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November 28, 2022

NFT Archaeology Calendar III: Civil War

Last edited: December 30, 2022

NFT Archaeology Calendar III

This is the third installment in the NFT Archaeology Calendar series. If you haven't already, check out NFT Archaeology Calendar I: Front-Running History and NFT Archaeology Calendar II: Uncovering Ground Zero.

Checkout the NFT Archaeology Calendar III Companion Twitter Thread

This comprehensive chronicle documents the historical NFT landscape from late 2021 through mid-2022, tracking the sector's evolution, controversies, and key discoveries.

Etherization

Etherization

Etherization details

Etherization is a 2016 NFT project predating Pixel Map, revealed by Adam McBride on December 14th, 2021. The project relaunched with a launch price of 0.88 ETH, with over 90% of original tokens remaining to be minted. Creator Vedran profited $1M+ USD from sales, generating controversy around pricing and the master key issue.

The controversy deepened when tokens were discovered to be unwrappable, meaning owners could not retrieve the underlying token. The team later addressed community concerns by burning the master key on video.

Wrapped Etherization is currently available on OpenSea for .65 ETH

RareJapaneseNFTs

RareJapaneseNFTs

RareJapaneseNFTs.com launched on December 18th, 2021 as a Counterparty explorer documenting tokens from the Japanese crypto ecosystem. The first Japanese tokens were created in 2015, extending to the present day, covering Japanese Pepes, Memorychain, Oasis Mining, BitGirls, Force of Will, Japanese Spells of Genesis, Japanese BitCorn, and Badger Capsule.

Checkout RareJapaneseNFTs.com

OldNFT.com

OldNFT.com

OldNFT.com was created by 0xSchatz as a Pre-ERC721 asset explorer, tracking assets created before March 2018 across Bitcoin, Namecoin, Emercoin, Counterparty, Dogeparty, and Ethereum.

Checkout OldNFT.com

LaoDAO

LaoDAO

LaoDAO formed as a historical NFT investment collective, raising capital through NFT sales. Tokens were minted at 0.2 ETH, raising over 30 ETH total. The LaoDAO.eth wallet acquired Curio Cards, Etheria Tiles, and 2017 MoonCats. The group has been inactive since August 2022.

Checkout LaoDAO.com

CryptoSkulls

CryptoSkulls

CryptoSkulls is a 2019 PFP project created by Alex Slayer, claiming to be the second oldest 10k PFP collection. All 10,000 skulls were pre-minted in 2019 by Alex, a Russian native.

CryptoSkulls price action

On January 11th, 2022, CryptoSkulls set an OpenSea record with 10,236 sales in one day. Floor prices surged from 0.05 ETH to over 4 ETH.

CryptoSkulls sales

In an interview with Leonidas, he explained that Matt Medved sent him a message about CryptoSkulls. Leonidas then initiated large-scale purchases, acquiring 888 CryptoSkulls (aiming for 1,000) by spending 53.28 ETH and another ~50 ETH on gas.

Leonidas CryptoSkulls purchase

35 hours after tweeting about his purchase (112 short of his goal), Leonidas was accused of a pump-and-dump scheme. He sold over 200 CryptoSkulls under 1 ETH, then sold a personal CryptoPunk to purchase more at over 1 ETH.

CryptoSkulls controversy

Alex Slayer listed skulls at "dynamic pricing" (0.05 ETH to ~0.8 ETH per skull), selling approximately 8,000 skulls and keeping around 2,000. The rapid price appreciation and creator's subsequent token releases during the price surge sparked significant community debate about the ethics of founders selling into hype cycles.

CryptoSkulls additional context

In March 2022, Alex Slayer donated 1,500 remaining skulls to a DAO, valued at $1M+ USD. GaryVee also purchased a Skull Lord for 100 ETH.

CryptoSkulls aftermath

CryptoSkulls are currently available on OpenSea for .4 ETH

January 2022 Activities

January 2022 timeline

Several important discoveries and events emerged during January 2022:

PunyCodes

PunyCodes discovery

On January 16th, 2022, DevotedOne discovered 3,365 expired tokens on the Namecoin blockchain dating from 2011 to 2018. Using Punycode encoding, the tokens revealed hidden images, representing some of the earliest on-chain art. DevotedOne claimed only 2% of the supply, leaving the remaining for community registration.

PunyCodes examples

PunyCodes raised common debate questions: Is an expired then reregistered token the same as the original? Is a group of similar tokens without collective intention a collection? Is ASCII/emojis/symbols considered art?

