V1 CryptoPunks Just Got Their Marketplace Back

The "official" CryptoPunks, which have spurred billions in trade volume to date, spring from the project's second contract. That's because there are actually two distinct collections here: V1 and V2.

• Why: Larva Labs shipped the first 'Punks contract in June 2017, yet the novel marketplace built within that contract had a bug that made it possible for a buyer to get a 'Punk and reclaim their paid ETH.
• The Fix: Larva Labs quickly deployed a V2, reminting the same images and token IDs alongside the patched marketplace design. These V2s went on to become the legendary collection that have catalyzed Ethereum's NFT ecosystem ever since.

That said, V1 'Punks still exist and have been actively collected by a small group of connoisseurs, e.g. path.eth. It's just that the original marketplace has remained borked, which has led to modern wrappers so V1s can trade readily on platforms like OpenSea.

At the time of writing this post, V2 'Punks had a floor of ~33 ETH, while V1s had a floor of ~2.4 ETH. This large, enduring spread has marked the market's valuation of cultural consensus vs. historically-interesting originals, but can the OGs ever decisively close this gap?

Progress here requires confronting the specter of wrappers. V1s are compelling precisely because of their direct connection to the original genesis contract, but wrapping them dilutes that connection (like trading a receipt rather than the piece itself, so to speak).

Take note, then, as jalil.eth just introduced CryptoPunksMarket at punksmarket.app. It's a trustless platform + smart contract combo that allows for native trading of V1 CryptoPunks directly through their original contract without any wrappers needed.

The crux of the V1's contract bug is that it tallies paid ETH to the wrong person. CryptoPunksMarket reckons with this as an intermediary. In other words, it buys a 'Punk as a temporary holder, calls withdraw() to pull ETH back, transfers the 'Punk to the buyer, and pays the ETH to the seller.

Beyond this very clever fix of the V1's broken marketplace, the extension also offers a nice bid system overlaid atop the V1. You can bid on a single 'Punk or across the entire collection per particular traits and beyond, e.g. colors.

The resource is brand new, and most V1 'Punks remain in wrappers, so unwrapping and listing here is only just beginning. However, we've seen one test sale and one organic sale so far, marking the first trades through the V1 contract in nearly half a decade and the first sales through the 2017 contract ever to have their ETH sent to the correct sellers. It works!

My hunch is V1 activity will uptrend for the foreseeable future now that this platform is available. We'll see. But either way another thing I'll be watching for is how these new V1 capabilities will be integrated in networked.art, an Ethereum-based auction house that Jalil is working on with ygg and Jack Butcher.

For instance, consider the possibilities around auctions for V1 + V2 'Punks pairs and so on. Maybe these features will come to CryptoPunksMarket, or maybe to both platforms. In the meantime, though, keep these efforts in mind in case a new collecting surge does start forming here.