# CryptoPunks **Published by:** [Crypp](https://paragraph.com/@crypp-2/) **Published on:** 2022-12-28 **URL:** https://paragraph.com/@crypp-2/cryptopunks ## Content Hello, today I am going to tell you about CryptoPunks. The most popular NFT project which steadily keeps on the top lines of sales. CryptoPunks was originally conceived as a free project where customers would only have to pay a gas commission.Please read All information in this article is current at the time of publication. The text contains a huge number of links to various sources, items on marketplaces, wallets, etc. If you see underlined text, feel free to click on it, for example here.Scope Of ArticleHistoryTeamThe secret of successConclusionHistory06/2017The first mention of punks was on June 9, 2017. The project was created by Lavra Labs. Studio founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson created a character generator and experimented with it. They were thrilled with the fun little pop art style portraits they were able to make. At first Hall and Watkinson thought their idea had the makings of a mobile app or game, but then they decided to create a collection of 10,000 NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/873173289455288320?s=20&t=naFzVoz1Wa1vuJB_6Wkg7g On June 16, the first sale of punk on the secondary market happened. CryptoPunk #6491 was sold for $38. https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb/6491 When volumes began to grow along with the popularity of punks, a bug was found in the contract. The user could buy a punk on the secondary market without having money to pay, thereby taking NFT out of the seller's wallet, but getting no money. A few days later, the bug was fixed and a new contract was rolled out, punks were returned to the former owners. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/878365709297999872?s=20&t=naFzVoz1Wa1vuJB_6Wkg7g On June 30, CryptoPunk #1374 was sold for 1.89 ETH ($563). It was a new record in price at that time. https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb/1374 A few hours later there was a new record, Punk #1886 was sold for 2.29 ETH ($650). https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb/188607/2017Throughout July, sales were up, with an average price of $100 for a punk, but there were also many big sales of about $2,000.08/2017In addition to the daily sales growth, Lavra Labs is announcing merch for CryptoPunks owners. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/893492756160577538?s=2009/2017 - 04/2020There have been no major announcements or updates from the team for almost 3 years, and the price for the punks has been kept around $200. All the value of the collection was held on the faith of the community, probably the team did not fully realize the seriousness of the collection and continued to develop their mobile games.05/2020May 2020 sets a new record for punk sales. Punk #8348 was sold for 85 ETH ($18,102). It is the only punk in the collection with 7 attributes. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksbot/status/1262986409364852736 Four days later the record was updated and Punk #6487 was sold for 100 ETH ($20,857). https://twitter.com/cryptopunksbot/status/1264423942732886016?s=20&t=CiIWj39iCF-Uje-ekgsgyA06/2020 - 01/2021Prices continued to rise, there was again no big news for half a year.02/2021In February 2021, the floor on punks started at 10 ETH. The collection was in second place by volume, behind only the NBA Top Shot. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1362154675827597313?s=20&t=__2H0clxZjqVp7kwl-sWWw https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1362462977354584067?s=20&t=__2H0clxZjqVp7kwl-sWWw03/2021In March a new record was set, Punk #3393 sold for 500 ETH ($954,650). https://twitter.com/cryptopunksbot/status/1370816207704760322?s=20&t=ZERnO6OtdduxS6LT6t9k8Q05/2021On May 12, the Christie's venue held an auction for nine punks from Lavra Labs' personal collection. The nine punks sold for $16,962,500. https://twitter.com/ChristiesInc/status/1392282036417728519?s=20&t=hB59LeIYFiarbwF4UnjEVg10/2021At the end of October there was a transaction to buy Punk #9998 for 124,457 ETH ($532,414,877). This is no mistake, one of the users created a Flash Loan transaction and set a record price for Punk. https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb/999803/2022After a long lull in the CryptoPunks collection an important event happens. Yuga Labs is acquiring the intellectual property of CryptoPunks and will transfer intellectual property rights to individual token holders. https://twitter.com/yugalabs/status/1502420714527334406?s=20&t=cUixMf5UlZ59hiUMq6JhBA06/2022Since the deal, Yuga has been showing its marketing skills and CryptoPunks appearing on city posters. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1538895716369801216?s=20&t=__2H0clxZjqVp7kwl-sWWw07/2022At the end of July, jewelry brand Tiffany is announcing exclusive pendants for punk holders. A total of 250 NFTs worth 30 ETH ($50,000) will be produced. https://twitter.com/TiffanyAndCo/status/1553811244536270852 https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xe8f88d16f24255fcfab25959705d724406d67d9d/25010/2022As a tribute to the community, Yuga Labs began rebuilding the cryptopunks.app website, the company fixed all the vulnerabilities and improved the interface. Initially, before OpenSea, all punk purchases and sales took place on this site. https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1579864409916465154?s=20&t=__2H0clxZjqVp7kwl-sWWwTeamThe project was started by a team of two Canadian software developers, Matt Hall and John Watkinson, who call themselves "creative technologists." And many of the attributes they mixed with CryptoPunks can be found throughout the NFT scene.The secret of success1. Article from MashableCryptoPunks took off after an article on Mashable. It said that CryptoPunks could "change the idea of digital art". The authors also honestly wrote that their NFTs "don't do anything" and can only be bragged about on their social media pages. Despite this, within hours of the article's release, all of the crypto-punks were sold out. Hall and Watkinson kept 1,000 NFTs in case they "became something special." https://twitter.com/mashable/status/875749080596611073?s=20&t=mQKKoR3umC325Pf-7LBRMw2. The bull marketIn 2017, bitcoin rose almost 20 times in a short time, reaching a historic high of $19,783. This figure "held" until the end of 2020, when the bitcoin rate rose to $19,808. In addition, the Ethereum cryptocurrency, which supports smart contracts or "smart contracts," was created. CryptoPunks began to grow in popularity in mid-2017, at which time there were already many other NFT collections. Among them is NBA Top Shot.2017 Bull Run3. LuxuryAs soon as NFT CryptoPunks moved into the "expensive" category, rich buyers became interested in them. A cryptopunk on a social network avatar became an indicator of social status. https://twitter.com/steveaoki/status/1456734058130460675?s=20&t=O0Abryn_VHMZtsWAC_T4Hw https://twitter.com/Banks/status/1413555460775448577?s=20&t=O0Abryn_VHMZtsWAC_T4Hw https://twitter.com/LoganPaul/status/1422659980252094467?s=20&t=O0Abryn_VHMZtsWAC_T4HwConclusionCryptoPunks started as an experiment and were given away for free, and in 2021 they became valuable collectibles. Blockchain helped secure ownership and NFT made each CryptoPunks unique. Cryptopunks are no longer just 10,000 24×24 pixel pictures. They are unique pieces of digital art that give their owners the opportunity to demonstrate their social status and influence the art world.Thank you for reading to the end. I hope this article has given you some new insights into this beautiful project. If you found it useful, subscribe to my Twitter and feel free to share it with others. If you have any suggestions for edits, whether it's something I missed or said wrong, feel free to write in the comments.Subscribe ## Publication Information - [Crypp](https://paragraph.com/@crypp-2/): Publication homepage - [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@crypp-2/): More posts from this publication - [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@crypp-2): Subscribe to updates - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cryppinfluence): Follow on Twitter