“Punycodes have been a breath of fresh air in the historical NFT space. Confirmed and logically derived artistic intentions, fair distribution, and the ethical approach to the original creators make the collection unique and approachable. The members of the community are welcoming, have immense respect for artists, and are in it for the art and for the history.” —Chainleft (chain left.eth)

Punycodes (2011-2017) are arguably the first art NFTs dating back to 2011. These artworks are emojis, ASCII art and words encrypted in the Punycode language on the Namecoin blockchain. There is a current debate on the questions whether these are NFTs and whether they are regarded as art. Some NFT archeologists would classify them as the cave paintings of crypto art, as valuable archeological artifacts on the blockchain.