Of all the innovations to hit the crypto space, Unisocks holds a unique place. Originally an experiment, it's now an undeniable flex that somehow sits at the intersection of art, game theory, and always-on-liquidity.

Some very quick, tl;dr background – Uniswap's launch popularized the automated market maker (AMM), and very much changed the fate of the Ethereum network through offering frictionless, decentralized trading. If all of these words don't resonate, travel back in time to check out an OG Dec 2018 post on Uniswap from Cyrus Younessi on the launch and its core innovations.

To me, Unisocks were the first true bridge connecting somewhat abstract concepts of the blockchain world (tokens, bonding curves, AMMs, and of course, memes) to tangible, real-world assets.

Several years later, as whatever the "metaverse" is takes new shape and form, Unisocks are a true testament to that original creativity and inspiration that manifested in the crypto space – create cool things that resonate with your most loyal users. If you do that, you'll have the potential to change the world and make history, just as Unisocks have done.

As soon as DAOs start curating art galleries IRL, we’ll see Unisocks displayed in a museum. One day, I would bet even a "mockumentary" will outline the craziness that they brought to the world – most folks don't even realize $SOCKS holders got airdropped $1000s in UNI tokens just for owning and redeeming their blockchain socks.

Lol, how epic. In crypto, owning a pair of socks might just be the best investment you ever make. You can ask why, but you’re not likely to get a super academic answer. It probably is best you just recognize that in this space, we like the socks.

The proliferation of $SOCKS history will happen in time, but for now, there is a separate "holy grail" in the blockchain space that I'm passionate about solving – bringing physical assets on-chain – through which Unisocks is the perfect canvas for ripe experimentation.

One of the core tenets of blockchain protocols is interoperability. You can build on top of anything, practically. Those same building blocks are difficult to recreate outside of software. That's why Unisocks are so revolutionary – we can bring provable scarcity to physical assets in the same way that the blockchain brings that scarcity to tokens.

Whatever happened to this awesome idea? Well, it's really hard to build a trustless custodial protocol for physical assets. Uncertainty and ambiguity abound our world, in stark contrast to the finality that exists in crypto. While it has been an idea for a while, it was not until the confluence of certain trends collided, such as DeFi and NFTs, that this idea was actually plausible.

At 4K, the intersection of the physical and digital world excites us. Typically, the relationship between these worlds has been a one way street, with the digital world adding value to our physical world. We use the web (aka, digital) to make our lives (aka, physical) more convenient. Almost anything you might need IRL can be reached not at the corner general store, but rather with a couple taps of your phone to source anything you need, from well, anywhere.

What if our physical, IRL world was able to add even more value to our digital presence? It is time this one-way street acts more like a bridge. That's what we're building at 4K with our trustless custodial protocol.

Unisocks are an amazing place to start and say "hello" to the ways in which our protocol can be interoperable with the Web 3 world. Their legacy, design (both socks and token), and impact on the broader crypto ecosystem are truly unparalleled. Plus... you get a "Redeemed" Unisocks NFT when you exchange your ERC-20 for the pair of real socks.

So, there's literally no way you can forge a real pair of Unisocks. The history is there, after all, just check etherscan :).

4K is now in possession of three pairs of mint-condition, yet-to-be unboxed Unisocks, and their corresponding “Redeemed” NFTs authenticating their legitimacy.

Our “re-tokenized” Unisocks of course no longer live in the original pool, however one of the pairs is being offered at a serious discount to the original ERC-20 token that is still tradable. So, if you've been on the fence about acquiring $SOCKS, but have always loved the actual Unisocks, perhaps now is the time to “arb” this market that was once solely digital, and now is physical, too.

@mikedemarais, if you somehow end up reading this, the marketplace for after-market physical Unisocks is finally here. Thanks for being such an inspiration to us all.