What Is a CryptoPunk? A Guide to CryptoPunk NFTs
In NFTs(non-fungible tokens), owning a CryptoPunk is the most punk thing you can do. When it comes to the most important NFT project ever, CryptoPunks may be the only one that comes close.
With the rise of the Ethereum blockchain, the CryptoPunks’ rise to non-fungible stardom is linked. Bored Ape Yacht Club and other billion-dollar projects have their roots in the CryptoPunk movement. Anyone thinking about purchasing a CryptoPunk — or just curious about what the hell these weird pictures are and why they cost millions of dollars — can get some answers from NFT investor GMoney, who spoke with us recently.
We’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to CryptoPunks based on these conversations. So let’s have a look at one of the most expensive NFT collections available.
What are the CryptoPunks?
Yuga Labs acquired both CryptoPunks and Meebits in March 2022, making CryptoPunks one of Ethereum’s first NFT collections which launched on the Ethereum-based company Larva Labs in June 2017. 10,000 unique 24x24 pixel art images depicting mainly humans are included in the collection (male and female). However, there are a few others that are more precious due to the fact that they are less common. Zombies (88), apes (24), and aliens round out the list (9).
In addition, each CryptoPunk can display a mix of 87 distinct characteristics. Things like headgear, pipes, jewelry, eyepatch and more are known as “traits.”
A single CryptoPunk can have a maximum of seven attributes. There is just one CryptoPunk with seven characteristics by far, #Punk 8348. Earrings and moles are there as well as moth-eaten teeth and traditional hues. A huge beard completes the look. Most CryptoPunks have two or three qualities, however they can potentially have none.
Inquiring minds want to know: Who made CryptoPunks?
It wasn’t the initial goal of CryptoPunks, as it has been in more recent endeavors, to build a community. It wasn’t even clear where the team was going. Matt Hall and John Watkinson, the co-founders of Larva Labs in Canada, came up with the idea for the project as an experiment.
At the time, the NFT market was a shadow of what it is today. CryptoPunks had a slow start as a result of this fact. In June of this year, the collection became live. The NFTs were initially given away for free to anyone who requested them. Those who already had Ethereum wallets were the only ones who could get their hands on one.
From there, things progressed at a glacial pace. The demand for the initiative grew as more individuals became aware of it. But it took time before the phenomenon became well-known. As GMoney points out, “CryptoPunks are essential because a community has grown organically around them.” As one of the original NFT initiatives on Ethereum, they have a provenance because they were free to claim from the beginning.
Pranksy, DaveDave, and SeedPhrase, who were early backers of CryptoPunks, “realized earlier than others that digital ownership was going to be spreading more and more on-chain,” according to GMoney, “On-chain ownership was going to be quite valuable.”
After just a few years, CryptoPunks has developed into one of the world’s most well-known NFT projects. Although it wasn’t the first NFT project on Ethereum, it is unquestionably the most impactful. In the NFT world, those who were able to buy in before the 2021 craze and hold on to their money have been called some of the most fortunate people.
Buying a CryptoPunk NFT token
CryptoPunks are bound to be encountered by NFT newbies sooner or later. And when they do, they’ll realize that punks are a priceless asset.
Let’s have a look at the pricing in context:
Alien Punk #3100 sold for 8 ETH on July 6th, 2017. Approximately two thousand dollars in today’s money. This would have seemed absurd to pay for a JPEG at the time. But in 2021, nearly four years later, the same Punk was sold for a whopping 4,200 ETH. That’s a whopping $7.58 million in real money.
We’re talking about the highest-ever Punk sale for the time being, but this was far from an outlier during the 2021 CryptoPunk bull-run. Punks went from selling for as little as 7 ETH to exploding in the fall over the course of the year. Even the cheapest Punks were selling for around 100 ETH at this time. Punks are currently selling for 60–100 ETH each, which is about where they were a year ago. A few CryptoPunks can sell for up to 150 ETH, but the prices have stabilized or even gone down.
You can buy one on OpenSea if you have the money to spare.
Punks are now being sold at auction houses as well. It is possible to find one on sale if you keep an eye out. In reality, Christie’s deserves a lot of credit for helping to grow the Punk market by introducing Punks to people working in more traditional art locations. Beeple sold for $69 million in March, and Christie’s followed up by auctioning off nine CryptoPunks for $16.9 million in May.
Crypto-punk controversies
Punks may be one of the greatest NFT projects ever, but the people behind it haven’t been without their share of controversy. John Watkinson, one of Larva Labs’ co-founders, sold off his shares of V1 CryptoPunks NFTs in February 2022, causing a backlash for the company. Larva Labs sought to blacklist and remove the V1 Punks from NFT marketplaces just a few days after selling them.
