The first digital explosion in NFTs happened when CryptoPunks started their ascent. These are among of the first widely held PFPs created in 2017, however, their beginnings were humble. CryptoPunks were given away for free with a small blockchain moving cost (gas).
A year after creation during Pride Month 2018, Dennison Bertram was a budding artist, developer, and CryptoPunk holder. As an enthusiast passionate about diversity in the NFT space he saw this an opportunity to spruce things up a bit and created PridePunks.
“At the time, Ethereum felt like the most inclusive community in the Crypto-sphere, and there weren’t very many statements on inclusivity. I added the Rainbow because it was Pride and because the Rainbow felt like the most unambiguous statement that all would be welcome. I saw the rainbow as a powerful political statement on the nature of inclusivity in Web3 and Crypto Art.”
Upon first iteration, PridePunks allowed CryptoPunk holders to wrap their PFPs inside of the PridePunk NFTs. This didn’t go so well as the contract had a few bugs. Only 2 CryptoPunks integrated with the PridePunk contract and Dennison put the contract on hold.
In 2022, Dennison revived the contract and allowed NFT historians and those passionate about the mission of inclusion and diversity to own them.
Along with this, Dennison created a DAO which gains a portion of the assets and future sales to continue to support LGBTQ+ inclusion and diversity.
While PridePunks2018 is not specifically an LGBTQ+ project, rather a political art statement, Dennison hopes that the PridePunk DAO will make the inclusion of LGBTQ+ and underrepresented people its primary goal.
Dennison just may have started a movement in the digital community. Time will tell.
More about Dennison and PridePunks 2018 here:
196 | First Ever CryptoPunks Derivative Project | Pride Punks — YouTube