Holders of CryptoPunk non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are being offered the chance to obtain physical prints of their digital art items, according to an October 26 announcement. The items are being offered as part of a partnership between online art store Avante Art and CryptoPunks brand owner Yuga Labs. The sale will last for only 48 hours. It began on October 26 at 3:00 p.m. UTC and will end on October 28 at 3:00 p.m. UTC.

Two different versions of the physical CryptoPunks collection are being offered on Avante Art. The first is called “Punk-On-Chain.” Each punk owner can commission a Punk-on-Chain print copy for each digital punk they own. However, users will need to prove ownership to commission a print copy. This means that individuals who do not own the on-chain version cannot buy its print version.

The second collection is called “10,000 On-Chain,” which is a print collection of all 10,000 CryptoPunks that's open to anyone. Collectors can buy the print version of a 10,000 On-Chain punk even if they don’t own the original on-chain version.

The two different versions of each printed punk are distinguishable from each other by a variety of characteristics. For example, the 10,000 On-Chain pieces are Archival pigment prints with silkscreen varnish seal, whereas the Punks-On-Chain pieces are UV pigment prints with white underpins. Both versions of each punk contain a Yuga Labs holographic sticker to prove their authenticity. 

The Punks-On-Chain items also feature a QR code on the back of the print, leading to a blockchain-based digital Certificate of Authenticity (CoA). As for the 10,000 On-Chain pieces, they ship with a physical CoA that contains a QR code leading to the digital CoA, but this QR code is not on the print itself.

CryptoPunks was one of the first algorithmically generated art collections to be distributed through blockchain technology. It was developed by Larva Labs studio and released in June 2017. The pieces were originally free to any Ethereum network user who wanted to mint them. At the time of publication, the lowest-priced CryptoPunks sell for approximately $78,000, and the entire collection has a market cap of over $782 million, according to data from Coingecko.

Larva Labs sold the copyrights for CryptoPunks to fellow NFT development team Yuga Labs in March 2022.

Source : Cointelegraph By Tom Blackstone / October 26, 2023