10,000 unique collectible characters with proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain. The project that inspired the modern CryptoArt movement. CryptoPunks are one of the earliest and most iconic examples of "Non-Fungible Tokens" minted on Ethereum, and were the inspiration for the ERC-721 standard which powers most digital art and collectibles on-chain. Since their release on June 23, 2017, CryptoPunks have been featured in numerous international publications, headlined prestigious international auctions at both Christie's and Sotheby's, and even entered the permanent collections of important art museums such as the ICA Miami, the Centre Pompidou, and the LACMA. For more information and updates, check out the Cryptopunks brand hub.
CryptoPunks are 10,000 uniquely generated characters. No two are exactly alike, and each one can be trustlessly collected by anyone interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. Originally, Punks could be claimed for free using any Ethereum wallet with enough $ETH to cover gas fees. Now, they can be purchased from their present owners using the bespoke CryptoPunks marketplace, which is also embedded in the blockchain. Via this frictionless market you can buy, bid on, and offer Punks for sale. Below, you'll find information about the availability of each Punk. Punks with a blue background are not for sale and have no current bids. Punks with a red background are available for sale by their owner. Finally, Punks with a purple background have an active bid on them.
See the marketplace instructions below to acquire your very own Punk. You should also join the Discord Chat, which includes a bot that announces all bids, offers and sales in realtime.
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What is a CryptoPunk?
CryptoPunks are 24x24 pixel art images, generated algorithmically. Most are punky-looking guys and girls, but there are a few rarer types mixed in: Apes, Zombies and even the odd Alien. Every Punk has their own profile page that shows their attributes as well as their ownership/for-sale status (here's an example).
What exactly is going on here?
Cryptocurrency was made famous by Bitcoin, but Bitcoin is designed just to transact and record ownership of Bitcoin itself. CryptoPunks were minted on a successor to Bitcoin called Ethereum which allows for arbitrary computer code to be executed on the blockchain and the results of the execution to be stored forever. This is pretty cool! Normally, code is run on a server somewhere and you basically need to trust the person running the server. Ethereum lets everyone execute the code, show each other what result they got, and agree that the code was executed properly and fairly. The written code of the CryptoPunks smart contract lives on Ethereum, which allows any user to buy and sell Punks with anyone else in the world.
How do I get a Punk?
- Download and install a Web3 browser plugin for Chrome, such as MetaMask. This will allow websites (that you authorize) to connect to your Ethereum wallet.
- If you made a new account, buy some $ETH. The MetaMask plugin has functionality which allows you to buy $ETH from Coinbase.
- Once you have the plugin installed, this website will recognize it and add buttons that allow you to bid on, buy and sell Punks directly in the interface.
- For example, you can buy Punk #1613 for 46.57 ETH ($193,342.81).
Details and FAQ
- Where are the images for the Punks stored?
- Originally, the digital images of the Punks were too large to store on the blockchain, so we took a hash of the composite image of all the Punks and embedded it into the contract. You can verify that the punks being managed by the Ethereum contract are the True Official Genuine CryptoPunks™ by calculating an SHA256 hash on the CryptoPunks image and comparing it to the hash stored in the contract.
- Since then, due to some clever compression ideas and some help from friends of the Punks, each PNG image in the collection and its corresponding attribute data are recorded fully on chain. You can read more about the mechanisms and details of the process in the original Larva Labs announcement blog post.
- Are the Punks an ERC-721 token?
- No. CryptoPunks predate the ERC-721 standard and are a custom contract, meaning it doesn't comply with any standards. They are almost an ERC20 token.
- Where does the market data on this site come from?
- The prices, bids and sales you see on this site are loaded from the CryptoPunks contract on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Do you charge any fees for transactions?
- No. We charge no fees for CryptoPunks sales executed via the built-in marketplace (notwithstanding the gas fees required to interact with Ethereum).
- The contract source and more technical details are available on Github.
- For inquiries, email punks@nodefoundation.com
