CryptoPunks are not V2. We are V2.

6 min readFeb 16, 2022

1. Prologue (or time-machine)

In June 2017, a project called CryptoPunks was launched. Punks were fairly quickly claimed for free by cryptoenthusiasts, but soon it turned out that there was a bug in the original contract that was used to return funds to the punk buyer. The bug was successfully fixed in the second version of the contract, and the owners of the first version got an airdrop of their CryptoPunk in the updated contract, which survived to this day in its unchanged form and is called the original CryptoPunks.

In early 2022, 4.5 years after the initial launch, the contract was wrapped by enthusiasts and made secure, allowing people to trade punk their safely. Larva Labs kept the story quiet for a long time, but a shady early version came out and loudly claimed its place, sparking a confrontation between the versions. As a consequence, we have witnessed a colossal split in the punk community based on the questions: «Whose version is more legitimate?», «Who are the original punks?»

What the answer?

On the one hand, V1 has the argument that there is a record on the blockchain, as well as a some recognition of enthusiasts, which, for objective historical reasons, will not be able to become more than the recognition of «version 2». We’re not going to use an alpha version of some app forever. No one would even think of rolling back their Instagram to 2013 and using the first alpha versions (a crude comparison, but it has its place).

The second version (let’s say it «fixed version») has everything the first version lacks: a secure contract in pristine form (not so important), as well as tremendous historical significance (very important). The grain of truth is in people’s attitudes toward it, not in the blockchain record. It was the «second version» that came this long way in 4 years, it was the one that won national love, it was these punks that became the symbol of the NFT when its heyday happened in early 2021 and when the technology became known to the general public.

No one in the general public calls the original punks the second version out of context from the V1. We believe the «fixed version» can only have one definition: classic CryptoPunks.

As a new chapter of this saga, there recently appeared a fan project called V3 Punks, which destroyed the perfectionism of this story: it is no longer a project from Larva Labs, but is in the same semantic plane as the first two versions, mistakenly showing the «linearity» of this story.

I sincerely believe that what is legitimate is that which is recognized by the people. Legitimate is the power that people recognize. Legitimate is the coin that people (figuratively speaking) said, «Yes, this is Ether, and it’s worth so much.» In the place of Ether can be any shitcoin. Only one thing it needs for this: people’s acceptance (which is made up of other factors, but the idea is this)

CryptoPunks have already left such an energetic mark in the world, they have received such a colossal recognition of people that their legitimacy as the original punks is beyond any doubt.

2. Who are we? Why V2?

We called ourselves V2 Punks (without word «crypto»). We are a new interpretation of the situation around the original CryptoPunks versions, designed to close the gap between V1 and V3.

Let’s figure out how it should be. It is around the original version of CryptoPunks that a bunch of derivative projects have already been created. However, we never put them on the same level as punks. So let us approve CryptoPunks as the original unit, as a separate branch, as the highest link from which all other connections depart.

Look at the diagram below. All the punk-versions are all a parallel branch of development. It could have been the main branch, but it isn’t. Maybe the parallel universe didn’t have that pesky bug, but we’d still never know it was «version 1» anyway. Version one can only exist in the current state of affairs.

Figure 1. We’re not trying to take the place of the original punks. We occupy an empty gap in a parallel branch

We are removing CryptoPunks from the linear timeline. If V1 can still be called a predecessor, then V3 is absolutely a derivative project, but it’s logically continues the parallel branch of the punkverse. However, there is a gaping hole: in the parallel branch of development there are no V2 punks… This is both absurd and ingenious at the same time. We will become V2 Punks. We already are.

We don’t claim to be the original punks. We take our place between V1 and V3, because the original punks cannot be called V2.

3. Traits and technical part

As you guessed, only 10,000 punks. You probably saw the green background. Simple logic: make new punk derivatives just by changing the background. Cool? Did you think we were the same way?

Some OG traits, some new ones

No. It is absolutely new unique punks. Since we’re called V2, there’s some dual logic: some of the traits are original CryptoPunk attributes, hand-drawn by me pixel-by-pixel from original ones (however, even in this case, some colors have been changed so that it does not look “old and already pretty tired”).

Figure 2. Some original traits, little renewed by color. Some new funny ones: for example, a black eye or a rare laser beam!

That part of the traits takes us back in time, keeping the punks original vibe, expressing respect for an already established historical look. However, the punks have been re-generated, so the combination of these traits is different: what new combination you can get with just the original traits? The second part of the traits is completely new that bring a fresh look and make everyone’s favorite punks look renewed. For example, you can spot a punk with a black eye in left side and another punk with a laser beam out of his eyes. There are other fun traits that make punks look even cooler and funnier.

The end result is a symbiosis of familiar and new traits that allowed you to keep the general vibe of punks, but create completely unique characters. It’s interesting to see what kind of punk you can mint, isn’t it?

Punks rarity

We kept the same archetypes as the original. They are alien, ape, zombie, and male and female. We kept the differentiation by skin color (removing only one tone: now it is albino, medium and black). We also kept the archetypes belonging to gender: alien, apes, and zombies are still only men and still very rare.

Figure 3. Same archetypes, but unique combinations

In total we have:

11 aliens
25 apes
78 zombies
5368 male punks
4500 female punks

Of course, we use smart-contract with the new ERC721A standard, which saves a lot of gas in multiple mints. Azuki, you are geniuses! Your minting experience will be as smooth as possible.

Also, like the original punks, the number of attributes also affects the degree of rarity. The approximate average value is 2–4 attributes. But maybe your punk won’t have a single attribute, or will have as many as 6?

4. Epilogue (punkmap)

What can we offer our holders? I really don’t want to do a shitty roadmap like giveaways and so on. Lots of ideas. There will be some derivative stories, maybe a mutation collection (though I guess everyone’s sick of that by now?) Well, we’ll come up with something fresh. We’ll be pioneers of something new. In general, as soon as we have a sold out, we will decide how to competently keep the course further.

But I definitely want this to be a community-driven project, and we’ll adopt best practices from the best NFT projects to run it efficiently and profitably.

Anyway: you own the punk now! It’s always fun.

5. Bonus!

Minting here (0.01 ETH)

v2punks.io

Yes, I’m perfectionist: v1punks.io > v2punks.io > v3punks.io
Let’s go, #greenarmy!