CryptoPunks are some of the earliest examples of crypto collectibles, considered one of most important, pioneering NFT projects. This guide covers everything you need to know about the Ethereum-based NFT collection. You’ll learn about the asset’s characteristics, how to buy them, and their role in the history of blockchain.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
► CryptoPunks are a NFT project of 10,000 punk-inspired, unique, algorithmically generated pixel art characters on the Ethereum blockchain.
► Created by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks were initially given away for free in 2017 but have since reached multi-million-dollar sales at their height.
► CryptoPunks’ decentralized ownership and trading system set the groundwork for NFTs as tradable, verifiable digital assets.
► CryptoPunks can be bought on Larva Labs or NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, typically using ETH and other cryptocurrencies.
What are CryptoPunks?
If you have heard about NFTs, chances are you have heard about CryptoPunks, too. To put it simply, CryptoPunks are 10,000 unique collectible characters stored on the Ethereum blockchain with proof of ownership. That is, they are 24×24 pixel fun little pop art portraits of punky guys and girls generated algorithmically and tokenized.
They drew the eyes of many during the 2021 bull run. In fact, Visa claimed a CryptoPunk for nearly $150,000 in Ethereum.
Cuy Sheffield, Vice President, Head of Crypto – Visa
What are crypto collectibles and non-fungible tokens?
Crypto collectibles are a popular trend to cash in on the bizarre, speculative, and subjective nature of humans. They are unique digital assets stored on a blockchain and are characterized by rarity and non-fungibility.
While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are scarce, they can be exchanged for one another. For example, you bought one Bitcoin from your friend and spent it on something. The next week, you bought one Bitcoin from an exchange and forwarded it to your friend. This is how currencies work. They are identical and can be exchanged for one another.
On the other hand, crypto collectibles are rare, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and are limited in quantity. Even if two NFTs look alike, their unique identity can be authenticated by blockchain. They hold distinct values and can not be exchanged for one another; this is called non-fungibility. But why do they have any worth?
NFTs are valuable because they are scarce. Digital scarcity is remarkable. A digital file, once made on software, can be easily replicated. The digital art may have taken days to create. However, it can breed thousands of replicas in a matter of a few seconds.
Each of which roams across the Internet, lives on multiple digital devices, and breeds more replicas. No matter how much fame the work amassed, the artist ends up making very little money.
The legendary history of CryptoPunks
When Matt Hall and John Watkinson came up with a software program that could spawn thousands of odd digital characters, they didn’t know it was going to change their lives or the world.
Each of these had randomly generated distinct traits which added to their eccentricity and defined their personality. They were initially meant to be used for a smartphone game or app.
Matt and John explored how CryptoPunks could find a place in the digital art market. They eventually realized that the best way forward was through blockchain technology, which had by then made a breakthrough in digital ownership. According to them, CryptoPunks are almost an ERC-20 token.
Larva Labs, their software company based in New York, launched CryptoPunks on June 23, 2017. It is possibly the first work of art that comes with a self-contained mechanism for recording and transferring its ownership.
There are 10,000 Punks in total. And they were all claimed for FREE during the launch. Fast-forward to June 2021, an Alien Punk that carries gold earrings, a red knitted cap, and a medical face mask was sold for a whopping $11.7 million!
London punk scene inspired the creators
Many see the decentralized vision of blockchain technology as revolutionary. When Hall and Watkinson set out on the project, they wanted their product to reflect the non-conformist spirit of the web3 movement. Punk music, which evolved over the second half of the 20th century, earned a huge fan base owing to its unabashed eccentricity.
In 1970, the London Punk Movement shook the entertainment industry. The attire, looks, and accessories have greatly gone into the design of CryptoPunks. Along with that, the movie Blade Runner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer sparked their creativity, according to the founders.
How much have CryptoPunks sold for?
In the months after launching, the Punk economy was confined to a small community of crypto enthusiasts. However, when the crypto market exploded, so did DeFi and NFTs. Many celebrities, influencers, VCs, angel investors, KOLs, poker stars, and business leaders joined the bandwagon, driving up the prices considerably.
CryptoPunks may not be the first NFT, and they are also not the best, given that they have little value and utility outside the collectible market. However, it laid the foundation of the NFT market. It transformed how people owned and transferred digital assets. Moreover, it empowered artists to push the frontiers of their creativity and monetize it.
Different types of CryptoPunks NFT
CryptoPunks are digital avatars. The development team owned the first 1000 Punks. These are called Dev Punks and are somewhat premium. From time to time, they are sold in the market for huge prices. The remaining 9000 are with random people across the world.
CryptoPunks have five categories — female, male, alien, zombie, and ape. Their values vary depending on the rarity and uniqueness of the characteristics and accessories. For example, there are only nine Alien Punks in total. They are among the most expensive Punks.
