Earlier this month, Pudgy Penguins came close to overtaking CryptoPunks as the world's most expensive NFT pool.

It had been a very long time since any other brand had come close to accomplishing this feat, and Pudgy had wind in its sails: riding the momentum from an upcoming event Symbolic projectionthe collection soared to incredible levels, rising from a minimum price of $19,000 at the beginning of November to over $138,000 by mid-December.

It looked like a coup might happen. Then, the PENGU token airdrop was launched and – in typical cryptocurrency fashion – the value of Pudgy Penguins collapsed by more than 55% within hours.

Untouched, at the top of the pile, was CryptoPunks. The episode perfectly summed up the dominant NFT narrative of 2024: while other groups worked overtime to drive demand across... Incentives and Promise symbolsCryptoPunks seem to easily float to the top in terms of cultural significance, social cachet, and of course, value.

"“While other projects struggle to justify themselves with detailed roadmaps, CryptoPunks still stands out as cultural icons,” said Daniel Rosario, co-owner of CryptoPunks and Director of Ecosystem Engagement at MetaMask. Decryption.

“Owning punk has come to represent a pure, decentralized form of digital identity – unfettered by corporate influence, and celebrated for what it is, rather than what it might one day become,” he added.

As cryptocurrencies become increasingly intertwined Wall Street, WashingtonA pillar of global power that it once eschewed, CryptoPunks has emerged as an increasingly powerful time capsule of the industry's founding values: decentralization, authenticity, and true novelty.

Words that have since become hollow marketing slogans in the NFT ecosystem — like community and benefit — have undeniable meaning in Punks' case. The group, created as an experiment In 2017 They were offered to mint miners for free, and came years before NFTs became a coherent asset class.

In those early days, CryptoPunks embodied not only the promise of non-fungible digital tokens, but also of artworks that live and travel securely online – a concept that has since become revolution Art world. In the years following 2017, the online CryptoPunks community provided a place for holders to connect and exchange ideas that would take over the world of cryptocurrencies.

One of those early adopters is a pseudonymous fashion entrepreneur com. gmoneysays the Punks community had a formative influence on his cryptocurrency trajectory, in late 2020. In mid-December, Gmoney's luxury and fashion label, 9dcc, launched its latest offering, a series of mystery “Black Box” NFTs.. Naturally, one of these boxes contained the rare CryptoPunk.

Jamuni said Decryption He decided to associate CryptoPunks with his latest coveted collection — and not any other NFT brand — because Punks represents the core of his entry into and relationship with cryptocurrencies.

""There's no better way to enter the next bull market than something similar, salute to that," the businessman said.

Major players in the luxury and art worlds continue to flock to CryptoPunks for similar reasons. Earlier this year, Swarovski launched the jewelry brand for the first time regards To CryptoPunks supported by Christie's Auction House. This flashy collaboration built on the likes of Punks' previous projects and performances Tiffany & Co Some of the world's finest Technical institutions.

Over the course of 2024, this intangible but steadily increasing cultural value has seen CryptoPunks sales soar to record levels, even as the rest of the NFT market remains stagnant. In March, a rare copy of CryptoPunk was sold 16 million dollarsin the group's second largest sale ever. Weeks later, last Punk sold for $16 million. The following month, the price reached one-third $12.4 million.

Perhaps ironically, the defiantly independent CryptoPunks brand is currently subject to Supervision From Yuga Labs, the world's largest NFT company.

In May, Yoga sparked controversy after launching an “Artist in Residence” program designed to create new NFT collections competing with CryptoPunks. the backlash The programme's first set, designed by celebrated contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney, was fast and thunderous. Much of the pushback asserted that Yuga had no place to try to monetize CryptoPunks, and that such moves would ruin the core of the group.

However, what has complicated this narrative is the fact that much of the negative attention generated by Abney's CryptoPunks project has consisted of "anti-woke" objection to the project's celebration of racial and gender diversity.

Natalie Stone, CryptoPunks team leader at Yuga, said that although she still stands by the Abney project on its technical merits, the negative reaction it has gotten has prompted Yuga to reevaluate its CryptoPunks strategy.

"“I think the backlash made clear the respect people have for CryptoPunks,” Stone said. Decryption. “Monetizing the group feels like an erosion of what punk is all about.”

Since May, Yoga has approached the group more cautiously, steering clear of attempts to expand or innovate it, Stone said. Instead, the company has redoubled its efforts to promote the legacy of CryptoPunks, particularly in the areas of art and mainstream culture.

“I want CryptoPunk to be in every art history book you read that reviews the great works of art of our time,” she said.

In the upper echelons of the traditional art world, it is increasingly clear that CryptoPunks holds a class of its own compared to other NFT projects. The villains appeared in Pompidou CentreThe largest museum of modern art in Europe Los Angeles County Museum of Art; They are constantly sold at auction along with cultural treasures in Sotheby's and Christy.

The stone indicates new book It was released this year by Yuga, which chronicles the history of CryptoPunks, as evidence of the kind of cultural footprint the company can help develop for an NFT pool that would be difficult for a decentralized community to create.

However, at the end of the day, Stone says she is now keenly aware of the fact that CryptoPunks' unique value proposition lies in its coveted status as “effortlessly cool.”

“Any time you try to engineer great design, you fail,” she said.

“Trust me,” she added. "I tried."