> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://prepunk.gitbook.io/doc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://prepunk.gitbook.io/doc/welcome.md).

# Welcome

A Prepunk is an ENS name whose auction was finalized between May 9 and June 23, 2017, before CryptoPunks launched. There are exactly **79,720** of them, and there will never be more. They are among the oldest user-owned digital assets on Ethereum, minted in the weeks before anyone used the word "NFT".

Every claim in these docs is anchored to on-chain evidence: transaction hashes, block numbers, and verified contract source. You don't have to take our word for anything.

### The window, precisely

|            | Date (UTC)              | What happened                                                                |
| ---------- | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Start**  | May 9, 2017, 11:22:19   | The first ENS auction ever finalized: `rilxxlir.eth`, rank #1                |
| **End**    | June 23, 2017, 21:07:42 | The last qualifying finalization: `holtrenfrew.eth`, rank #79,720            |
| **Cutoff** | June 23, 2017, 21:10:32 | The first CryptoPunk transaction on the canonical contract (block 3,919,721) |

Any `.eth` name finalized before the cutoff block is a Prepunk. A name finalized one minute later is not.

### Start here

* **Just checking a name?** Go straight to the [verifier](https://verify.prepunk.club), or read [Using the Verifier](/doc/verify/tool.md).
* **New to ENS or Prepunks?** Start with [The Story](/doc/story.md). It's short, and it's a genuinely good piece of Ethereum history.
* **Collector?** [The Prepunks](/doc/prepunks.md) covers the dataset, the categories, rarity, and the traps to avoid before you buy.
* **Developer or researcher?** [For Developers](/doc/developers.md) has the public API, contract addresses, event signatures, and data provenance.

### Why "Prepunk"?

CryptoPunks became the cultural anchor of NFT history, the collection every timeline is measured against. Prepunks are the ENS names that predate that anchor. The term and the exact block cutoff come from ENS core developer Makoto Inoue's "OG ENS" research in 2021, and the Prepunk Club community has maintained, corrected, and extended that dataset ever since.

A Prepunk is not a picture. It is a timestamp: cryptographic proof that someone claimed a name on Ethereum in the first weeks it was possible to do so.

{% hint style="info" %}
These docs are maintained by the Prepunk Club. Found an error? We take corrections seriously. Reach out via the channels on the [Resources](/doc/resources.md) page.
{% endhint %}