Today, I will be evaluating the provenance of the V1 CryptoPunks collection. Is it possible to establish a perfect provenance for the V1 CryptoPunks?
In order to achieve a perfect provenance, V1 Punks must fulfill the following requirements: origin that is complete, corroborated, transparent and provable; derivation (if applicable) that is complete, corroborated, transparent and provable; ownership that is complete, corroborated, transparent and provable; and history that is complete, corroborated, transparent and provable. Derivation is not applicable in the case of V1 Punks, leaving us to establish Origin, Ownership, and History that is complete, corroborated, transparent and provable.
V1 CryptoPunk Provenance Is Not Perfect
Below is a screenshot of the V1 CryptoPunk 4762 NFT’s transaction history as told by V1 CryptoPunks.
What we immediately see is that some questions need to be asked: How can the historical provenance of V1 CryptoPunk 4762 start on September 28th 2022, when the collection was launched on June 9th 2017? Who claimed V1 CryptoPunk 4762, and was that asset claimed on June 9th 2017? Or exactly when was that asset claimed and by whom? Where is that part of the origin story?
Clearly, provenance of Origin, Ownership, and History are not complete. But, can provenance in these areas be established somehow?
Establishing The Provenance Of Origin Of V1 CryptoPunks
On June 9th 2017, the CryptoPunks collection was released by creator Larva Labs (Larva Labs later sold the collection to Yuga Labs). On the 17th of that month, the marketplace function on the CryptoPunks contract was enabled. It was at this point that a bug was discovered – the marketplace smart contract had an error in the code.
In order to resolve the problem, on the 23rd of that month, Larva Labs created a duplicate contract and airdropped the new Punks (now called CryptoPunks) to the claimants of the original Punk NFTs (now called V1 CryptoPunks). Note that it was the claimants of the original Punk NFTs (V1 CryptoPunks) who were airdropped the new CryptoPunks, not the actual owners at the time of the airdrop – there was no sort of “snapshot” taken of current owners.
While the origin and history of CryptoPunks could be claimed to be complete and transparent by the CryptoPunk community at large, as the collection was airdropped on June 23rd 2017, these origins and histories are neither corroborated nor provable, as the CryptoPunks released on June 9th 2017 were, in fact, called CryptoPunks by Larva Labs. This is evidenced by the first time Larva Labs tweeted about CryptoPunks (on June 9th 2017, not June 23rd 2017). A screenshot of the tweet can be seen below.
So, we know that it was Tony who minted V1 CryptoPunk 4762 – that’s the reason why he was airdropped CryptoPunk 4762 (see the Ownership section for more information). But when did Tony mint V1 CryptoPunk 4762? That information is not obvious, and is required for developing V1 CryptoPunk 4762’s complete origin story. In answering this question we will add credit to V1 CryptoPunk 4762’s ownership and historical provenance, as well.
We dig again into the etherscan of tonyherrera.eth (0x94de7E2c73529EbF3206Aa3459e699fbCdfCD49b), and we find V1 CryptoPunk 4762 was claimed on June 13th 2017, 4 days after the collection was launched by Larva Labs! The etherscan transaction of Tony claiming V1 CryptoPunk 4762 can be found here – https://etherscan.io/tx/0xd43443c18568d7b0c401b313c634bb9b8474c83b1353ae6a63c7686a7c03266b and a screenshot of the historic transaction, including the Logs (of which there is 1 record), can be seen below.
Establishing The Provenance Of Ownership Of V1 CryptoPunks
Establishing a complete chain of custody for V1 CryptoPunk 4762 requires looking at the history of CryptoPunk 4762. Why is this the case? Because it was the claimants of the original Punk NFTs (V1 CryptoPunks) who were airdropped the new CryptoPunks, not the actual owners at the time of the airdrop.
Chain Of Custody Of CryptoPunk 4762
For reference, the transaction history of CryptoPunk 4762 is shown in the screenshot below.
We know, as shown in the screenshot, that Tony was airdropped the new CryptoPunk 4762 on June 23rd 2017, therefore we also know that Tony was the claimant of the original CryptoPunk 4762 (now called V1 CryptoPunk 4762). As a result, we do indeed have a complete record of ownership for CryptoPunk 4762, from V1 CryptoPunk 4762 to the airdrop of CryptoPunk 4762, and beyond. It is important to note that the airdrop of the 23rd is stated as “claimed” by CryptoPunks, rather than “airdropped” – another reason why the provenance of CryptoPunks is not perfect. This is an intentional effort on the part of Larva Labs and Yuga Labs to obfuscate the true historical provenance of CryptoPunks.
Chain Of Custody Of V1 CryptoPunk 4762
V1 CryptoPunk 4762 shows a first transaction date of September 28th, 2022 – that was the date when Tony wrapped V1 CryptoPunk 4762 to enable transfers of the digital asset. However, this provenance-essential data is neither clear nor transparent, as one will notice in the screenshot below that the transaction in which Tony wrapped V1 CryptoPunk 4762 refers to V1 CryptoPunk 4762 being minted on that date, which we know to not only not be true, but to be impossible as well.
