Unipeg's explosive popularity and comprehensive analysis of its new dual-asset model

During the May Day holiday, a project called "Unipeg" (unipeg.art) suddenly became popular online. This project is built on Uniswap. This project has a very unique mechanism; it is both an NFT and an ERC-20 token. It's called an NFT because, like other NFT projects we're familiar with, it's also a total of 10,000 works of art (a unicorn made of pixels). However, each NFT is not backed by the familiar ERC-721 or ERC-1155 tokens, but rather pegged to a complete Unipeg token (uPEG). When a user holds a complete Unipeg token, their wallet will display a corresponding unicorn icon. This Unipeg token is the well-known ERC-20 token.

AllUnipegTokens are inUniswapTrade on. When a user buys uPEG tokens on Uniswap (e.g., buying 1.2 uPEG tokens), the integer part of the token (1) will be... Each uPEG will correspond to one unicorn, while the remaining decimal part (0.2 uPEG) becomes token fragments and does not represent any unicorn. If a user sells their 1 uPEG token in small quantities, the unicorn represented by that uPEG token will permanently disappear. Similarly, if a user buys tokens but not in whole numbers (uPEG), they will not receive the unicorn token. (For more information on the formation mechanism of this token and unicorns, please refer to the link at the end of the article.) Under this mechanism, an inevitable outcome is that unicorns will become increasingly rare, and eventually, the Uniswap trading pool will be filled with uPEG fragment tokens. Due to this unique operating mechanism, after the project was exposed, participants rushed to buy the rare unicorn tokens, causing the token price to rise dozens of times within a few days. This kind of increase is unseen for a long time in both the NFT and ERC-20 sectors. After the project became popular, an unexpected "incident" occurred. A hacker exploited a mechanism in the contract to cleverly and repeatedly shake out weak hands within a short period, continuously filtering out rare unicorns. This triggered a panic sell-off by token holders, causing a sharp drop in price, which only gradually stabilized after the situation calmed down. In terms of the value of this project's NFTs alone, based on past experience, for its price to stabilize and rise in the long term, I think it needs to meet one of the following two conditions: The project, like Cryptopunk, possesses an impeccable and strongly consensus-driven uniqueness and primacy within the entire ecosystem. The project can gradually develop into a huge ecosystem, to the point that no participant in this ecosystem can avoid NFTs in the future. Let's look at the first condition. Looking back, among all the NFT projects we've worked on (whether in the Ethereum or Bitcoin ecosystem), very few have truly achieved the uniqueness and originality of Cryptopunk. This is extremely difficult. Even among the once incredibly popular Bitcoin NFTs, it's difficult to find any NFT that can rival the historical value of crypto-punk and enjoy strong consensus. Therefore, it will be quite difficult for this unicorn to meet this condition. Now let's look at the second condition. Aside from cryptopunks, most NFTs, to maintain their price and continue to appreciate, need a constantly growing and expanding ecosystem. I once had high hopes for BoredApe. But judging from its experience over the years, at least so far, it hasn't succeeded. I once had high hopes for the Bitcoin ecosystem, believing that if Bitcoin could develop its own ecosystem, NFTs within it would have enormous potential. However, years of experience have shown that, at least so far, it has not succeeded. The only one that continues to exert effort and occasionally creates mini-booms in the NFT ecosystem is Pudgy Penguins. It has been working hard and persisting, and has made several significant moves so far. However, the sustained impact of each move is short-lived; once the influence fades, its NFT activity declines again. I can only say that this project is still ongoing, but we can't say it's successful. Therefore, from this perspective, it's too early to judge the future value of this unicorn. However, if we set aside the project's investment value and consider its ecosystem innovation, this project is remarkable. "The good thing about DeFi is that Ethereum, the platform that supports it, is an open, permissionless platform. As long as this platform exists, the seeds of innovation will continue to be sown, and a very small number of geniuses and teams will inevitably leave their mark on history, creating exceptionally powerful projects that will be forever etched in the annals of time." (April 22nd, "My Thoughts on DeFi") The attitude of this project is: Cautious now, bright future. The innovation of this project is unprecedented in the DeFi ecosystem and something never seen in the real world. While we cannot yet prove with examples and evidence whether this innovation has any practical value or in what situations it can be used, it precisely proves once again that this is a platform that can support innovation and is ready to unleash it at any time. With such platforms, we will surely see amazing masterpieces again, and we will surely see world-shaking works again.