9 Cryptopunks by LarvaLabs (est.2005) courtesy of Christie's Auction House
About the Punks
Three years ago, Matt Hall and John Watkinson, founders of New York-based software company Larva Labs; created a quirky art experiment called CryptoPunks that generated thousands of different, strange-looking characters. The project started out as an experiment to translate lines of code into a feeling of ownership. They wanted the look of their punks to reflect, the raucous, and anti-establishment spirit characterized by the early days of the blockchain movement. On June 23, 2017, Larva Labs officially launched CryptoPunks to public on the Ethereum Blockchain, offering all 10,000 of the generated characters for free. Now you can purchase punks via the Larva Labs Marketplace.
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a unique digital signature, created by a collection of data and added to a file. It can be attached to image files, songs, tweets, text posted on a website, physical items and other various formats. These digital stamps of ownership, protect the owner from any other digital replicas, and are considered to be similar to physical objects, like funko pops, sneakers, sports cards, property, etc. An NFT can go up in value when there is historical significance, a well-known creator, remarkable utility, or example exceptional artistry at play.
Hall and Watkinson tweaked their software's algorithms to generate a scarcer number of fantastical and characters, as a nod to known popular culture archetypes - photo courtesy of Larva Labs
Punk Variations
CryptoPunks are 24x24, 8-bit-style pixel art images of misfits, inspired by London's Punk Scene. There' 10,000 original punks, each with their own personality and unique styles. The collection is definitive and unalterable; meaning after the project went live, the creators could not go back and change anything. Here are some key facts about the CryptoPunks, that should help you along the way.
Key Facts
- CryptoPunks is the first NFT to debut on the Ethereum Blockchain
- Inspired the widely accepted ERC-721 standard for NFTs
- Each punk is one of a kind
- There are eight punks with no distinctive features at all, called the Genesis Punks
- There are 6,039 male and 3,840 female punks
- 696 wear hot lipstick, while 303 have muttonchops
- There are 286 punks with 3-D glasses, 128 rosy-cheeked, 94 with pigtails, 78 with buck teeth and 44 wearing beanies
- 88 green-skinned zombies, 24 apes, and nine light-blue skinned punks
-
Screenshot taken of CryptoPunk 8348: the only punk with all seven attributes
Conclusion
CryptoPunks is as interesting as it is groundbreaking for the digital age. For the first time we are witnessing a shift in the way we buy, sell, and own things. People are embracing this new form of blockchain-based collectible and pretty soon, we'll be able to attach NFTs to virtually anything.
Source Links:
CryptoPunks Christies Auction House Lot#
10 Things to Know about CryptoPunks, The Original NFT