Next, in examining this “mint” of the V1 CryptoPunk 4762 on September 28th 2022, we find that links direct us to Tony’s V1 CryptoPunk profile, rather than to the etherscan of the transaction. Selecting the transaction above sends us to the following URL – https://v1punks.io/user/ETHEREUM:0x94de7e2c73529ebf3206aa3459e699fbcdfcd49b, a screenshot of which can be seen below.
Certainly, one seeking information on the transactional provenance of V1 CryptoPunk 4762 would not be interested in knowing Tony’s V1 assets. Perhaps selecting the “Activity” button will clarify the historical provenance of V1 CryptoPunk 4762?
Selecting the “Activity” button shows transactions under Tony’s V1 profile here – https://v1punks.io/user/ETHEREUM:0x94de7e2c73529ebf3206aa3459e699fbcdfcd49b/activity, but again, no links are clickable that connect to etherscan, making historical provenance incomplete. For example, clicking on the transaction of the sale of V1 CryptoPunk 4762, seen on the 28th in a screenshot of Tony’s transactional history below, sends us back to the profile for V1 CryptoPunk 4762 – https://v1punks.io/token/ETHEREUM:0x282bdd42f4eb70e7a9d9f40c8fea0825b7f68c5d:4762 , not to the actual transaction.
Problematic is the fact that in this transaction history we see the sale of V1 CryptoPunk 4762 from Tony to Punk 4762, but not the actual wrapping of V1 CryptoPunk 4762 (which V1 Punks referred to as “minted”, rather than the more accurate “wrapped”). However, the V1 CryptoPunk 4762’s profile history, seen in the screenshot below, does show the wrapping (“minted”), purchase and transfer of V1 CryptoPunk 4762 from Tony to Punk 4762.
How can Tony’s V1 CryptoPunk history not show the wrapping of V1 CryptoPunk 4762, when the V1 CryptoPunk 4762 profile does show this important point in the life of this digital asset? As a result of this confusion, we are required to examine Tony’s etherscan history ourselves in order to locate this mandatory information.
Digging into the etherscan of tonyherrera.eth (0x94de7E2c73529EbF3206Aa3459e699fbCdfCD49b) we find that V1 CryptoPunk 4762 was wrapped by Tony here on September 28th 2022 – https://etherscan.io/tx/0x7b59e2913a3abff1978cc7ad6176b033ea18a0775277770e6aa000646a5f06cc (screenshot below).
Then, V1 CryptoPunk 4762 was sold by Tony to Punk 4762 here – https://etherscan.io/tx/0x68b9b324dbce288d6f342b4e4296b4d6b7553fb87174ad50086323d724f48999 (screenshot below).
Establishing The Provenance Of History Of V1 CryptoPunks
Because there was no marketplace or liquidity for the original V1 CryptoPunks, and because media attention was instead on the airdropped CryptoPunks collection, the NFT community forgot about V1 CryptoPunks until December 13th 2021. That was when NFT provenance specialist Leonidas released a timeline of Early NFTs on Ethereum that included V1 CryptoPunks, shedding light on the historical relevance of the collection. The reader can inspect Leonidas’ work below.
Community interest in V1 CryptoPunks was revived, and on January 17th 2022, FrankNFT developed an updated V1 CryptoPunks wrapper to enable easier Punk trading. In March 2022, OpenSea relisted V1 CryptoPunks and the community around V1 CryptoPunks has grown since.
Bringing The Pieces Together – A Timeline
Bringing together the histories of matching pairs of Punks – the V1 CryptoPunk and the CryptoPunk of the same token number – makes more transparent and provable the complete origins, important histories, and chain of ownership of both tokens.
6-09-2017 – The CryptoPunks collection was released by Larva Labs. Larva Labs first tweeted about CryptoPunks on the same day. The contract for the original CryptoPunks launch can be seen here.
6-13-2017 – The V1 CryptoPunk 4762 token was claimed by Tony Herrera. The transaction can be seen here.
6-17-2017 – The Marketplace for CryptoPunks was enabled. It was at this point that the bug was discovered and tweeted about by CryptoPunks. The Marketplace contract source code that was submitted to etherscan for verification by Larva Labs on the same day can be seen here.
6-18-2017 – Larva Labs embedded on-chain a SHA256 hash of the image file containing all the CryptoPunks images, which can be seen here.
6-20-2017 – CryptoPunks tweeted that an upgraded contract was coming – “The upgraded contract is done and passes our suite of tests.” The contract can be seen here.
6-23-2017 – CryptoPunks tweeted that their new marketplace was live and Tony Herrera was airdropped CryptoPunk 4762. CryptoPunk 4762 was sent from the Autoglyphs deployer to CryptoPunks here, and CryptoPunk 4762 can be seen, along with several other CryptoPunks that were airdropped at the same time, in the log of the transaction here. Note that the CryptoPunks website states that CryptoPunk 4762 was “claimed”, not airdropped. If CryptoPunk 4762 were claimed, as stated by Larva Labs, etherscan would reflect a claim transaction in Tony Herrera’s history, which it does not.
