#altpunks

Unofficial Punks is a conceptual artwork centered around common themes of remix culture created by award-winning artist and cryptoart pioneer, Second Realm. It launched in February 2021 as an homage to the CryptoPunks and grew into an organic social movement known as the altpunks. It is responsible for popularizing PFP project remixes and derivatives.

The original collection is 100 custom-made punks that feature athletes, pinup models, artists, musicians, and fictional characters from stage and screen. This collection seems to reflect the diversity of interests within the community as it was heavily seeded by commissions and requests.

The Community

In February 2021, Second Realm tweeted about his custom punk which sent us down one of the most amazing NFT rabbit holes we’ve ever been down. Unofficial Punks highlighted a need that wasn’t being met yet in the metaverse: social identity NFTs with a community. You now know these as PFP projects! And we are confident in saying, Second Realm ignited the alt-punks movement which led to the 10K PFP revolution.

We developed a dynamic artist-led micro-economy, and became the bridge between the OG collectible projects (i.e., CryptoPunks, Avastars, etc.) and the new avatar renaissance projects (i.e., Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, etc.). Affectionately called, The Punkverse, this community grew into an organic social movement and now there are over 150 sub-genres and 10K Certified Unofficial Punks.

Sources: Unofficial Punks Sub-genre List and The Short History of Alt-Punks NFTs