A CryptoPunks pixel head is worth millions of dollars, the most expensive Bored Ape is worth more than 1000 Ethereum...

The popularity of encrypted art has also created NFT encrypted art trading platforms such as OpenSea and Element. The former has a turnover of nearly 900 million U.S. dollars in two weeks, and the latter ranked first in the list of new NFT trading market Dapps in the entire chain within 17 days of its internal testing. , the sixth in the comprehensive list of the Ethereum chain. In addition, at 12 o'clock on August 20, Maskhuman will be exclusively sold on Element, and another NFT emerging is rising.

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1. It started with CryptoPunks, a carnival of crypto veterans

CryptoPunks is an old cannon representative of NFT avatars. Studying its development history is particularly meaningful for understanding this crazy NFT world.

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CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks was released by Larva Labs in June 2017 as one of the first NFT projects on Ethereum. At the time, there were 10,000 uniquely generated 24×24 pixel avatars.

In early 2017, John and Matt developed a pixel character generator to generate unique pixel avatars that symbolize the spirit of punk.

At that time, Ethereum was in full swing due to ICO, and they decided to put CryptoPunks on the blockchain, endowing them with the attributes of circulation, transaction and collection. At the end of 2017, after the birth of the ERC 721 protocol, these CryptoPunks avatars really became NFT collectibles, laying the foundation for their later generations to become famous.

The popularity of CryptoPunks is closely related to the punk culture it represents. Punk culture is imprinted deep in the memory of European and American residents, representing freedom, individuality, trendiness, imagination, etc. It can be said that punk culture is the memory of the times. Inherited in human memory.

The imprint of the times seems to be closely related to the popularity of NFT avatars.

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Gutter Cat Gang

That's right, masks are the most distinctive imprint of the times in our current society. Masks represent staying away from danger, protecting oneself, and fighting viruses. At the same time, masks also represent cultural psychology such as mystery and distance.

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2. Under the imprint of the times, what fits MaskHuman?

In 2020, the new crown virus has brought a huge survival crisis to human beings. Masks have become the first line of defense against viruses, which is a memory of this era; at the same time, as the environment is deteriorating, masks will also become a necessity.

So, is the face behind the mask terrified or calm? Is it lost or satisfied? This is not only worthy of dissection by psychologists, but also worthy of full expression by artists through brilliant colors.

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MaskHumanWorks Display

Against this background, MaskHumanNFT came into being. This set of "MaskHuman" NFT works aims to alert the fate of mankind, so that all people on earth can gather consensus and convey love for the earth. Just like the punk spirit behind CryptoPunks, it represents young people's pursuit of freedom, individuality, and trends.

According to the settings, MaskHuman has seven attribute characteristics (gender, race, hairstyle, glasses, masks, clothes, etc.), 240 styles generate 10,000 unique and well-made character shapes, and special characters have extraordinary and rare attributes Or will have great collection value and value-added space.

Every MaskHuman will be hosted on IPFS to avoid loss. Owners of MaskHuman can own the complete package of design assets, available in 3000x3000 resolution in print quality, for future use or as your avatar in the Metaverse.

It is understood that the first batch of 1,000 MaskHumans will be sold in a blind box mechanism, and buyers will randomly obtain unique work styles. The blind box agreement is provided by the Element technical team with complete technical support.

Similar to CryptoPunks, MaskHuman is based on the EC-721 protocol, and 10,000 pieces are issued, which is scarce. However, CryptoPunks represents dark punk culture, and MaskHuman represents group self-consciousness. The following is a detailed comparison of the two.

It is worth noting that Element’s internal beta version was launched 17 days ago and ranked first in the list of new NFT trading market Dapps in the whole chain, and ranked sixth in the comprehensive list of Ethereum chain. The two can be described as a powerful combination.

Element's trading volume changes in the past half month

Element is a decentralized NFT comprehensive trading market developed by Encryption Element. It provides three-in-one services such as decentralized NFT search, transaction and wallet management. It has released the internal test Dapp version on the Ethereum mainnet.

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3. Behind NFT encryption art, innovation from assets to culture

DeFi makes Ethereum the settlement layer of value, while NFT makes Ethereum the settlement layer of culture.

In the foreseeable future, the underlying blockchain protocol similar to Ethereum will become the settlement layer of world value, and artworks such as CryptoPunks and MaskHuman, as well as other basic NFTs that have a deep connection with Ethereum are the earliest in this revolution cultural artifacts and are therefore inseparable from the protocol itself.

Therefore, it can also be considered that the cultural imprint behind MaskHuman and CryptoPunks is endowed with value and is an inevitable product of technological development.

In the face of menacing and unstoppable development trends, we should not discuss whether to embrace NFT encryption art, but to discuss how to embrace them.

Therefore, behind those ups and downs of tokens, it is not just a simple accumulation of wealth, it is just a superficiality, and even this is not just a revolution in currency and finance, it is also a revolution in art and culture.

There are two reasons for this profound change.

First of all, the homogenization (NFT) of artworks on the Internet brings equivalent exchange, and this equivalent exchange omits expensive identification costs, making the exchange more efficient.

Second, NFT creators can also encode details, such as rich metadata or secure file links. Such technical capabilities allow us to reduce the verification threshold for issues such as authenticity and ownership to a very low level. Due to the lower verification threshold, scarce items can be transferred and traded safely, effectively and verifiably.

To sum up, the reason why we want to embrace encrypted art is not only because encrypted art bears the imprint of the times, but more importantly, encrypted art has fundamentally changed the way of cultural art transactions, lowered the verification threshold before transactions, and then The liquidity of its value is fully released, and at the same time, the scarcity of its value is guaranteed in the transaction.