jackbinswitch.btc

Oct 235 min read

Crash Punks - Some Thoughts

Crash Punks were among the first NFTs I bought, ever. The one above is my favorite Crash Punk, even before I read "Snow Crash" I really dug the tattoo on his forehead (reminds me of my trading sometimes tbh) . I joined the Discord, stayed up to date on what was coming, and remained convinced that this would wind up being a legacy Stacks project.

In recent weeks there has been quite the build up of momentum with this project, and I find myself more convinced than ever that this project/community is going places. So I am going to spend some time working through these thoughts, and hopefully you will dig them.

Let Us Begin With Grace

Grace.btc is the Leonardo da Vinci of Stacks. It had to be said. From speaking at prestigious institutions around the world, to her work as an entrepreneur/investor, Grace is an accomplished individual. So it comes as no surprise that at the time of this writing Crash Punks is ranked among the top collections of all time on Gamma.

Several months ago Grace announced that a Crash Punks animated series was in the works (add filmmaker to that resume), and that the first few minutes of the premier episode would be released in the metaverse via Decentraland. This brings us to the next part.

Making History and Setting the Pace

The art for Crash Punks was inspired by the novel "Snow Crash" written by Neal Stephenson, and you will find many nods to the novel in the Crash Punks art. In case you are like me, and didn't know, Neil Stephenson coined the term metaverse when he wrote the novel in....wait for it.....1992.

To have the premier of the Crash Punks series playing in the actual metaverse itself is beyond cool. While I was at the premier I couldn't shake the notion that we were watching history being made in real time. Not only did Grace utilize AI in the making of the movie, but the whole idea of the metaverse and what it will become has haunted me since. I imagine the first people who saw the first cars on roads built for horses and buggies felt much the same way.

This idea that we are in the early stages of a technology driven paradigm shift that will likely be the most significant in human history; it stays with me. Being a part of this event somehow cemented it even more.

In addition to the movie premier, Crash Punks has also broken ground in an entirely different way here in the Stacks ecosystem.

Console

Crash Punks has become the first project to move its community to Console, aka the Discord killer. Granted, Console humbly refers to itself as a Web3 alternative to Discord, but I am just going to tell it like it is.....Console is the superior alternative by a longshot. Even with the protocol still being in beta, the immediate thing that stands out to an old crypto degen like myself is the increased security. I use my wallet to connect to Console, I use my BNS as my identification. This ability to stay pseudonymous, secure, and connected is a big part of what Web3 is all about. The current iterations of platforms like Discord and Telegram are simply ngmi in the future.

In addition to the security, the platform is clean, easy to use, and comfortable in the sense that you "know" everyone there. Just since switching over to Console I find myself spending even more time in the Crash Punks community. Which is a good thing, because I get the feeling that there will be a DAO in the near future (this is just speculation on my part, the Crash Punks team has a tendency to stay tight lipped while surprising you with cool shit).

Cool Shit

For starters Crash Punks has also made a game. The beta version can currently be found in the Crash Punks Console. From playing it, I can say that the different types of Crash Punks have different attributes that are useful in this pvp turn based game. It also seems as though there will be ways to upgrade your Crash Punk NFT to these ends.

In addition to the game, last week a VIP ticket appeared in my wallet. At first I assumed it was for the premier, but alas, I was wrong. Then on Monday I find that I am eligible to mint two mystery boxes from Gamma for free (so if you own any Crash Punks go check that out!). I have no idea what either does yet, but cannot wait to find out.

The Takeaways

I know we hear the term Web3 often, and seeing as though we are early it becomes easy to dismiss this as some sort of marketing terminology dreamt up by some disciple of Bernays working for some ad agency somewhere. The truth of the matter is that whatever term you use is irrelevant. What matters is what we are witnessing. We are in the extremely early stages of technological innovations that we are only starting to see take shape. Being a part of a community that understands this to the degree demonstrated makes me absolutely thrilled to have found them. My poor impulse control does indeed serve me well from time to time.

If you are already in the community, make sure to mint your boxes and migrate to Console. If you aren't, well anon, at the very least you have something to think about.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. A like, follow, and retweet go far. Make sure to follow me on Sigle on the way out so that I will be able to send you exclusive newsletters in the near future.

Share this story