — Genesis collection & others with token: $LOOMI
- Kubz — Genesis & Baby collection with governance token
- BAYC — Genesis collection & multiple others with token: $APE
And many, many more …
Roadmap:
Buyers want plans for the future. They want developments and announcements from the projects they hold. It is pretty much guaranteed now that a project launching will have some kind of roadmap that outlines future plans for the project. You will have seen it currently with Doodles and Dooplication, BAYC and The Trial, Azuki and the release of Hilumia, and that’s just what has happened recently. This was never really a thing — before CyberKongz — for projects to have future plans and utility to provide to holders. It was much more focused on community building and just the art in general.
Many projects have built amazing things within this space and have gone down their own paths of creating utility and innovating for their holders. But once again, it comes back to CyberKongz pioneering the concept and popularizing it, which then enabled projects to build further and the space to expand wider.
NFT Security:
One of the most important subject areas in web3 is security and keeping your digital assets safe. The space is riddled with bad actors and one wrong click means you can see your entire wallet drained within a second. We have seen an incredible amount of large-scale hacks, most recently Kevin Rose (founder of Moonbirds) clicked on a malicious link and had his wallet drained for millions of dollars.
But for some reason, there is a lack of development and issuance from projects on NFT security given the paramount importance it holds. Well, CyberKongz have constantly been trying to innovate in this field, and I will mention two developments that, for some reason, have gained little traction given the significance:
Guardian Contract:
The concept of the Guardian Contract actually formed from a CyberKongz holder getting hacked. They clicked a malicious link and got their wallet drained … apart from their CyberKongz VX’s, which were in the ‘Lock Registry’ — a staking function which was developed for the Play & Kollect game. The lead developer, Owlofmoistness, was able to rescue the VX’s and save the victim around $20,000 in assets at the time. After this, the Gurdian Contract was born …
In simple terms, the Guardian Contract can be seen as on-chain two-factor-authentication (2FA). Where the holder delegates a different address to be the ‘Guardian’, this Guardian has the power to lock, unlock, and unlockAndTransfer assets; but once assets are locked — they cannot be transferred. TL;DR: The Guardian Contract allows you to enjoy the convenience of a hot wallet, while adding the security of a cold wallet, meaning that even if your private seed is leaked, you’re NFTs will still be safe. Check out Owlofmoistness Medium post on the Guardian Contract for more details.
So, how has this innovation helped shape web3?
- One of the most popular projects of 2022, Memeland, has implemented the Guardian Contract for their MVP collection, which sits at a 35 $ETH floor. This protects holders from getting their valuable NFT’s stolen and is precisely the intended use-case
- On top of this, KZG (founded by Keungz), has also implemented the Guardian Contract, further protecting holders from any malicious hacks or seed phrase leaks.
These are just two examples of projects who have currently implemented the Guardian Contract, but I think given recent events, many more will follow. In fact, Kevin Rose actually had an MVP stolen, which would have been protected if he set-up the Guardian Contract.
KongBot:
The one thing everyone in web3 dreads is getting hacked. The sickening feeling that your friends might ping you saying that the worst has happened. When you get hacked, you normally have around one minute to react. Every second counts, literally.
On top of the Guardian Contract, the developers at CyberKongz have also worked on security measures integrated within discord, entitled: Kongbot. Here’s how it works:
- Kongbot is designed to monitor mempool for any suspicious Approval transactions
- In case a holder is compromised, the steps are to: Open ticket in Kongz discord → Provide private key to Bot → Kongbot monitors and burns any incoming ETH
- Kongbot then uses flashbot to send out assets to Kongbot.eth
The number of projects currently using Kongbot is 0; but the amount of projects that should be using Kongbot is all of them. This is an incredibly important security feature built for the NFT community, it has already saved thousands of dollars in assets for CyberKongz holders.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC):
It would be nonsensical to not mention the project that transcended the space as we know it and propelled NFT’s into the mainstream. And I think it is important to mention that what BAYC have created is nothing short of incredible. To grow a company to the valuation it is today, at such a rapid pace, will be a case study used throughout the rest of time. Their ability to create a culture and bring mass adoption to this space is something everyone in web3 should be admirable of. We most certainly would not have seen the market expand to what it is today without them.
Moreover, this section is focused on the lack of credit CyberKongz get and it seems fitting to use BAYC as an example. Furthermore, this is not a cry for credit; the team nor the community need gratification from any tweet or mention, it is merely an example for precedent setting and general gestures of appreciation, which somewhat cement the whole purpose of this post on the shaping of a space by a singular project.
Many of the traits in the BAYC collection are inspired by the Genesis CyberKongz collection. Furthermore, you can see in the screenshot below the co-founder of BAYC (Garga) coming into the CyberKongz discord to promote the mint of BAYC ten minutes before it went live. Due to the sheer hype surrounding BAYC, many think it was the second PFP project after Punks and get caught up in a nebulous of that hype. But CyberKongz minted 2 months before, making them the first monkey collection on the blockchain.
