Yuga Labs, the startup behind the mega-popular Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token collection, has acquired the intellectual property of CryptoPunks — a pioneer in the NFT space — an…
Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Through the pact, Yuga now owns the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for both collections, along with 423 CryptoPunks and 1,711 Meebits. The acquisition shows the craze for NFTs, which use blockchain technology to verify ownership of digital goods, is still in full swing.
CryptoPunks, which first launched in 2017, were a key catalyst for the mania surrounding NFTs starting in early 2021. The CryptoPunks character NFTs consist of algorithmically generated, individually uniqueTo date, some $2.2 billion worth of CryptoPunks NFTs have been traded by fans and speculators, followed by more than $1 billion worth of the 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, according to OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace. Meebits NFTs have traded around $227 million, per OpenSea.
Hall and Watkinson are not joining Yuga Labs; rather, the duo are going to continue running Larva Labs and “will keep doing what they do best: creating awesome projects that help shape the future of web3,” Yuga said.