In the land before time, there were no NFTs.
But on June 23, 2017 the game changed.
Punks arrived.
@cryptopunksnfts are the purest collectors item for any NFT aficionado.
They weren't the first NFT, but they were what started the fire.
Here's their story...
The project was launched by @larvalabs on June 23, 2017. (Happy 5 year anniversary!)
ETH was $200. There was no Metamask.
twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1538895716369801216?s=20&t=LrYCZi3fdg_SZ9QNNLysMw
Again, Punks were not the first NFT.
The concept was born in 2012 with the idea of "colored tokens" using the technology the Bitcoin introduced.
These tokens would represent digital ownership like BTC itself, but they'd be separate and unique.
But BTC isn't meant to be messed with. Bitcoin is really good at only one thing: being Bitcoin.
So the concept of digital ownership remained just that: a concept.
That is, until May 3, 2014, when the world's first NFT was minted on a blockchain called Namecoin.
"Quantum" by Kevin McCoy.
(Yes, it's worth a lot, but not as much as you might think. It sold for $1.4m in June of 2021, well below Beeples $69m print or the $ of many Punks.)
Following this seminal moment was several years of experimentation but not much real traction. Part of it was a lack of great platforms.
...but on July 30, 2015 Ethereum launched. And unlike Bitcoin it was MEANT to be a smart contract L1 chain.
The first NFT on Ethereum was a 3D map of tiles called Etheria, launched in October of 2015.
Later, Rare Pepes also enjoyed some success, proving that perhaps people really could be into this whole NFT thing.
Then in June 2017, Larva Labs - which was basically just 2 Canadians named John Watkinson and Matt Hall - created a generative collection of 10,000 Punks.
The 24x24 pixel art was inspired by London's punk culture, capturing crypto's rebel spirit.
The gold standard was born.
Of the 10,000 Punks no two are alike.
Males: 6,039
Females: 3,840
But wait, Mercury, that doesn't add up to 10k?!
No, it does not. Cause they aren't all human!
There are also
Zombies: 88
Apes: 24
Aliens: 9
The value of that rarity is reflected in the top sales. ALIENS ❤️🔥
My favorite part about the mint is not that it was free (which it was, so please spend a second dreaming of minting a million dollar NFT for free, I know I do).
And you still had to pay ETH's gas fees, of course, but they were only 11 cents.
ELEVEN. CENTS. 🤣
No, my favorite part is that there was no "mint" button like us spoiled progeny get today.
No no no. In order to mint you had to WRITE CODE.
Imagine no button, instead you get: [insert code here]
At first there was very little interest in minting Punks, but thanks to an article by Mashable they suddenly sold out. And before too long this free mint was selling for thousands of dollars.
By 2021 they were selling for MILLIONS.
mashable.com/article/cryptopunks-ethereum-art-collectibles
Note: the founders held back 1,000 Punks for themselves.
Just in case things worked out. 😏
I want to show you 2 quotes from that Mashable article written in June of 2017 because reading it, knowing what we know now, is like entering the twilight zone:
First quote:
"Will people have any interest in paying for the equivalent of a digital certificate of authenticity? We'll find out."
I think the answer is pretty clear here 5 years later.
Second:
"Hall and Watkinson released all their art for free. All you have to do is have an Ethereum wallet (and about $0.11 worth of the cryptocurrency ether to cover transaction fees) and you can just claim whichever ones are still available (as of Thursday, there's plenty)."
"as of Thursday, there's plenty."
AS OF THURSDAY THERE'S PLENTY
That line will haunt me. Forever.
There was no roadmap, no promises, nothing. It was an experiment.
But much like we call @SolanaMBS the first "real" Solana NFT (it was very early, but it wasn't the first), we've basically come to associate Punks as being the first "real" NFT.
On any chain.
Ever.
For anybody who cares about NFTs, Punks are the holy grail of collector's items. Their place in history in unimpeachable.
And that's what I love most about them.
As @DegenDaVinci said:
"Provenance is one thing that does not face execution risk."
Punks were bought by @yugalabs for an undisclosed sum on March 11, 2022.
My guess: the sum was ~$0. Punks are a zero royalty project on a free marketplace, so no cash flow. Giving it to Yuga Labs increases the value of Punks long term (probably) and the founders hold a bunch.
And Punks know what they are. The self awareness is incredible. Did Yuga hire an MIT whiz to take over Punks? No they did not.
They hired a Christie's native, @NonFungibleNoah.
Which is BRILLIANT. Know what you are and be that. Punks are the pinnacle of a collector's item.
If you care about NFTs, if you love 10k generative collections, if you've enjoyed this world - you owe a debt to CryptoPunks. I know love the project and will forever be grateful.
They were the OGs for the first million NFT users.
They'll be the OGs for the next BILLION.
For those interested in an homage to Punks, here's a link to the auction of my collab with @degenpoet:
exchange.art/single/HcGDKC22A8giVLx54uQNyhpCHhvvd9dxqorwzUifUEMA
DegenPoet's description of the piece, which highlights some of the amazing details of his work can be found here:
twitter.com/degenpoet/status/1552842329568018432?s=20&t=6In33WH8TEQBT8u48UyOFA