In case you’ve previously entered the whole world of NFT and its derivatives, we bet you’ve come across some avatars on the web that is made out of pixels that have sold for millions of dollars.
Have you come across them, have you been curious about them? Today we tell you about them and why they are so highly valued in the NFT world:
What are Cryptopunks?
This project called Cryptopunks was launched by LarvaLabs, which consists of 10000 punks or 2D avatars (Whatever you want to call them) that have a size of 24×24 pixels only made through a software that uses only 8-bit technology, and that has been tokenized by the Ethereum blockchain.
The crypto punks are made by the inspiration of 1970’s punk aesthetics, as what LarvaLabs were looking for was to reflect a revolutionary style through the blockchain.
This particular project achieved its remit and was one of the first components of the NFT’s revolution in Ethereum. In the early days of its remit, 9000 of the CryptoPunks were released and delivered for free in 2017, so it was available to anyone with an Ethereum wallet.
But currently, they have quite a considerable cost being one of the most expensive on the platform, thanks to being part of the beginning of the era of NFT’s.
Its approximate cost can be considered between $20 million. Luckily LarvaLabs saved 1000 of the Cryptopunks before their upheaval.
A technical challenge
As mentioned before, CryptoPunks were part of a revolution in the blockchain world. At the time they were created, the ERC-721 token, which was responsible for creating NFTs, did not yet exist. Therefore they were created under a modification of the ERC-20 token, and thanks to this decision a flame was lit within the community to be able to design the current prototype in Ethereum that makes the NFT’s as they are today. And even today, if we look at the Cryptopunks counter on Etherscan, we will realize that it is still registered as an ERC-20.
Another of the revolutions that caused these NFT’s is that they were created through software made particularly by Larvalabs, through the “Hashing” program that allowed programmers to convert numbers or input, in images that are reflected in 8 bits or output. Therefore, the creation of the CryptoPunks was through that method, and at the same time they were minted directly on the blockchain.
What types or classes of Cryptopunks are there?
As we said, there are 10000 different types of Cryptopunks all over the world, moreover, none of them is similar to the other and each one belongs to a different category with different accessories. There are some particular ones, 44 of them have a hat and 286 have 3D glasses, is considered rare.
In total, we can divide them across five distinct categories:
Men and Women
Among the 10000 types of CryptoPunks, there are 6039 who are men and 3840 who are women crypto punks. As we mentioned above, none of them is the same as the other. Therefore they have different looks with many types of characteristics, among them we can count lipsticks, pigtails, cigars, and hats, among many more. Although there are some that are more common than others, depending on the characteristics they can be considered scarce or special, therefore they have a much higher added value.
Zombies
This is the second stage among the different CryptoPunks, and they are the second rarest. In particular, there are only 88 CryptoPunks with the Zombie characteristic and among their distinctive features we can count: green skin and red eyes.
Apes
As their name says, they are CryptoPunks that have similar characteristics to apes. They are rare, and there are only 24 of them among the 10000 CryptoPunks released, so they have an even higher value than the ones we have already explained above.
They are quite well known, but the most coveted one is CryptoPunk number 8219, as a person who goes by the name of “G Money” bought it, assumed its identity, and also constantly keeps on buying different types of NFT so he is quite an active member among the auctions.
Aliens
This is the last type of CryptoPunks, and because they are so rare they are extremely valuable in the NFT market. There are only 9 Aliens in total. The one with the highest value is CryptoPunk number 7804, and it was sold for $7.5 million. It is one of the most expensive on a current basis and is, therefore, one that has gone down in the history of NFT’s and is well known throughout the community.
Why do they cost so much?
The CryptoPunks project, as we mentioned above, is one of the first NFT’s in the whole history, therefore they have a great significance for the whole community, both inside and outside Ethereum.
They are the basis of the beginning of the NFT’s, they are part of the revolution of this new world, so collectors go crazy to have one, both those who are outside the world of cryptocurrencies, as well as those who are inside and specialize much more in NFT’s.
Currently, they have been part of auctions in really prominent houses among the community, such as Christie’s. And probably their popularity is still growing and they will end up being more known in the mainstream world and increasing the amount of value they have.
Where to buy Cryptopunks?
You can buy part of this project through different NFT’s platforms, either directly from the Larvalabs marketplace or through Opensea. Although in particular, the ones offered on OpenSea have small changes to their structure, as they needed to be adapted directly to the ERC-721 token.
If you have the desire to buy one, you can easily install Metamask, and have the exact amount of ETH to make the purchase.
To finish our article, we leave you with a curious fact: The color of the Cryptopunk’s background determines its status. For example, those with a blue background are not sold and do not have an active bid. But the purple ones do have active bidding for them, and finally, the red ones, are for sale.