Talk to niftynaut：'In 2017, I claimed 50 Cryptopunks for free, and ...'

Q: Can you introduce yourself and when did you find cryptopunk?

A: Hi I am @niftynaut (twitter). I am an original cryptopunk claimer. I claimed more than 50 punks in 2017. Back then cryptopunks were free to claim. Only thing you had to pay was the gas costs for the transaction. It took a couple of days until they were all claimed, something unheard of with projects nowadays.

What made me claim them were two things:

A ) They made me realise the utility Ethereum comes with.

B ) I grew up with collectibles (football cards, figurines etc.). Punks were for me the ultimate collectible. Back then it was the only project I knew of which had done something like that. I wanted to be part of it.

Back in 2017 I wouldn’t have thought that the floor of the punks will be 400k USD. I believed in the project and saw the innovativeness.

Q: Can you give them a brief introduction about PUNK

A: Cryptopunks are one of the first NFT projects to have ever existed. Cryptopunks were released by larvalabs and are only 10.000 collectible characters with proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain available. Cryptopunks were innovative and kind of pioneers when it comes to the blockchain. They are the big bang of the NFT universe. Originally created in 2017, they are part of the inspiration for today’s NFT (ERC-721) standard and they were and still are the inspiration for many crypto artists and projects. Also a lot of people who own cryptopunks are building services, platforms and the infrastructure for the NFT community. Like @artonblockchain who created @artblocks_io a platform for generative art, or myself with my NFT swapping service https://swap.kiwi

Regarding Punk is the Bitcoin in NFT. I know it is hard to comprehend but 1 Punk = 1 Punk. There has never been something similar nor comparable to a cryptopunk.

Q: How much is your PUNK worth now, and when will you sell it? Still HOLD all the time?

A: My profile picture is a cryptopunk ape. One of only 24 in existence. With the current price spike I would estimate that this punk alone is worth something north of 12k eth. But as tempting that might sound – I won’t part with it. I kept it since 2017 and I will keep it for a long time.

Q: People said that PUNK has a big bubble now?

A: A lot of fear mongers are calling the NFT bubble to burst soon. But I still think we are early. Punks have been a lot of the time undervalued. They are just starting to unfold their wings and go higher. We have seen auction houses like Christies and Sotheby’s auctioning punks off for millions of $ next to a Basquiat. Punks are more than collectibles now. They are contemporary art, they are part of the culture around the blockchain. They are historic.

Q: Now some people are beginning to fragment the punk they have obtained, so that more people can participate. What do you think of this?

A: Fragmentation is one good way to share high quality NFTs with other people. I even think, that based on the current price path certain NFTs are taking, fragmentation is the only way that people can afford a cryptopunk. And tbh, a fragmented punk is basically a currency. I already fragmented one of my zombies in 2020/2021 and bought all the shares back. I think something like that won’t be that easily possible today anymore.

Q:How do you see the difference between 2017 and now, especially in the field of NFT?

A: 2017 we had by far much fewer players and projects available. People are now flocking into NFTs because of the possibilities they create. I don’t think that punks will cease to exist due to their historic value and the community of punk owners which is just amazing. Imagine all these people sticking around for all those years while punks were basically worth next to nothing. By now there is also far too much serious money put into punks that they will cease to exist. Punks are too big to fail by now. Visa, the financial service corporation, just recently bought a punk.

Q: What do you think about BAYC?

A: yes I participated in the minting of the BAYC and got myself some BAYC. I like the project as it is a project that rewards the owners. Great idea. Great execution. Also here to stay.

The success is the community. Same as punks but different. Punks are unattainable if you don’t have the financial power to buy one. BAYC showed up for 0.08eth minting price. People could afford that. And we see a new cycle of avatar projects popping up because people can’t afford the BAYC anymore.

Q: What is your current job?

A: I quit my job, founded my own company and released 2 months ago an NFT swapping platform https://swap.kiwi (https://swap.kiwi/). You can swap your NFTs with other people without the risk of falling for a scammer and losing your assets. Because until swap.kiwi, people were basically swapping NFTs in good faith – someone had to send first and then this person had to hope that the counterpart is holding up to their promise.

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