Ape and Zombie Punks, with 24 and 88 members, respectively, also have high-value points. Zombies are green, apes are hairy, and aliens are light blue. There are 6,039 male Punks and 3,840 female Punks in total, which makes them comparatively less desirable inside the Punk market.
Among human Punks, the most sought-after are female Punks. In fact, CryptoPunk 8888 was the only human Punk on the top 10 list at one point. With the combination of a red mohawk and a black eye mask, her NFT sold for 888 ETH, or $2.87 million, in August of 2021.
CryptoPunks features
A Punk can have up to seven attributes. That may be misleading, given that only one Punk has seven attributes — number 8348. A buck-toothed Punk with a big beard, a mole, and a cigarette. It wears classic shades, earrings, and a top hat. Consequently, it is also one of the most desired on the list.
CryptoPunks are valued by the number of unique attributes they possess. But there are eight Punks with no attributes at all. They are referred to as Genesis Punks. Their rarity drives up the price, not attributes. In fact, Punk number 6487, with no attributes at all, was sold for $1.05M!
As you may have guessed, some traits are exclusive to each category of Punks. There are also attributes you will find in both genders. While beanies and hoods are just for men, red mohawk and orange sides are for women.
Only one person can own a CryptoPunk at a time
Although anybody is free to look up the details of each Punk, just one person can own it at any given time. The transfer and proof of ownership are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain and, thus, transparent and immutable. The smart contracts are publicly accessible. If there is any confusion regarding the ownership, it can be tracked down to the earliest buyer.
The rarity of Punks vary
CryptoPunks was created drawing inspiration from popular culture archetypes. Hall and Watkinson designed it in such a way that the attributes vary. They ran the software multiple times, scanned through the hundreds of thousands of results, evaluated how it would perform, and made tweaks to the design.
To make the theme more interesting, they introduced non-human categories like zombies, apes, and aliens to the list. These have the most fans today. Much like humans, non-human Punks have accessories too.
CryptoPunk counts and traits are immutable
As soon as the creators tokenized the generative art on the Ethereum blockchain, it became unchangeable. The number of Punks, their characteristics, and their accessories are set in stone.
Even if the development team wishes to change something about the series, they won’t be able to; thanks to the immutable nature of smart contracts.
Wrapped CryptoPunks
When we say NFT, we immediately assume it is ERC-721. However, that was not out until 2018. In the short history of NFTs, we can very well say CryptoPunks belonged to an ancient era. CryptoPunks doesn’t comply with the ERC-721 standard, the popular Ethereum standard for NFTs.
Despite being one of the most iconic NFT projects, the trading of CryptoPunks was limited to the project’s official website until Wrapped CryptoPunks came into being. Wrapping essentially turns non-standard NFTs into ERC-721 tokens. It makes CryptoPunks compatible with popular marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible.
Wrapped CryptoPunks unleashed their full potential. They became more popular than ever, breaking records in the NFT market. The trading volume and market cap of the project is now even comparable to top cryptocurrencies.
While the wrapping process may be a little too complex to grasp, it is easy to do. To make things simpler, the dedicated sites offer specific contracts and wallet support.
Once you have sent your Punk to a wrapped contract, it stays in escrow. When the wrapping process completes, the token is converted to the ERC-721 standard. After this, you can list it on popular exchanges for sale or exchange. The best part is there is always the option to unwrap. This releases the original Punk from the escrow.
CryptoPunk bounties
Lack of liquidity is a huge limitation in the crypto collectible industry. The Bounties option introduced by Ark Gallery solves it to a great extent. It allows users to bid on any randomly selected Wrapped CryptoPunk backed by an ETH deposit.
So, if you are not really concerned about which Punk you are getting, this comes in handy. If the buyer accepts your offer, it is yours. One of the greatest advantages is it allows you to set a floor price for the less unique Punks.
How do you buy a CryptoPunk?
You can either buy CryptoPunks from the Larva Labs official website or NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. We will give you a walk-through on both.
Buying CryptoPunks from the official website
In short, the steps are as follows:
- Buy ETH
- Connect your wallet to Larve labs
- Search primary and secondary markets
- Choose your punk and confirm your purchase
Let’s take a closer look at each step.
Step 1: Get some ETH
As we discussed, CryptoPunks are built on the Ethereum blockchain and can only be bought and sold in ETH in many cases. If you don’t have any ETH in your wallet, you need to first convert your cash. This is assuming you already have an account on a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Binance. Here, you have to:
- Deposit your fiat currency onto an exchange.
- Convert it to ETH.
- Transfer it to a crypto wallet like MetaMask under your ownership. Here is a complete guide to setting up a MetaMask wallet on your device.
Storing your cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange is against the spirit of decentralization if you think about it. There are multitudes of options for a crypto wallet. Do your research and choose the one that best works for you.
Step 2: Connect your wallet to Larva Labs
Go to the CryptoPunks website. It will ask if you are sure about connecting to this particular website. If the URL is correct, you can go ahead and click yes. The website will now recognize that you have a digital wallet connected and are all set to make the purchase. More buttons for bidding, selling, and buying will pop up. The site allows you to buy directly from the interface.
