NFTs are one of the foundations of web3. This series will introduce NFTs through 30 short articles, allowing everyone to understand and master the relevant knowledge about NFTs from scratch.
PFP NFTs can be simply understood as profile picture NFTs, which are currently the most widely spread type of NFT.
Well-known types of NFTs#
Most people's understanding of NFTs starts with PFP types, such as Bored Apes, CryptoPunks, Azuki, MoonBirds, etc. They are popular and widely spread because people can use PFPs as their social media profile pictures, which can represent their identity and value, and to some extent, attract people with similar interests to connect.
CryptoPunks#
The first PFP project was CryptoPunks, which appeared in 2017. It is a generative project deployed on Ethereum, and anyone with a wallet can mint it for free. It can be said that the punks project pioneered the NFT industry. Today, many founders of products in the NFT field, community leaders, NFT artists, NFT project founders, generative artists, etc., are members of the early CryptoPunks community or collectors of that NFT.
Bored Ape Yacht Club#
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is another very successful PFP NFT, which made NFTs mainstream. It quickly became popular in the crypto field after its launch in April 2021. Its success is due to the timing of the Ethereum bull market, widespread user participation during the NFT boom, and a project team that can tell stories. As we mentioned before, the success of a project is influenced by many factors, and the community is one of them. In the case of Bored Ape Yacht Club, the community played a very important role in the project's success. The BAYC community united together and actively promoted the development and expansion of the project. Community members helped the project achieve widespread dissemination, leaving their own mark in the history of NFT/PFP.
Due to the commercial success of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs later acquired two NFT projects, CryptoPunks and Meebits.
PFP Principles#
PFP NFTs are generally issued in a quantity of 10,000, which can be determined by the project team themselves. However, as the first NFT project, CryptoPunks issued 10,000, and later many projects followed the tradition and set the issuance quantity to 10,000. PFPs are not created or drawn by artists one by one. Instead, a set of several tens or hundreds of elements is created, and rules are established using algorithms to generate works using these elements. When the algorithm runs, it will generate a PFP containing these elements. For example, in CryptoPunks, there are multiple element sets including characters (men, women, apes, aliens), skin tones (black, white, gray, etc.), accessories (hats, headbands, etc.). When generating, one element will be randomly selected from each element set, and finally combined to form a PFP. In the same situation, the rarer the PFP among all the generated NFTs, the more valuable it is.
Rationally treating PFPs#
PFPs are the fastest growing and most popular type of NFTs. Countless NFTs are being traded on platforms like OpenSea every moment, and new NFT projects are being uploaded. There are good and bad projects, just like the universal rule in the world - good things are rare, and the majority of projects will become worthless in a few years. We need to rationally view NFTs and use the analysis method mentioned in previous articles to choose reliable and valuable works when buying NFTs.
The importance of community#
We have previously written an article specifically to explain the importance of community, which is even more important for PFP projects. A good community will attract excellent enthusiasts, which will bring infinite power to the project's development.
Alright, that's all for the PFP type. Thank you for reading.
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