GM Punks, well, that was the summer that was, and wasn’t. Those of us who have been around long enough to remember the various summers that have been and gone, from DeFi to JPEG, it seems we will remember 2023, as with 2022, for all the wrong reasons. But hey! We’re Punks, right? We don’t sit idly by while the market crab walks sideways. We’re here to build. So, what sort of a summer can we look back on? What summer can we say we took part in this time around, and what are we going to be reflecting on in the weeks and months and years to come as autumn closes in, then the long, dark winter takes hold…?

Shitcoin summer? Well, that’s certainly one way to look at it. Countless degen Telegram and Discord channels sprang up to share the latest alpha as hordes of us aped into every single possible coin that came about under the delusion that maybe, just maybe, we’d make that fortune missed during the previous bull. Or perhaps just make back some losses on some very heavy bags? And what about the burns? Given we saw FOUR Punks burnt during June alone might have shown us it was going to be scorching hot but probably for all the wrong reasons.

But looking beyond the mayhem that was the Shitcoin Season in full flow and the publicity burns and even the accidental ones, what else did we see happen over the summer as ETH slowly crab walked sideways across the rather tepid beach that was the crypto market during this time?

Well, we saw what we always see from Punks; we saw community, stewardship, entrepreneurialism, art of the highest calibre, friendship, events, building and enthusiasm where it was hard to find. And, despite dwindling floors across the board and projects left, right and centre knocking on death’s door, a level of resilience in not only the value of Punks, but the community as well, sticking together, sharing projects, alpha, whether at max joy in some corners or max pain in others, we stuck together through it all.

The resounding view, if you ask any Punk, is pretty clear. That despite everything that went down, whether you hit the God candle on a shitcoin or went down with the ship. Whether you released art to the deafening sound of crickets deep in the bear market, or hit it big with the whales. Whether the algo killed your X (formally known as Twitter) feed or you continued to build community, being a Punk and being a part of this community always means one thing: We have our OWN summer, and a hot wet, Punk one it was indeed. Not that we ever needed to in the first place, but we proved ourselves repeatedly this summer, as the best on the block(chain).

So, whilst we can’t cover everything that happened over the summer, from the grandest highs to the most painful lows, you can hold your head high and take a moment to catch some of the highlights of what was OUR summer…

And before you head off into the links below, if you’re here from Twitter and want to see the full expanded Links version of the Punks Post, be sure to jump into the Discord.

Punks in the Wild

The first book dedicated to archiving CryptoPunks was announced for Fall 2023. Published in partnership with @zakgroup the book will unveil untold stories of the collection by tapping the passionate community to contribute to the written record of Punks.

Submissions for the glossary are also still open so if you have a thought, idea, word, meme or general consideration related to punks you want entered, then make sure you get over there in time.

On top of that we have incoming a video series of all things Punk. Introducing “Punks As Told By CryptoPunks,” the on-going series that will accompany the upcoming book collaboration with @zakgroup and presented by @nftnow and Punks. Episode 1 drops on October 10th, 2023.

And outside of the metaverse and into the real world, the ever awesome Punks DAO push forward on their mission to bring us Punks together, expanding to all corners of the globe with some amazing events that brought us ever closer as a community.

Summer kicked off with an amazing Punks Brunch event at NFC Lisbon, where there were also a cohort of Punks in various capacities from art to networking, simply partying to building business and more.

The Punk Post was also there in its own little way and it was an incredible opportunity to meet so many amazing Punks in the wild!

And there were loads more meets to come!

The DAO helped organise and bring together the community for a Punk Day NYC gathering with the @brtmoments team for their event. Two amazing communities under one roof.

Finally, Asia get their share of events as the DAO head over to Seoul to begin with, capturing the essence of the Punk spirit with a Korean twist.

And following up from the amazing success in Seoul the DAO team brought a brunch to Singapore for more antics in Asia.

With a full summary coming in from the ever entertaining @DVDD.

Of course, the obligatory group shot.

And a clip from YUGA CEO Daniel Alegre steps on the podium to applaud our amazing community.

So, don’t miss a thing! The DAO often updates their X channel with what’s going on, and here’s the current ‘Save the Dates’ list from them, bookmark and check-in regularly.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE.

We’ll be covering in more detail below what happened when the legendary Beeple decided to finally ape in and buy his first Punk, but seeing as we’re in the section featuring what Punks have been up to and are up to in the wild, we can’t miss this part.

After grabbing his Punk, he goes ahead and announces a live event at his studios in Charleston including a full day with web3 personalities, artists and general degens gathering for talks and chat during the day, then a party in the evening.

There’s still time to grab a ticket if you haven’t already! Just a few days left…

THEN! The following day Yuga and co-hosts including the DAO invite the attendees to join fellow holders at Punks Brunch also in Charleston on Sunday Oct 1st following the At Beeple Studios meetup.

