What happened? Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has acquired the intellectual property (IP) of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from Larva Labs. As part of the acquisition, Yuga Labs now owns the copyright for both the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections, as well as 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits.
CryptoPunks and Meebits are popular non-fungible token (NFT) collections on the Ethereum blockchain. With this acquisition Yuga Labs will own the CryptoPunks and Meebit brands and logos, and as they’ve done with their own BAYC collection, Yuga Labs will transfer IP, commercial, and exclusive licensing rights to individual NFT holders.
Yuga Labs did not reveal what they were planning to do. However, Gordon and Gargamel, pseudonymous co-founders of Yuga Labs, said, “We’re not in a rush to do anything but give people their IP, see what they build, and listen.”
But the comments from co-founders of Larva Labs, Matt Hall and John Watkinson, do give some indication on the possible outcomes of this acquisitions.
Commenting on the decision to sell their NFT creations, Matt Hall and John Watkinson said:
“Yuga Labs are the best in the world at what they do, and are the ideal stewards of the CryptoPunks and Meebits. In their hands, we are confident that they will continue to be vital, thriving projects in the emerging decentralized web.”
Launched in 2017, CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 unique collectible characters with proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Larva Labs initially gave away 90% of these NFTs for free, which later on became very popular and some of the most expensive NFTs of all time.
Last month, CryptoPunk #5822 became the highest-selling CryptoPunk to date when it was sold for 8000 ETH, worth close to $23.7 million at the time. In fact, the CryptoPinks project has inspired the modern CryptoArt movement. Even Yuga Labs took inspiration from CryptoPunks for their highly successful project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
Nicole Muniz, CEO of Yuga Labs, said:
“When we set out to create within the NFT space, we did so with a deep admiration for CryptoPunks and the visionary work of Matt and John. We’re honored to take on the stewardship of these brands and the communities behind them, and are very excited to build alongside CryptoPunks and Meebits holders as we step into this new world. That said, we want to make it abundantly clear to Yuga’s existing community that the BAYC ecosystem will always stay at the center of our universe.”
Moreover, Yuga Labs said that it intends to seed a vibrant new community with the transfer of IP and commercialization rights, teeming with creators and third-party developers to incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into digital and physical projects across the world.
What the CryptoPunks and Meebits owners should expect in coming days? According to Yuga Labs, they are planning to grant new terms and conditions for these NFTs soon, granting the owners IP and commercialization rights which they missed till date and many of them were also complaining about.
Why does it matter? The commercialization and community building are the two major aspects that made BAYC more popular than the iconic CryptoPunks. This was the major reason BAYC valuation also become much higher than CryptoPunks.
Bobby Ong, co-founder of CoinGecko and an NFT expert, earlier told The Block, “BAYC NFTs have generous IP rights compared to CryptoPunks. Some people are not happy that Larva Labs is not assigning more rights.”
CyptoPunk NFT holders were not granted the rights to use their NFTs for any commercial purpose, whereas BAYC NFT owners get such IP rights. Bored Ape owners are using these IP rights to build a blockchain-based game in partnership with Animoca Brands.
The popularity of Bored Ape NFT grew exponentially as more celebrities picked these collectibles. Even legendary American rapper Eminem bought one Bored Ape NFT for 123.45 ETH ($450,000).
As CryptoPunks Co-Founders mentioned, Yuga Labs has got the abilities to build a thriving business model around the NFTs. So, we shouldn’t be surprised if CryptoPunks again start making headlines and become the most valuable NFT project again.
Read Also: How To Identify The Next Big NFT Project?
