# Early NFT projects: a sourced shortlist

**Question:** "Find me early nft project"
**Research date:** 2026-10-05
**How I read the question:** The request is ambiguous. This report reads "early" as *historically early*: the pioneering NFT projects from 2014 to 2017, before the ERC-721 standard. The other reading, *new projects to get into early as an investment*, is covered in §5. I don't recommend any projects for that reading.

Labels used below: **[Fact]** means a source I fetched or searched states it. **[Inference]** is my own interpretation. **[Uncertain]** means sources disagree or I could not verify the claim.

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## 1. Short answer

These are the most widely cited early NFT projects, oldest first:

| # | Project | Chain | Date | Why it matters |
|---|---------|-------|------|----------------|
| 1 | **Quantum** (Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash) | Namecoin | 2 May 2014 | Widely called the first NFT |
| 2 | **Spells of Genesis** (EverdreamSoft) | Bitcoin / Counterparty | 11 Mar 2015 (first card) | Early tokenized game cards |
| 3 | **Etheria** | Ethereum | Oct 2015 | Leading candidate for first NFT project on Ethereum |
| 4 | **Rare Pepe** | Bitcoin / Counterparty | Sep 2016 to 2018 | Early community art collection |
| 5 | **Curio Cards** | Ethereum | 9 May 2017 | First art NFT project on Ethereum |
| 6 | **CryptoPunks** (Larva Labs) | Ethereum | Jun 2017 | 10,000 generative characters, claimed for free |
| 7 | **CryptoKitties** (Dapper Labs) | Ethereum | 28 Nov 2017 | Helped lead to the ERC-721 standard |

Earlier still, Colored Coins on Bitcoin (2012) is usually listed as a precursor experiment rather than an NFT project ([Wikipedia: NFT][wiki-nft]).

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## 2. Evidence by project

### 2.1 Quantum (2014)
- **[Fact]** Minted on the Namecoin blockchain on 2 May 2014 by Kevin McCoy, using technology he built with Anil Dash ([Hyperallergic][hyper]; [Wikipedia: NFT][wiki-nft]).
- **[Fact]** Sold at Sotheby's "Natively Digital" sale on 10 June 2021 for about $1.4M including fees ([Hyperallergic][hyper]).
- **[Fact]** A later lawsuit over who owned the token, *Free Holdings v. McCoy and Sotheby's*, was decided in favour of McCoy and Sotheby's ([Artnet][artnet]; [Center for Art Law][artlaw]).
- **[Inference]** "First NFT" is a label given after the fact. The word "NFT" did not exist in 2014, so whether Quantum counts depends on how you define one.

### 2.2 Spells of Genesis (2015)
- **[Fact]** A blockchain trading-card game by EverdreamSoft on Counterparty, a layer on Bitcoin. Its first on-chain card (FDCARD) was issued on 11 March 2015 ([DappRadar][dappradar]; [Counterparty forum][xcp-sog]).
- **[Uncertain]** Some secondary sources call it "the first NFT collection." I did not check that claim against primary chain data.

### 2.3 Etheria (October 2015)
- **[Fact]** Launched in October 2015, about three months after Ethereum's mainnet went live, and presented at DEVCON 1 in London ([Decrypt][decrypt]; [Internet Archive: Devcon 1 talk][ia-etheria]).
- **[Fact]** It has 457 hexagonal land tiles priced at 1 ETH each. Most went unsold until 13 March 2021, when all tiles sold within about 24 hours for roughly $1.4M in total ([Wikipedia: NFT][wiki-nft]; [Decrypt][decrypt]).
- **[Inference]** Etheria is the strongest candidate for the first NFT project on Ethereum. One source itself calls the "first" label "fraught" ([Etherscan blog][etherscan]).

### 2.4 Rare Pepe (2016–2018)
- **[Fact]** Issued on Bitcoin through Counterparty starting in September 2016. The collection has 1,774 cards minted between 2016 and 2018 ([Wikipedia: Rare Pepe][wiki-pepe]; [CoinDesk][coindesk-pepe]).
- **[Fact]** ERC-721 names Rare Pepe and Curio Cards as earlier "limited edition, collectible tokens," but describes them as sets of fungible tokens rather than individually distinguishable assets ([EIP-721][eip721]).

### 2.5 Curio Cards (May 2017)
- **[Fact]** Launched on 9 May 2017 by Travis Uhrig, Thomas Hunt and Rhett Creighton. It has 30 card designs by 7 artists, plus a misprint card "17b" ([Curio Cards docs][curio-docs]; [Wikipedia: Curio Cards][wiki-curio]).
- **[Fact]** A complete set sold at Christie's on 1 October 2021 for 393 ETH, about $1.2M ([Wikipedia: Curio Cards][wiki-curio]).
- **[Fact]** The project's own docs describe it as "the first NFT Art Show on Ethereum" ([Curio Cards docs][curio-docs]). That is the project describing itself.

