On May 9, 2017, Houndoom.eth was minted on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) protocol. This was the 37th ENS name ever minted on Ethereum. The protocol is similar to .com domains. They are used to make long crypto addresses into readable and recognizable names. Instead of telling someone to send Eth to 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD(Burn address), you can tell them to send it to Houndoom.eth. The ENS protocol was and still is critical infrastructure for cryptocurrency.

You may be wondering the importance of this in the first place. This etched Pokémon ENS into the ENS protocol from its inception. One individual was able to cement Pokémon ENS as one the earliest Non-Fungible Token (NFT) ever created.

Since the inception of Houndoom.eth, people would gradually mint their favorite Pokémon for over the next 5 years. Until the whole collection was minted out on May 4, 2022. At this moment in time, it was ENS summer and anything and everything was being minted out as a collection so that people could make a quick buck. Eventually, the frenzy ended and many ENS categories were left by the wayside and not renewed.

As the dust settled around Pokémon ENS, original minters such as Oddish.eth, Primeape.eth and Lucario.eth stuck around and answered questions for newcomers who were interested in the category. People slowly trickled in, over the next year creating a community of like minded individuals who loved Pokémon and crypto. The perfect intersection of IP and technology colliding into one. At this moment, a decentralized community was born and started building the infrastructure needed to collaborate and coordinate their efforts.

Originally, the community had a Discord and an X account that was run by one user. This person failed to communicate with everyone else, so after many attempts of trying to get access to parts of either application the community went ahead and created their own discord and X account as an act of mutiny. Once the Discord was set up, it would help them chat on a daily basis as well as scale the community up as the X group chat was limited to 75 users. To further build out the infrastructure for scaling, members also felt that it was important to stockpile Pokémon ENS for future community driven initiatives. This resulted in the creation of the Pokemondao.eth wallet, a multi sig wallet that holds 11 Pokémon ENS. These purchases were crowdfunded by community members with no expectation in return. Now that the digital foundation had been set, it was time to enjoy each others company and try to find some winning plays in this space. This digital tribe was now ready to hunt, gather, and deploy resources where they see fit. Crucial for surviving in the competitive industry that is crypto.

In the first year since the collection minted out, we saw some major sales such as Moltres.eth selling for 5 Eth which was ~ $10,000, Dragonite.eth sold for 5 Eth which was ~ $7,900, and the sale that really brought Pokémon ENS back on the scene all over X was the sale of Articuno.eth. It was purchased by Fry.eth for 5 eth which was ~$6,250 at the time of sale. This really put eyes on the collection and shot the category's floor from .1 Eth to .2 Eth instantly. It looked like Pokémon ENS was finally gaining some traction. Little did they know that there was a lot more work to do in order for the collection to gain the credibility it so deserved.

Since that Articuno.eth sale on January 6, 2023, we have vibed and educated people in Web3 on why we believe these names will be cherished. Now that our names were being recognized by many, we needed a profile picture (PFP) to help us fill in one of the most important pieces of digital real estate in Web3. In comes, Kadabra.eth the creator of Clonsters. When commissioned he would create a 1/1 PFP corresponding to the Pokemon ENS held by the trainer. The beloved PFP would be cherished by all in the community. One commissioner, Riolu.eth, has committed to creating a daily meme until the collection floor reaches 1 Eth. A testament to his belief of what is just the beginning for the collection. At the time of writing this, he is approaching 500 days of daily Pokémon ENS memes. People underestimate the difficulty of memeing over a long period of time. With this type of dedication, it inspired Dragonite.eth to do weekly spaces on X. This allowed for community members to talk about recent sales or lack thereof. Through spaces Pokémon ENS was able to permeate into other Web3 communities expanding its network. In these spaces, we have hosted some of the biggest names in Web3 such Brantly.eth (Founder of ENS), Wab.eth (Founder of Sappy Seals), Gino.eth (2 time Grammy winner), and Clon.eth (Founder of Cool Cats).

With each added node the network grew stronger and amplified our reach in the space. One node that really caught fire on X was the addition of Clon. Deino.eth had the pleasure of trading Rowlet.eth for a Cool Cat. Below is a screenshot of a video that Clon made showing the capture of Rowlet.eth.

This was a massive confirmation of legitimacy for us, as a "Blue Chip" founder understood the appeal and wanted in. We were able to get him on spaces a few weeks later to discuss his thought process and reasoning for the trade. This was our largest spaces of all time. Our legitimacy was confirmed again when the official ENS twitter account tweeted "Gotta Catch 'em all!" in response to Clon's recent capture.

We rode this wave and ultimately landed in Farcaster, a Web3 like X application. The app currently has 300,000 users that are primarily crypto native. Since our arrival, we have been able to make our presence known with our memes and witty banter. So much so, that people have taken notice of our names and have wanted in. Adoption has increased heavily since our content has transitioned to the purple app. Luckily for us, Fry.eth also known as Articuno.eth, urged us to get more familiar with the app. So naturally, we all dove head first and followed his lead. At the moment the Pokémon cabal has been able to gather a strong following. Leading the cabal is Articuno.eth (8.5k followers), Dragonite.eth (2.3k followers), Riolu.eth (1.2k followers),
Mantine.eth (671 followers), and Raichu.eth (511 followers).

Pokémon ENS culture has expanded outside the official Pokédex. We have seen people larping as some of their favorite in-game characters. People have chosen identities such as Cooltrainer.eth, Missingno.eth, and Ashketchum.eth. Even some bad guys have infiltrated the blockchain. Teamrocket.eth has been able to steal a solid amount of Pokémon ENS. We fight every day against the organizations that don't let Pokémon ENS be with their rightful trainers. One champion has been able to safeguard some of the most loved Pokémon ENS. Such as Gengar.eth, Entei.eth, and Lugia.eth to name a few. This trainer's bond with his Pokémon is demonstrated by the length of time he has spent with them. Ensagent is the epitome of what every trainer aspires to be. All jokes aside it is amazing how this collection and community continues to build the lore into the next iteration of the internet.

All in all, Pokémon ENS is here to stay and will continue to make an impact on Web3. We are a positive force in the space and look to attract like minded individuals. If you felt like Pokémon ENS makes sense to you and you want in. Head over to Vision.io to look up the "Pokemon ENS" category and you can check out which digital identity/collectable is the perfect for you. If you don't fully understand the appeal and would like to learn more about the community, join the discord and come hang out with us. It is not token gated so all are welcomed.

Thanks to everyone in the community for supporting each other and being good shepherds. 🤝

Articuno.eth, Riolu.eth, Oddish.eth, Primeape.eth, Lucario.eth, Palkia.eth, Steelix.eth, Pidgey.eth, Kadabra.eth, Greninja.eth, Espeon.eth, Deino.eth, Bulbasaur.eth, Charizard.eth, Nuzleaf.eth, Decidueye.eth, Ogerpon.eth, Shedinja.eth, Moltres.eth, Wooper.eth, Mantine.eth, Raichu.eth, Sharpedo.eth, Missingno.eth, Staraptor.eth, Rayquaza.eth, Venomoth.eth, Tranquill.eth, Gothitelle.eth, Arcanine.eth, Jirachi.eth, Pawniard.eth, Gastrodon.eth, Marshtomp.eth, Grimer.eth, Spiritomb.eth, and Dratini.eth

-Nice Nite