PunyCodes additional

Check out Punycodes.xyz

PunyCodes are currently available on OpenSea for .5 ETH

CryptoPunks V1 Wrapper

CryptoPunks V1

CryptoPunks V1 originally launched on June 9th, 2017. On January 17th, 2022, the CryptoPunks V1 Wrapper went live on Rarible, enabling trading of the original (buggy) CryptoPunks contract tokens. An early marketplace bug allowed purchasing while keeping ETH; V2 was deployed after the bug fix with an airdrop to original owners.

Sean Bonner wrote about top misconceptions regarding V1 CryptoPunks.

Wrapped CryptoPunks V1 are currently available on OpenSea for 5 ETH

Namecoin Identities

Namecoin Identities

On January 29th, 2022, Namecoin Identities were announced -- .bit domains created in 2012 as a decentralized identity solution by a creator known as "Khal," with over 30 practical implementations. They represent among the first non-fungible assets on any blockchain.

Namecoin Identities are currently available on OpenSea for .05 ETH

Early 2022 Community Developments

Early 2022 developments

The historical NFT space continued to expand rapidly with several significant developments:

MTM Series and Pride Punks (February-March 2022)

MTM Series

MTM Series consists of four Counterparty tokens (MTMCOLLECTOR, MTMSONG, MTMPRODUCER, MTMALBUM), originally created in 2016 as music album redemptions. The project was revived by Adam B. Levine and the community, with tokens auctioned off in February 2022.

MTM Series is currently available on OpenSea for .2 ETH

Pride Punks

Pride Punks were the first CryptoPunks derivative, originally created in 2018 with only 2 minted. The remaining 9,998 were minted in 2022, creating controversy around definitional boundaries. Creator Dennison Bertram set minting cost at 0.02-0.05 ETH per Punk, with 7% royalties (3.5% creator, 3.5% DAO). The creator held 500 tokens and 500 went to a DAO. A slip-up bypassed and lost 362 tokens, leaving the collection at 9,638.

Pride Punks are currently available on OpenSea for .03 ETH

Notable Acquisitions

The market saw several landmark transactions:

  • March 11th, 2022: Yuga Labs acquired the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits in a reported nine-figure deal -- the largest Historical NFT by Market Cap
  • CryptoPunk 5822 sold for $23.7 million USD
  • FDCARD (Spells of Genesis) sold for 250,000 USDC

April-May 2022: Infrastructure and New Discoveries

NFT Timeline

The Civil War: "Vintage vs. Historical" Debate (April 2022)

Vintage vs Historical debate

The most divisive moment in the historical NFT community erupted on April 24th, 2022. A major controversy emerged regarding definitional boundaries between "Historical" versus "Vintage" NFTs.

Community division

The debate was triggered by Leonidas's accumulation of younger projects alongside traditional historical assets. Between January and April 2022, Leonidas swept CryptoSkulls (2019), Chain Faces (2020), Avastars (2020), Either Things (2021), Doogies (2021), and Eightbit Me (2022).

Debate context

This resulted in a 5+ hour Twitter Spaces debate (hosted by Blackstar) that fractured the community along ideological lines. Leonidas defended his position, arguing that he had made no sales of "Historical NFTs" since CryptoSkulls (on-chain verified) and that the "historical" definition should not be gatekept. The recording expired, but tweets and memories remain.

Disagreements centered on fundamental questions:

  • How do you define "historical significance" for digital assets?
  • Is there a cutoff date that separates historical from merely old?
  • Does accumulating newer projects alongside historical ones "dilute" the category?
  • Who has the authority to define these boundaries?

The controversy revealed deep tensions between those who saw the historical NFT space as a rigorous archaeological discipline and those who viewed it as a broader collector community. The fallout reshaped alliances and influenced how the community organized itself going forward.

May-June 2022: Late Discoveries

Late 2022 discoveries

Final image

Lessons

The period from late 2021 through mid-2022 demonstrated both the promise and peril of the historical NFT movement. Record-breaking sales proved the market's appetite for provenance and history. But the CryptoSkulls controversy and the Vintage vs. Historical civil war showed that a community built on preserving history could be just as susceptible to the hype cycles and factional disputes that plague every corner of crypto.

The civil war, in particular, served as a reminder that defining history in real-time is inherently contentious -- and that the people writing the history are never neutral observers.

Read the other installments: NFT Archaeology Calendar I: Front-Running History | NFT Archaeology Calendar II: Uncovering Ground Zero

Follow Jake: Twitter: @jakegallen_ | Youtube: JakeGallen | Podcast: Jake Gallen Podcast | Website: jakegallen.com