### 2.6 CryptoPunks (June 2017)
- **[Fact]** Larva Labs launched it in June 2017: 10,000 characters that anyone with an Ethereum wallet could claim for free. All of them were claimed within about eight days ([Larva Labs][larva]).
- **[Fact]** ERC-721 describes CryptoPunks as "partially ERC-20 compatible" ([EIP-721][eip721]).

### 2.7 CryptoKitties (Nov 2017) and ERC-721 (2018)
- **[Fact]** Dapper Labs revealed it at ETH Waterloo on 19 October 2017 and launched it on 28 November 2017. At its peak it accounted for about 25% of Ethereum network traffic ([Wikipedia: CryptoKitties][wiki-ck]).
- **[Fact]** EIP-721 was created on 24 January 2018. Dieter Shirley of CryptoKitties is one of its authors, and it says CryptoKitties is "compatible with an earlier version of this standard" ([EIP-721][eip721]).

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## 3. Facts vs. inferences: summary
- **Well-attested facts:** the dates, chains, supplies and auction results above. Each is backed by at least one cited page, and most by two.
- **Inferences:** the ranking by "importance," and statements about which project is "first" on a given chain.
- **Contested:** the title of "first NFT." It depends on the definition used: a unique token, a collection, a project on Ethereum, or a token that follows a standard. Quantum (2014), Spells of Genesis (2015) and Etheria (2015) are each called "first" by different sources.

## 4. Limits of this research
- Most sources are secondary: Wikipedia, news outlets and project docs. I did not check deployment dates or supplies directly on-chain (Etherscan, Namecoin, or Counterparty explorers).
- Larva Labs' and Curio Cards' descriptions of their own projects are first-party claims.
- I gathered no current market prices or floor values, and none of this report is investment advice. Prices for these collections change quickly.
- Other early or "historical" projects such as MoonCats (2017) and EtherRock (2017) are mentioned in sources but not researched in detail here.

## 5. Unanswered questions
1. **Did you mean "early" as historical, or as early-stage investment?** If you meant new projects to buy into early, this report does not answer that. Picking those needs a chain, a budget, a risk tolerance and live data, and any shortlist would be speculation that cannot be verified.
2. Is a specific chain wanted? Bitcoin and Counterparty, Ethereum, and Namecoin each have a different "first."
3. Do you want an on-chain check of deployment transactions (contract addresses and block numbers) for these projects?

---

## Sources
- [wiki-nft]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token
- [hyper]: https://hyperallergic.com/kevin-mccoy-quantum-first-nft-created-sells-at-sothebys-for-over-one-million/
- [artnet]: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kevin-mccoy-sothebys-quantum-lawsuit-win-2273861
- [artlaw]: https://itsartlaw.org/2023/09/12/case-review-free-holdings-v-mccoy-and-sothebys-2023/
- [dappradar]: https://dappradar.com/blog/pioneering-blockchain-game-spells-of-genesis-turns-five
- [xcp-sog]: https://forums.counterparty.io/t/spells-of-genesis-first-commercial-game-using-counterparty/536
- [decrypt]: https://decrypt.co/61359/an-nft-game-almost-old-as-ethereum-just-resurfaced-and-players-are-cashing-out
- [ia-etheria]: https://archive.org/details/etheria-devcon-1-presentation
- [etherscan]: https://medium.com/etherscan-blog/an-archeological-trip-across-early-ethereum-contracts-232b0de33f8
- [wiki-pepe]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Pepe
- [coindesk-pepe]: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/31/rare-pepe-steeped-in-bitcoin-history-fetches-500k-on-nft-market-opensea
- [eip721]: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721
- [curio-docs]: https://docs.curio.cards/
- [wiki-curio]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curio_Cards
- [larva]: https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks
- [wiki-ck]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoKitties

[wiki-nft]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token
[hyper]: https://hyperallergic.com/kevin-mccoy-quantum-first-nft-created-sells-at-sothebys-for-over-one-million/
[artnet]: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kevin-mccoy-sothebys-quantum-lawsuit-win-2273861
[artlaw]: https://itsartlaw.org/2023/09/12/case-review-free-holdings-v-mccoy-and-sothebys-2023/
[dappradar]: https://dappradar.com/blog/pioneering-blockchain-game-spells-of-genesis-turns-five
[xcp-sog]: https://forums.counterparty.io/t/spells-of-genesis-first-commercial-game-using-counterparty/536
[decrypt]: https://decrypt.co/61359/an-nft-game-almost-old-as-ethereum-just-resurfaced-and-players-are-cashing-out
[ia-etheria]: https://archive.org/details/etheria-devcon-1-presentation
[etherscan]: https://medium.com/etherscan-blog/an-archeological-trip-across-early-ethereum-contracts-232b0de33f8
[wiki-pepe]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Pepe
[coindesk-pepe]: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/31/rare-pepe-steeped-in-bitcoin-history-fetches-500k-on-nft-market-opensea
[eip721]: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721
[curio-docs]: https://docs.curio.cards/
[wiki-curio]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curio_Cards
[larva]: https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks
[wiki-ck]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoKitties