Decrypt’s 2024 NFT Project of the Year: CryptoPunks

Pudgy Penguins and CryptoPunks are currently in striking distance of tying up as the most costly NFT series in the world. &nbsp,

It’d been a long, long time since any other brand had come close to accomplishing that feat, and Pudgy had wind in its sails: Riding momentum from an upcoming token airdrop, the collection soared to unbelievable highs, exploding from a floor price of$ 19, 000 at the start of November to more than$ 138, 000 by mid-December. &nbsp,

It looked like the tilt may occur. Then, in accordance with traditional cryptography, Pudgy Penguins lost over 55 % of their value in just a few days when the PENGU gift airdrop went live. &nbsp,

Left undisturbed, at the top of the heap, was CryptoPunks. The show perfectly captured the 2024 NFT narrative: While another collections worked overtime to increase demand through incentives and the promise of tokens, CryptoPunks appeared to easily fly upward in social significance, social cachet, and, of course, value.

” While another projects fight to defend themselves with complex roadmaps, CryptoPunks also stand apart as historical symbols”, Daniel Rosario, a CryptoPunks holder and MetaMask’s ecosystem engagement director, told . &nbsp,

” Owning a Grunge has come to symbolize a pure, distributed form of digital identity—unbound by commercial influence, and celebrated for what it is, rather than what it does eventually be”, he added. &nbsp,

As bitcoin becomes increasingly intertwined with Wall Street, Washington, and the pillars of global energy it again eschewed, CryptoPunks have emerged as an extremely effective time capsule of the industry’s founding values: decentralization, authenticity, and real novelty. &nbsp,

Words that have since been dull advertising slogans in the NFT ecosystem, such as community and utility, have apparent meaning in the case of Punks. The series, created as an experiment in 2017 and offered to minters for completely, came centuries before NFTs were a clear advantage group. &nbsp,

In those early times, CryptoPunks embodied a guarantee of non-fungible digital currencies as well as of works of art that could be found online and used safely. This idea has since changed the art world. In the years that followed, the CryptoPunks online community provided a forum for users to exchange ideas that may eventually rule the crypto earth. &nbsp,

One of those early adopters, the anonymous style investor gmoney, says the Punks group had a teenage influence on his crypto trajectory, again in late 2020. In mid-December, Gmoney’s crypto-infused luxury and fashion label, 9dcc, launched its latest offering, a series of mystery” Black Box” NFTs. One of those boxes, naturally, included a rare CryptoPunk.

Gmoney informed that because Punks represent the essence of his initiation into, and relationship with, crypto, he decided to associate them with his most coveted collection, and not any other NFT brand.

” There’s no better way to hopefully enter the next bull market than with something similar, a tribute to that”, the entrepreneur said. &nbsp,

For the same reasons, major players in the art and luxury industries continue to invest in CryptoPunks. The jeweler Swarovski unveiled a homage to CryptoPunks that Christie’s had supported earlier this year. That stunning collaboration grew on earlier Punks shows and events put on by the likes of Tiffany &amp, Co. and some of the world’s most prestigious art institutions.

That intangible but steadily growing cultural value rocketed CryptoPunks to record sales over the course of 2024, even as the rest of the NFT market remained subdued. In March, a rare CryptoPunk sold for$ 16 million, in the second-largest sale for the collection ever. Weeks later, Punk sold for$ 16 million. The following month, a third fetched a price tag of$ 12.4 million.

Perhaps ironically, the defiantly independent CryptoPunks brand is currently under the stewardship of Yuga Labs, NFT world’s largest corporation. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

In May, Yuga stirred controversy after launching an” Artist in Residence” program designed to create new NFT collections riffing on CryptoPunks. The backlash to the program’s debut collection, designed by the celebrated contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney, was swift and resounding. Much of the pushback asserted that Yuga had no place trying to monetize CryptoPunks, and that such moves would corrupt the collection’s essence. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Complicating that narrative, however, was the fact that much negative attention generated by Abney’s CryptoPunks project consisted of an “anti-woke” objection to the project’s celebration of racial and gender diversity. &nbsp,

Natalie Stone, Yuga’s CryptoPunks lead, said that while she still stands by Abney’s project on its artistic merits, the negative reaction it garnered led Yuga to reevaluate its CryptoPunks strategy.

” I think the backlash clarified the reverence that people feel towards CryptoPunks”, Stone told . The monetization of the collection” seems to undermine the foundation of what Punks mean,” says one critic.

Since May, Stone said, Yuga has approached the collection more cautiously, and has moved away from attempts to expand or innovate it. Instead, the business has increased its efforts to further the legacy of CryptoPunks, particularly in the realms of popular culture and art. &nbsp,

Every book about art history you read should contain a CryptoPunk that examines the best works of art from our time, she said. &nbsp,

It is becoming increasingly clear that CryptoPunks are in a league of their own in comparison to other NFT projects. Punks have featured at the Centre Pompidou, Europe’s largest modern art museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, they consistently go up at auction alongside cultural treasures at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. &nbsp,

Stone points to a new book by Yuga this year that details the history of CryptoPunks as proof of the kind of cultural footprint the business can contribute to the NFT collection’s development that a decentralized community might not be able to achieve.

However, Stone claims that at the end of the day, she is now acutely aware of the fact that CryptoPunks ‘ most coveted asset is its coveted status as “effortlessly cool.”

” Anytime you try to engineer cool, you fail”, she said.

” Trust me”, she added. ” I’ve tried”.