Yuga Labs, the project behind the popular BAYC collection, has waved goodbye to the CryptoPunk intellectual property. It recently sold its ownership of the oldest NFT collection to the Infinite Node Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on digital art. Although the amount was undisclosed, word on the street is that the deal was closed at $20 million.
Created in 2017 by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks is known as the oldest NFT project in the industry. Matt Hall and John Watkinson, the lead developers behind the NFT collection, portray all 10,000 digital collectibles as pixelated art. These Ethereum-based digital collectibles were issued to their initial holders for free. CryptoPunks have held the leading position in floor price ranking for years, surpassing blue-chip projects like BAYC, Pudgy Penguins, and Azuki.
In 2022, Yuga Labs acquired the CryptoPunks IP, alongside NFT project Meebits. While the BAYC creator retained the IP rights over the non-fungible brands, the token holders have commercial rights over their digital collectibles.
Yuga Labs’ co-founder Wylie Aronow commented on the latest acquisition deal via the X social app. Regarding Yuga Labs’ 2022 acquisition, Aronow said the firm believed they “owed responsibility to Matt, John, and the wider crypto community to step up and become stewards, to help preserve what had started everything.” However, he believes that the CryptoPunks project deserves “a home built on the basis of preservation.” This is where Node Foundation comes in.
Node revealed that it would evolve its stewardship over CryptoPunks IP by incorporating three pillars—preservation, community, and expansion. As part of its plans, Node will create an exhibition featuring all 10,000 CryptoPunk NFTs. The exhibition will launch alongside NODE’s permanent hub and exhibition in Palo Alto.
The foundation has selected various individuals to make up an advisory board to oversee these operations. They include Hall, Watkinson, Aronow, and Art Blocks’ founder, Erick Calderon.
The Yuga Labs co-founder stressed that whatever is good for Punks is good for everyone in the non-fungible realm. Node’s vision to bring CryptoPunks to more audiences shows that it is committed to growing the non-fungible IP long-term. Stay tuned to see how things unravel.