7-19-2017 – The new CryptoPunksMarket contract source code was submitted to etherscan for verification by Larva Labs, which can be seen here. Note that significant changes were made from the original marketplace contract from 6-17 and this new marketplace contract. A side-by-side comparison of both marketplace contracts can be seen here.
9-12-2017 – LarvaLabs moved the CryptoPunk collection to their own Ethereum node, which CryptoPunks tweeted about here.
3-04-2018 – Larva Labs filed a visual copyright registration for “CryptoPunks”, which can be seen here, citing a publication date of June 9th, 2017 (which refers to the now called V1 CryptoPunks, rather than the now called CryptoPunks).
9-08-2020 – Wrappedpunk smart contracts were created to convert any original Cryptopunk into a standard ERC721 non-fungible token. The contract code of which can be seen here.
3-25-2021 – The first ERC-721 wrapper for V1 CryptoPunks was developed by @0xfoobar so that V1 CryptoPunks could be traded safely on modern marketplaces. The deployment of the wrapper can be seen here.
4-04-2021 – Tony Herrera transferred CryptoPunk 4762 to this anonymous Account. The log can be seen here, which clearly shows CryptoPunk 4762, and the etherscan transaction can be seen here.
8-18-2021 – Larva Labs moved the CryptoPunks collection on-chain with guidance from Snowfro and 0xdeafbeef. The contract can be seen here. Note that If you are looking for the on-chain metadata (attributes or the pixel matrix / bitmap and so on) – the data is NOT in the contract source but in the 266 transaction (txn) inputs, which can be found here.
8-19-2021 – The anonymous Account holding CryptoPunk 4762 transferred CryptoPunk 4762 to this anonymous Account. The log of the transaction can be seen here, which clearly shows the CryptoPunk 4762 token, and the etherscan of the transaction can be seen here.
1-17-2022 – FrankNFT developed an updated V1 CryptoPunks wrapper to enable easier trading, the deployment of which can be seen here.
1-25-2022 – Larva Labs tweeted its first response to V1 CryptoPunks: “‘V1 Punks’ are not official Cryptopunks.” The tweet can be seen here.
2-07-2022 – Larva Labs sent a DMCA to OpenSea regarding the V1 CryptoPunks, with which OpenSea complied. A tweet from V1 CryptoPunks regarding the matter can be seen here.
2-11-2022 – V1 CryptoPunks lodged a counter DMCA with OpenSea. A tweet on the matter from V1 CryptoPunks can be seen here.
3-11-2022 – Yuga Labs acquired the intellectual property of the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from Larva Labs, tweeting about it here. The announcement from Larva Labs can be seen here.
3-19-2022 – The V1 Punk collection was reinstated on OpenSea, which Leonidas tweeted about here.
6-16-2022 – The anonymous Account holding CryptoPunk 4762 transferred CryptoPunk 4762 to mazzi.eth. The log clearly showing the CryptoPunk 4762 token can be seen here, while the etherscan transaction can be seen here. That same day, mazzi.eth sold CryptoPunk 4762 to Punk 4762 for 55 ETH in an etherscan transaction that can be seen here.
6-28-2022 – Tony Herrera wrapped V1 CryptoPunk 4762 to enable transfers and trading in a transaction that can be seen here, and sold V1 CryptoPunk 4762 to Punk 4762 for 6 WETH in a transaction that can be seen here. That same day, Punk 4762 tweeted about reconnecting the CryptoPunk 4762 and V1 CryptoPunk 4762 token pairs.
8-15-2022 – Yuga Labs gave licensing rights to CryptoPunk NFT holders and tweeted about the news here.
10-23-2023 – Opensea corrected the V1 CryptoPunk collection’s “created date” by changing it to June, 2017, a momentous occasion about which V1 CryptoPunks tweeted here.
But, Perfect Provenance Requires Corroboration
Have we managed today to establish V1 CryptoPunk History, Ownership, and Origin provenance? Without a doubt, yes. Is this provenance perfect? Without a doubt, no. We have managed to establish provenance of origin, ownership, and history that is complete and provable, and made this provenance transparent, as well. We have thus achieved a nearly perfect provenance, but one important piece of the puzzle is missing before V1 CryptoPunks can claim a truly perfect provenance – this provenance of origin, ownership, and history must be corroborated, as well.
In order to achieve perfect provenance, to corroborate the provenance proven above, three recommendations are made below for the V1 CryptoPunks team as regards to the V1 CryptoPunk website.
1. Transaction of the wrapping of a V1 CryptoPunk should read as “Wrapped”, not “Minted”, and link to the transaction on etherscan.
2. Owner profile histories and Punk profile histories should match. (example above considers Tony’s profile history vs V1 CryptoPunk 4762 profile history).
3. V1 CryptoPunk profile histories must include the claim date of the Punk token from 2017, and link to the transaction on etherscan.
My understanding is that a wrapper is in the works for V1 CryptoPunks that would, in fact, corroborate this provenance. Personally, I’m looking forward to when V1 CryptoPunks can finally claim a perfect provenance, and will publish a follow-up to this post at such a time!
Thanks for reading!