Although I rarely talk about NFTs, I believe this is a topic worth diving into.
While the NFT market seems to be dead - opportunities are always around the corner.
In particular, I believe that CyptoPunks V1 are one of the most undervalued NFT projects out there, and I am puzzled that not many are actually aware of them.
To make amends, this piece provides an introduction to the CryptoPunks V1, their history, as well as making an argument for their historical value as an NFT.
From Crypto to Punks
The CryptoPunks V1 are the original NFT collection of the known CryptoPunks, which was initially released by Larva Labs in 2017.
10000 new Cryptopunks were airdropped to the original claimants.
From 2017 to 2020 people seem to have forgotten about them — until 2021.
We all know how things went from there, as the CryptoPunks eventually became the most significant and symbolic NFT collection — arguably kickstarting the NFT mania of 2021.
While LarvaLabs was savoring the success of CryptoPunks V2, it seemed like everyone had forgotten about CryptoPunks V1.
That is, until January 2022.
The Resurrection
While forgotten and deprecated by LarvaLabs, the CryptoPunks V1 were still existing on-chain.
And as we all know, what’s on-chain may never die.
When the CryptoPunks V1 were released they were ERC-20 tokens, as there was no ERC-721 standard, which nowadays defines non-fungible tokens.
Being an ERC-20 token effectively means that no one could trade them.
However, due to the development of this new standard and advancement in the trading of NFTs, including the establishment of marketplaces such as OpenSea there was a revival of interest in the collection.
In order for CryptoPunks NFTs to be traded, they needed “to be wrapped inside of an ERC-721 token”.
The day after, the CryptoPunks V1 community released a dedicated marketplace for V1 Punks, with no fees:
The marketplace was well received and eventually saw its first sale on the 24th of January, with Punk 1396.
Just a couple of days later, on the 26th of January, Larva Labs issued the following statement:
The tone of the tweet shows that Larva Labs wasn’t really happy about them. However, this eventually backfired as it had the opposite effect: many people, in fact, were not aware yet of the existence of V1 Punks.
Furthermore, this seemed contradictory to the fact that Larva Labs had sold 39 V1 Punks literally a few days before, as shown above.
Eventually, Larva Labs was forced to apologize on their Discord:
These are the Punks sold by Larva Labs, which eventually came to be known as the “Rainforest Punks”:
This eventually became the most interesting discussion of the week in the crypto world, which resulted in an increased interest in V1 Punks.
During the same week, in fact, Cobie started talking about the V1 vs V2 debate, all during which the V1 Punks registered their biggest sale yet, with Alien Punk 5905 sold for 1K ETH:
This obviously did not sit well with Larva Labs, which on the 7th of February issued a DMCA request, forcing OpenSea to delist V1 Punks.
To which the V1 Community responded with their own DMCA towards Larva Labs:
The legal battle was settled in March 2022, when Yuga Labs famously acquired Larva Labs and all its assets.
This included the 1085 CryptoPunks V1 owned by Larva Labs (1084 unwrapped and 1 wrapped).
Yuga Labs eventually confirmed they wouldn’t follow up with the previous DMCA issued by Larva Labs.
Finally, on the 18th of March, the V1 Punks were relisted on OpenSea:
That’s quite the happy ending!
And everything drama-wise.
Now that we have made a comprehensive introduction to the history and the context, we can draw a few conclusions.
Cryptopunks is the very first 10k Avatar project on the Ethereum blockchain
Sure, according to LarvaLabs they might not be the “official” CryptoPunks, but they are the “original”. As Sean mentioned below, anyone that collects art, coins, or cards is very well aware of the value of an error or misprint. If we consider V1s to be a mistake, then this by itself makes them appealing and valuable..
.. adding to their historical significance, V1s have attracted the interest of many NFT archeologists, which have added them to their collections.
“CryptoPunks V1 are not a derivative but are in fact the original set of Punks released by LarvaLabs in 2017 (and actually predate the release of LarvaLabs CryptoPunks NFTs). This is verified on the Ethereum blockchain and is immutable”
It is not clear what Yuga intends to do with them - as they haven’t set up a clear path. We don’t know whether they will eventually wrap their V1s and they’ll include them in the Yuga NFT Universe, or just never do anything with them.
What we know nowadays is that a lot of CryptoPunks V2 holders are going all the way in to try and get them paired with a V1 original.
Surprisingly I have never seen much about CryptoPunks V1s, aside from the inner circles and community. This might also be due to the close-knit community that Punks are known for. However, I personally believe they have particular historical significance, and sooner or later this will be reflected in community development.
Last but not least, and probably the most important point of all, V1s have proven and shown the power of decentralization.
They have been revived by their community, and have single-handedly resisted the legal attacks of one of the most powerful corporations in the NFT space.
Couple of disclaimers here: this is NFA, and I own 1 V1 punk.
I wish I had the power to pump my bags, but at best I can make them go lower.
This article has been written in the spirit of curiosity and to highlight what I believe to be one of the most interesting stories out there in the NFT world.
Of course, I can’t talk about the V1 Punks without mentioning Hemba, one of the OGs and biggest sustainers of the community, as well as the person who found the bug in the original Punk contract.
It’s fair to say the CryptoPunks wouldn’t be here without him.
