The final Ethereum block before the network migrated from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) was used to mint an NFT of a pair of eyes. The NFT is known as ‘vanity block’ as it’s created by the VanityBlocks Team, as per its founder MonekyOnTheLoose.
A vanity block contains a transaction so large that it intentionally took up the whole block, leaving no space for any other transaction. The NFT minted at a cost of about $50,000 was dubbed “The Last PoW Block”.
Like all VanityBlocks, it features a pair of eyes peering out from a black background. VanityBlocks founder MonkeyOnTheLoose stated that the team has been working on this final-block project for over a month.
Though the project had little to no chance of success, the team went ahead with it. MonkeyOnTheLoose said via Telegram, “It’s a meditation artsy kinda thing.”
He added that the team has been working on VanityBlocks for a year now and going against all odds despite having like 15% chance to actually get it.
The last proof-of-work block also contained the text that reads, “You make the commitment, and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick.”
VanityBlocks are an expensive way to mint NFT and for this particular block, they raised 70 ETH from investors in three days to execute this plan. VanityBlocks paid 31 ETH, around $49,6000, directly to minting pool F2Pool to mint the NFT and spent 1.3 ETH as the transaction fee (Partly sent to F2Pool and partly burned).
VanityBlocks’ method of filling up the whole Ethereum block caused some controversy earlier this year since the process slows down the network and everything else.
Interestingly, not only the last PoW block was used to mint NFT but the first block of PoS was also used to mint one. After the historic merge upgrade, the first PoS block was used to create the NFT of a panda including some key details associated with the block.
A person with the pseudonym ‘The Transition’ has claimed to be the person behind the first PoS mint. The collection is seemingly limited to 100 NFTs, which are being auctioned on the website.
