Dfinity’s Internet Computer announced the release of 10,000 NFTs, which users can claim for free. The avatars were created by Przemek and Tomasz Chojecki and Adam Stępnik. It’s believed the collectibles were inspired by the legendary CryptoPunk NFTs, which were exuberantly successful, and 1990s hip-hop artists Insane Clown Posse, who inspired legendary rappers like Eminem. At the time of release, only 3,000 tokens will be up for grabs, one per user, following a series of exclusive early releases.
Tomasz Chojecki commented on the Dfinity partnership:
“We have been following Dfinity’s work since 2017. We believe the Internet Computer is the best solution for NFTs. One of the benefits of the Internet Computer is that all information is stored on-chain. There is no need to use IPFS or dedicated web servers to host images. It’s truly a decentralized NFT solution.”
Przemek Chojecki, who cofounded the project, expressed the following expectations for the NFT drop:
“We’re incredibly excited for the launch of ICPunks on the Internet Computer. The NFT space is moving at such a rapid pace — it is amazing to be part of it. We have a lot of plans for ICPunks, including an NFT Marketplace, this is the first step towards that.”
What is the Internet Computer?
The Internet Computer is a crypto token that lets users develop services, sites, and applications. Since the drop went live, almost 90,000 people have visited the NFT site.
Skyrocketing popularity of NFTs
Over the last year, the NFT market has marked spectacular growth after an impressive roster of public figures and famous brands jumped the bandwagon. An example is Visa, who bought a $150,000 CryptoPunk NFT last week.
Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, said:
“We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce. To help our clients and partners participate, we need first-hand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT.”
To complete the purchase, Visa collaborated with Anchorage Digital. According to Visa, this puts the credit card giant in a better position to help its partners around the NFT landscape and with the specific process. In 2021, transactions with NFTs on leading peer-to-peer NFT platform OpenSea exceeded $1 billion in value. This is up from $100 million y/y. OpenSea itself passed the one billion mark.
