Cryptopop

Artist of Cards 17, 18, and 19

Cartooning Bitcoin and beyond.

Cryptopop is a cartoonist who loves drawing dogs and androids. His first art attempts were pen doodles on the memo-pads of Filipino banks — back when he was still growing Bitcoin startups out of his hometown, Manila.

Follow him and you’ll find his name is Luis Buenaventura. Luis earned a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of the Philippines. But it was coding, first, that opened doors to technology. Bitcoin exchanges, remittance ventures and coining “rebittance” — the chaotic early years; a never-ending series of shell games with banks.

But Luis persevered. Capital was sought. He took trips from the island nation out to California’s Bitcoin capital: San Francisco. The city’s a cash-burner, so he shared dormitories in “barrackses” with thirty strangers. Survived nights nearly eaten alive by bedding with roaches. And, more importantly, attended meetups. The price of entry was free pizza and beer. In the chaos, there was hope; a life-changing encounter. The scenery set by El Rio, a legendary bar in the Mission district of SF. The event was sponsored by Coinbase (when Coinbase did meetups). Cryptopop, now that guy from Twitter who’d drawn the Gingerbread man around town, was approached by three strangers — the Curio Cards founders. Next, came art; the first cartoons on Ethereum: forgotten in 2017, resurrected in 2021, and then selling more than the entire Filipino art market.

Forever thankful for his unexpected fortune, Cryptopop launched the Cryptopop Art Guild. Now, rando art kids in the Philippines like himself have a chance to make it too.

It’s all in the Cards. The Cryptopop set is cheeky crypto history. It delightfully cartoons Bitcoin’s early moments and memes. Scratching the artist’s itch, dogs — not bulls — are the cast of UASF, To The Moon and Dogs Trading. These Cards capture chaos, just as life imitated art — when a fateful mistake launched the much-loved “misprint” Card. A reminder: out of chaos, there is opportunity; out of cartoons, there is joy.

For more crypto and dog cartoons: Visit Cryptopop’s shop.

Follow Cryptopop on Twitter.