What is CryptoPunks? Why are they so popular?| NFT Plazas

NFTs are unique crypto-assets that cannot be exchanged for equivalents. They are tokenized entities with data stored on the blockchain to maintain an immutable record of ownership for all NFTs, including their transaction history when traded.

The origin of NFTs begins with Kevin McCoy, who minted “Quantum”, the first NFT, in 2014. In 2017, NFTs began to reign, with the Ethereum blockchain as the hub for minting NFTs. One of the first NFTs to be minted on the Ethereum network are the CryptoPunk NFTs.

What are CryptoPunk’s NFTs?

CryptoPunks can be considered the foremost of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection was created by Larva Labs, a software company founded by two former Google employees, John Watkinson and Matt Hall, in 2017.

Initially, the duo wanted to create mobile apps or video games, but they decided to develop software that could generate thousands of different characters that would summarize into a collection and revolutionize digital art. The grades generated later become a model for other NFT projects.

How many CryptoPunkers are there?

The CryptoPunks collection consists of 10,000 unique avatars with different and mixed characteristics, or attributes, that define their respective rarity.

CryptoPunk’s NFTs were released on June 23, 2017. These collectibles developed the idea of ​​profile pictures – PFPs – as a digital collectible later adopted by subsequent NFT projects. Each NFT in this collection is an avatar or PFP that can be used as a profile picture on social media such as Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc., or in the Metaverse.

How did people originally get CryptoPunks?

At the project launch in June 2017, 9,000 punks were given out for free to any enthusiast or investor ready to offset the gas tax. The remaining 1000 punks were kept for Larva Labs’ team. The Punk NFTs depict human – male and female – apes, zombies and aliens.

The Ape, Zombie and Alien characters are considered more valuable than the Human character. Just 24 CryptoPunks are monkeys88 are zombies, 9 are aliens, 6,039 are male and 3,840 are female punks.

Each part is a 24×24 pixel image that can display a mix of 87 unique features such as earrings, hats, necklaces, pilot helmets, pigtails, hair and so on. The maximum number of attributes a single punk can have is seven, and only Punk8348 have this. It has a big beard, buck teeth, earrings, classic shades, a top hat, a mole and a cigarette. Most punks have two or three traits, while some have none.

In accordance CoinGeckoAs of August 25, CryptoPunks has a market cap of 674,432.55 ETH –$1,158,215,565.49– with a floor price of 67.45 ETH (approx. $115,833.14 at time of writing) – and a total capital of 9,999 with 3,585 unique owners.

How do you get CryptoPunks?

Since all punks have been claimed since 2017, they are only available on marketplaces such as Rare, Open seaetc. To buy NFTs on marketplaces, you must have a non-custodial account crypto walletlike MetaMask, Coinbase or Trust Wallet and buy or send ETH to the wallet.

You can then connect to your wallet and buy from Larva Labs website or use your wallet to register on marketplaces to buy. Note that punks purchased on marketplaces are wrapped, i.e. ERC-721 standard token, not custom punks. However, ERC-721 can be reversed back to its original custom contract.

Before buying CryptoPunks, it is important to pay attention to the background color of the Punks because each color has the market status of the punks on them.

CryptoPunks move

• Punks with a red background show that they are available for sale.
  
  
• Punks with a blue background are not for sale and have no active bids.

• Purple background punks have active bids on them through auction.

• Punks with a green background are packaged punks listed for sale on ERC-721 marketplaces.

Before buying a punk, be sure to check its characteristics, because that will reveal its rarity and suggest a possible investment opportunity. The most expensive punk is #5822which was sold at $23.7 million on February 12, 2022and as of August 25, 2022, the highest bid – US$234,877 – was placed on #5526.

CryptoPunks have collectively traded $1.51 billion and there is no royalty fee for Larva Labs on secondary sales made by investors.

Celebrities who own CryptoPunks:

• Odell Beckham Jr
• Jay Z
• Gary Vee
• Marshmello
• Logan Paul
• Steve Aoki
• Jason Durello
• Serena Williams
• Alexi Ohanian
• Marc Cuban
• Heidi Klum and so on.

Fun fact

Unknown to many NFT enthusiasts, CryptoPunks are custom contract NFTs; they did not adopt the ERC-721 or ERC-1155 standard token because neither was in place at the time. But you can wrap punks in ERC-721 tokens if you want to sell them on NFT marketplaces. Although ERC-721 was introduced in 2017, CryptoPunks inspired Dapper Labs, which introduced ERC-721, while ERC-1155 was introduced in 2019.

CryptoPunks are the true OG collectibles

CryptoPunks is the OG of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. However, in March 2022, Yuga Labs – the owner of BAYC – acquired Larva Labs. Immediately after the acquisition, CryptoPunks skyrocketed from 55 ETH to 70 ETH.

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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to research all products before making any type of investment.

Technical writer, an enthusiast for all things blockchain and the decentralized world.