Punks or Toadz? Referential Art Project No.1 in 24-Hour Trading Volume

Another day, another NFT project, but with the strong network and idiosyncratic art behind this one, it might be in it for the long haul.

The new kid on the block is CrypToadz. At 4,873 ETH, over $15M, in weekly trading volume, the project has quickly vaulted to the tenth slot on OpenSea despite launching just two days ago. That’s ahead of major players like entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck’s VeeFriends, and Cool Cats, which boxer Mike Tyson sports on his Twitter.

In terms of 24-hour volume CrypToadz is at the number one slot in trading volume on OpenSea.

CrypToadz is the brainchild of the artist Gremplin, who worked on the art for the daily generating Nouns NFT project. As people who previously used CryptoPunks as their Twitter avatar start switching to Toadz, it’s clear the project has struck a chord among NFT OGs because of the referential nature of the art.

“There are so many inside-references and Easter eggs in the Toadz designs,” James Wyper, a Toadz holder himself and friend of Gremplin, told The Defiant. “Gremplin is the visual historian of the space.”

Design Easter Eggs

Indeed, Gremplin is flexing a deep knowledge of the NFT space with his new project. The artist is riffing on Nouns by peppering the Toadz with the trademark square glasses which all the daily generated NFTs feature.

And some Toadz have a cigarette, an homage to CryptoPunks, 961 of which have the same trait. Some Toadz sport shades which look eerily similar to the Pit Viper sunglasses associated with the Solana blockchain.

There are more personal touches too — according to Wyper, Gremlin made one toad with a background inspired by a piece by another NFT artist, Marlo Johnson.

An OG Team

Wyper also said Gremplin made custom Toadz for the project’s team too, which is pretty star-studded. The artist has a team of eight behind him and many members are CryptoPunk holders, according to Wyper.

CrypToadz hasn’t only caught the attention of Punk holders, though. Noah Davis, the “NFT guy” at Christie’s, who helped organize the first and forthcoming ETH-denominated auction, also flaunted a Toadz on Twitter.

“It’s like all the weird art kids and the finance club got a table together at university and started talking and building together 24/7,” Wyper said of the project.

More Love

CrypToadz has done a couple other things well, according to motivateme.eth, who moderates the Discord.

The project donated ~120 ETH to the Rainforest Foundation and also has a plan to build out a plot in Cryptovoxels, a user-owned virtual world, to be used as an entertainment area.

CrypToadz license states that “you can modify, distribute, and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.” This liberal license has also garnered the project some love. This contrasts with VeeFriends license, for example, which denies the NFTs’ use for commercial purposes unless otherwise specified.

Where it’s all going is hard to say. Of course people in the Discord are pulling for Toadz to become more valuable than CryptoPunks. With the OG NFTs at a $4.18B market cap, Toadz have a long way to go.

Still, as a project with support from so many in the community, CrypToadz seems more likely than most to defy the flash in the pan phenomenon that so many NFTs succumb to.
“I am happy to support Gremplin until I die even if Toadz go to zero,” said Johnson, the artist whose piece inspired one of Gremplin’s, on Discord. “I think a lot of people feel the same and that’s why it will do well.”