Launched in June 2017, CryptoPunks is a pioneering interactive art project on the Ethereum blockchain: 10,000 unique, 24×24 pixel characters - humans, apes, zombies, and aliens - algorithmically generated and permanently inscribed on the blockchain. What began as an experiment in digital ownership became the catalyst for a modern art movement, the prototype for NFTs as we know them, and a cultural phenomenon that continues to ripple outward.
CryptoPunks started with a question: could collecting digital items feel as real as physical collectibles? That feeling of owning a famous piece of art or an early comic book seemed yet to be captured in the digital realm.
In 2017 when the project was created, the term “NFT” didn’t exist1, and there were no established rules for how digital art could exist on a blockchain. So we built our own system from scratch, figuring out how to build the smart contract by modifying the commonly used “fungible” token standard, and asking questions in early Ethereum dev chatrooms.
We created a generator that made 10,000 unique characters: 24x24-pixel portraits inspired by the ‘80s punk scene and ‘90s cyberpunk culture, designed to be distinctive and serve as avatars.2 Then, we let anyone with an Ethereum wallet claim one for free,3 and included a built-in marketplace where collectors could buy, sell, and trade them directly with one another.
CryptoPunks is a unique combination of generative artwork, novel mechanism for ownership, and decentralized market for exchange.
Collectors frequently used Punks as their profile pictures on social media.4 Adopting a Punk as their online persona was a be a powerful signal to others, who then investigated the Punks themselves. In some communities, CryptoPunks became ubiquitous digital portraits - organized through a typology that helps organize identity into recognizable categories.5 Collectors then took it further, creating a shared vocabulary – “floor price,” “rarity,” “traits” – that lives on today. Favored traits like hoodies, tiaras, pipes, and VR goggles took on outsized value. Some rare Punks emerged as icons and emblems of a shared ethos.
The project also inspired the technical foundations of what followed; the need to represent uniqueness on-chain helped shape the ERC-721 standard, the backbone of most NFTs. CryptoPunks became, in the words of many collectors, the “Rosetta Stone” of digital art on the blockchain, setting the template for everything that followed.
What began as an experiment in whether digital collectibles could ever feel as real as their physical counterparts became something bigger: CryptoPunks replicated not just the feeling of ownership, but the reality of it: verifiable, tradable, and lasting.
It wasn’t long before Punks sold for millions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s and entered the permanent collections of institutions like ICA Miami, Centre Pompidou, and LACMA.
One of the project’s most important legacies is its impact on artists more broadly. By proving it was possible for art to carry both ownership and value6 on the blockchain, CryptoPunks opened the door for more digital artists to make a living from their work.
In 2022, the project’s intellectual property was acquired by Yuga Labs, and in 2025, it passed to the digital art nonprofit Infinite Node Foundation, ensuring the collection and community’s long-term continuity and preservation. The Punks themselves remain forever unchanged: 10,000 portraits living permanently on the blockchain, enduring as art, code, and culture.