Step 3: Check out the prices
Larva Labs hosts the primary and secondary markets for CryptoPunks on its website. Once you connect your wallet, the site will show the list of all CryptoPunks currently up for sale in the secondary market.
Here, you will find everything you need to know about each of them before making a purchase.
- Wallet address that currently owns the Punk
- Whether it has been listed for sale by the owner
- Existing bids
- Transaction history
- Accessories
- What makes it unique
The key general metrics include the following:
- Current lowest priced Punk available
- Number of sales (last 12 months)
- Total value of all sales (lifetime)
- Total value of sales (24 hours)
- Value of sales (over a week)
- Value of Sales (four weeks)
You will also find the list of all CryptoPunk owners, along with the attributes and counts of all Punks. Under Largest Sales, the top 12 Punks that rank the highest in terms of the selling price are listed. There is more information to give you a good idea about the market.
Since the actual images of the Punks are too large to store on the blockchain, the contracts have the hash of the composite images. If you want to verify that the Punks on the Ethereum contract are actually True Official Genuine CryptoPunks™, you can do so by cross-checking the SHA256 hash on the CryptoPunks image with the hash in the contract. More technical details and the source of the contract are accessible on GitHub.
Step 4: Make the purchase
Take some time to go through the prices. By the time you refresh the page, they may have gone up the roof or plummeted down. So, if you feel the listed price is fair, go for it. If you think it is a little too high, place a bid.
All Punks are not always available for purchase. It is entirely upon the sellers. However, you can persuade them to sell through exciting bids.
As soon as you click the Buy button, a new window pops up from MetaMask, asking for review and confirmation. This is where you will find the much-anticipated gas fee. It varies from time to time, depending on the network congestion.
In case it is too high for your budget, it’s better to come back later. There are apps that notify you of the gas fee fluctuations. If you are okay with the price, hit confirm. It may take a few minutes for the transaction confirmation to return. Congratulations! You are now a proud owner of a CryptoPunk and officially a part of the NFT revolution!
It is also worth noting that the trading of CryptoPunks is not dependent on Larva Labs or the official website. The website could crash tomorrow, or get stolen, or banned. But that won’t change anything about your ownership or the transfer of it. The website helps you connect to the chain, that’s all.
Buying CryptoPunks from OpenSea
OpenSea is the world’s largest NFT marketplace. It is a peer-to-peer platform where you can discover, collect, bid, and sell NFTs. This could be rare digital items, pieces of art, or gaming collectibles secured by blockchain.
Buying CryptoPunks from OpenSea is not much different from the earlier example. For instance, you need to convert your fiat currency into ETH. You need to connect your crypto wallet to the site, in this case, OpenSea. And finally, make the payment from MetaMask. However, a few steps vary. Let’s see how.
In short, you must:
- Set up an OpenSea account and a MetaMask wallet if you don’t have these already.
- Check the prices
- Fund your MetaMask with the required amount Ethereum, allowing for gas fees
- Choose an NFT and confirm your purchase.
Here’s each step up close.
Step 1: Make an OpenSea account
As with Larva Labs, you need to connect a web3 enabled Ethereum wallet to your device before you can sign up on OpenSea. Most popular crypto wallets are compatible with the platform, including Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, Dapper, and Fortmatic.
This way, your assets remain in your wallet until you proceed with the purchase. OpenSea doesn’t store your cryptocurrencies or the NFTs you bought with them. Your wallet does. Until you sell them, they are in your safe custody. But they are only accessible online.
This is where hardware wallets come in handy. They store your cryptocurrency and NFTs offline and offer one of the most secure ways to keep digital collectibles.
Step 2: Check out the prices
You will find all the details and stats about the Punks on the website. For more clarity, you can also visit Larva Labs.
Step 3: Go for it
Now that you have made up your mind about the Punk you want to buy, it is time to make the actual purchase. For this, you need money. Add ETH from a crypto exchange to your MetaMask account.
You can either buy a Punk for the listed price or place a bid. Once both parties agree to the price, you can go ahead with the payment as you’d do on Larva Labs.
The real game-changers
Many industries, companies, and influencers have endorsed CryptoPunks. This blockchain collectible has not only drawn attention to NFTs but also the crypto industry as a whole. CryptoPunks opened our eyes to the true potential of blockchain technology in the collectible industry. It paved the way for ERC-721 tokens and the diverse NFT projects in the limelight today.
Given the waning interest of NFTs in 2024, we can’t say for sure if the craze is here to stay or take a turn uphill (or downhill). One thing we do know is that the legendary example set by CryptoPunks is here to stay and inspire.
Frequently asked questions
Why are CryptoPunks so expensive?
Where to buy CryptoPunks?
Can I buy a CryptoPunk?
Can you unwrap a CryptoPunk?
How do CryptoPunks work?
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