As fellow Punks say, “All roads lead back to Punks.”
Maxwell, owner of Punk#9527 and caretaker of @punkcastxyz sits down with us in a cozy art museum in Seoul, where he tells us what Punks means to him, and what he considers to be a “real Punk.”
To Maxwell, what really stands out about Punks is how deep, mature, and OG the community is, and how it’s always pushing the frontier of web3 and how a lot of Punk holders are real believers of the crypto space.
Punks means “counterculture, a huge signal to web3, and a leadership brand.”
Punks are also known to be the first OG pfp 10K collection; a collection that has been generative and has driven so many collections on its back - such as Artblocks and BAYC, which are arguably derivatives.
But what happens if there are grifters in the community?
Maxwell says, “You don’t necessarily lead a Punk to a Punk. Some people buy Punks, but they’re not a Punk, if you know what I mean?” Perhaps some people buy a Punk purely for clout, they can come in, grift, but they’ll ultimately leave. The real ones stay.
So in order to be a real Punk, Maxwell believes that you “need to live and breathe Punk values” and then, you’ll fundamentally become a Punk, and you’ll be welcomed with open arms by the Punk Community.
As for the exclusivity and the high price point, while Maxwell states that it may cause a little bit of friction, such exclusivity is needed in order to curate the community.
After all, people wouldn’t be spending a hundred thousand dollars on a profile picture for the sake of it unless they really understood what owning one entailed.
At the end of the day, Punks are bold creators that like to invest on new ventures, or experience new ideas - and as long as you have this mindset, that’s what makes up a true Punk.