After a lot of feedback from the community at large, Beeple also does the noble thing and opens up the invites to aspiring Punk owners!

Punks in the Market

The summer kicks off with a bang, in more ways than one. The 6th anniversary brings out Punks from all corners to talk about the history of the project, the art, our community and the stories that have been made along the way. Despite market fluctuations and the general crab walk of the bear that we’ve seen over the summer that was (and wasn’t) there was and is still plenty to celebrate about Punks, so we took a moment away from the charts to come together and celebrate our amazing community.

The lore here is rich and deep, so why don’t you take a dip into this ever expanding lake of storytelling?

Though, as we said, things kicked off with a bang. Despite the amazing stories coming out around the 6th anniversary, and of course all the wonderful work the DAO was doing around events, there were some more nefarious things taking place (as is par for the course for the web3 world.)

That’s right, Punk burnings. Seems crazy to say, but there were around four Punks burnt in June alone, as documented by the ever present @Rodo above where you can find a comprehensive list of what took place and why, but in reality there seems to be two main reasons; publicity and accidents.

From an accidental side of things, well, we live in an imperfect world my friends, people make mistakes, and in crypto, we all know this too well. From a publicity angle, it can certainly be seen as - in a backward sort of way - a compliment to the Punks, that they are deemed so noteworthy from a cultural perspective, and so worthy from a monetary perspective, that burning one still to this day gathers a LOT of attention for those seeking it. It can be seen, in some ways, as an indicator of just how healthy the Punk market remains, despite the obvious slowdown of the market as a whole we have seen. Punks turn heads, we all know this, and it seems the market and community at large still holds onto this idea.

Punks in the Spotlight

BEEPLE ENTERS THE CHAT.

In a slightly different take on the Punks in the Spotlight section, we couldn’t help but shift the focus for this edition over to the Beeple purchase, and of course his legacy and influence on Punks and the community.

From what we can gather, Beeple has been including famous and infamous Punks in his every day works as far back as early 2021, with the now well known 4156 having his then Ape Punk featured in an every day.

Of course, 4156 eventually went on to help found NOUNS, in their own right, a pivotal and now historical NFT collection, as well as having a little bit of upset with Punks himself, causing some commotion within the community.

But that my friends, is, as they say, all history now. The funny thing being, that history is created around here everyday (no pun intended). And as we all know, if you want to be part of history, well, best be on the good side, and do things right, so we first see Beeple reaching out to the community for some pro-tips on how to get exactly the right Punk for him.

Then asking questions about traits.

Then of course after the Everyday, the thank you to the community.

And after the announcement of the event at his Charleston studios, there is the element of recognition, of just how much art and inspiration the Punks have been responsible for. Beeple makes a call out for the community at large to submit their work for a chance to be showcased at the event.

So, what the hell. An amazing coup for the community and one that kicked off a whole slew of news around Punks and their historic significance, as well as ensuring that we remain front and centre of the conversation.

But of course, it wasn’t the only thing that happened over the summer, in fact, there was that much that took place it would take a whole team of people just to try and keep up, but we feel like we’ve done a pretty good job at getting some of the highlights over at the Punks Post Discord round up. So, if you’re wanting the full and comprehensive list of what we got, head over there.

The Round Up

Well, like we said above, it’s next to impossible to always cover everything, but we try our best. From the outside looking in, Punks are still turning heads, from burnings to media coverage. From new artists and degens alike fulfilling dreams and becoming Punks with their first purchases, to major sales worth millions of dollars, it was the summer that was (and wasn’t) but one thing remained clear throughout it all, that Punks are here to stay, and we will ride that floor to zero if we have to, because if there’s one thing that’s obvious, it’s that we’re more about community than dollars.

So, here’s a couple of other amazing highlights to take us to the end of this edition on a high note to what was undoubtedly, a summer to remember.

One Punk and two Squiggles are traded for a Skull of Luci and project lead, artist and general community legend Sam Spratt loves the trade.

Some amazing insight on buying and selling Punks from legendary collector and true OG BeautyAndThePunk.

Business founder @AndrewWilkinson bears the wrath of the Punk and Ape communities by asking how they are now doing (compared to the top)...And the reactions are

PunksCast immortalises 69 amazing episodes in a piece of art and free mint. Be sure to check out the art and the huge list of episodes that are available with the most legendary Punks that are in the space!

Okay, that’s us for this edition. As always Punks Post is brought to you by galbraith.eth and is made possible by the support of Yuga Labs’ first CryptoPunks grant.

If you have news, ideas and feedback for us, find us on Twitter and @ricgalbraith, and remember to jump into the Punks Post Discord channel to share your news and features.

While we do our best to make sure everything we share is accurate at the time of publication, this space moves super fast, so be sure to do your own research!

And remember frens, none of this is financial advice.