However, this is not the intent. I admire BAYC and have listened to every episode of ‘The Fucking Metaverse’ a brilliant podcast by the Yuga Labs founders. Hashmaks and Punks were credited several times across multiple episodes for inspiring the BAYC collection, yet CyberKongz were mentioned zero times. It would be hard to argue that CyberKongz did not inspire the founders to make BAYC, given the trait similarities, entire collection in general, and concept of monkeys going on ‘runs’ in a game — sound faimilar? This lack of credit for CyberKongz is seen across the entire space, perhaps it’s ignorance to the history or maybe ‘influencers’ on Twitter only want to talk about projects they hold or topics that will get engagement — that is a completely separate subject matter though …
Either way, the lack of credit CyberKongz get has been happening for a long time, and will most likely continue to happen for a while. This post was merely to shed light on the influences and give blatant examples on the lack of appraisal and credit for Kongz innovations / influences.
Alpha Groups:
The word ‘alpha’ when used in the context of web3 can have cringe, and somewhat ironic connotations; in fact, a lot of the time it is best to do the inverse of ‘alpha’ that is called. Every single project now has an alpha channel, there are curated groups specific to NFT alpha, projects have built tools and bots to get an edge on the market, and much more …
But back in the early days of 2021, there was no such thing as an alpha chat to discuss degeneracy and trading strategies. For the most part, communities were just focused on, well, building their community.
On 9th April 2021 this all changed … The story of how Wall-Street-Kongz (the alpha channel of the CyberKongz discord) formed is simple, but is another case of how unbeknownst everyone was at the time to how the space would transcend. Nate Rivers (@Nate_Rivers), a widely renowned NFT & shitcoin trader, messaged the Kongz team and asked for a channel where he could share his thoughts and opinions on the market. Thus, Wall-Street-Kongz (WSK) was formed …
For anyone that was trading NFT’s in 2021 you would be familiar with the term ‘Kongz are buying’. Many of the best traders joined WSK and would chat day and night in there looking for new opportunities, or sharing a potential trade that they think would be profitable. The channel was token-gated, meaning only Genesis & Baby CyberKongz holders could have access to it. Given the already intelligent community that had formed, WSK became the most active hub in the space for trading.
Pretty much every successful project has been called very early on in WSK, from Bored Ape Yacht Club to Azuki to Fidenza. They were the first project to demonstrate what a community was capable of in a trading sense. Showing the possibility of what could happen by combining like-minded individuals together who all had a passion for trading. WSK became a precedent case for what was to follow, and still to this day it remains one of the most active channels in web3.
Here are some popular examples of Alpha Passes that supervene WSK, and while they may have existed even without WSK, it is unequivocal that they — and the entire alpha space of NFT’s — would look much different if it wasn’t for WSK:
- Underground are one of the most popular Alpha passes at the moment. Their holders have made serious profits through the bear market and it has evolved into a respected group of curated traders. The floor of their Pass currently sits at 5ETH, they minted in April 2022.
- Consortium Key was actually created by individuals who first met in the early WSK days. They created a project with tools & bots that primarily focus on shitcoin trading. The floor of their Pass currently sits at 3.15ETH, they minted in July 2022
- The following collections now also have a dedicated channel specifically for ‘alpha’: Doodles, Azuki, Moonbirds, Memeland, and many others
You can find out more about the origin of WSK at this link here.
Additional Points:
- Migrated to Polygon on March 3rd 2022, DeGods recently announced that y00ts will be migrating
- Launch of The Klaw on September 23rd 2022, recently seen very similar mechanisms from Kubz, Taiji & more …
- Coining the concept of a ‘Genesis’ collection
- Introducing the burn function to reveal, since popularized by CloneX & Renga
Closing Thoughts:
In this post I have gone through the origin of CyberKongz and how they went on to be one of the biggest NFT projects. Talking through the early days, the arduous times, and ultimately shedding light on the innovations created with such a low treasury. Many forget that CyberKongz minted for just 0.01ETH on a 1,000 supply collection; yet they still have pioneered how to amalgamate tokenenomics, community, art, and innovation.
In conclusion, the entire space probably should say thank you to CyberKongz, but it is simply not needed. CyberKongz will continue to build, even with a treasury considerably lower than other projects in the space, and they will build for the betterment of the space in general. They will continue open-sourcing their innovations to help projects develop and holders of digital assets stay safer. The fervent community that CyberKongz have developed over the last two years will remain as enthusiastic as ever. CyberKongz will forever be pioneers of this web3 movement, a project cemented in history on the blockchain and I see them, as time goes by, transcending into a true digital collectible that epitomizes everything web3 is supposed to be. And hopefully, in due time, they will get the recognition and credit they deserve; but until then, CyberKongz will continue building, as they always have.
