Larva Labs Sells CryptoPunks IP to Yuga Labs

2022

Date: March 11, 2022 · Place: Yuga Labs acquisition, IP transfer for Punks and Meebits · Figures: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs founders · Yuga Labs / Greg Solano (Gargamel) and Wylie Aronow (Gordon Goner) · 423 Punks and 1,711 Meebits transferred · Tags: Acquisition, IP, Power Shift, CryptoPunks 01. Punks Change Hands Yuga Labs, the studio behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, acquires the brand, copyright, and IP for CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. The deal includes 423 Punks and 1,711 Meebits held in Larva treasury. Financial terms are not disclosed. Yuga grants commercial rights to all 10,000 CryptoPunks holders, ending a two-year feud over whether Larva Labs' restrictive licensing was holding the project back. The decision aligns Punks with BAYC's permissive CC0-adjacent terms. 02. Founder Era Closes Hall and Watkinson exit. CryptoPunks, the 2017 collection that proved the entire ERC-721 thesis, is now owned by the company that came four years later. The transfer is the cleanest possible 'old guard sells to new guard' moment in NFT history. Two months later Yuga launches the Otherside metaverse mint, generating $561 million in primary sales and roughly $180 million in Ethereum gas fees in a single night. Yuga is the dominant NFT studio for the remainder of the cycle. Sources • Yuga Labs blog, 'Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits,' March 11 2022 • Andrew Hayward, 'Yuga Labs Buys CryptoPunks,' Decrypt, March 11 2022 • Matt Hall, statement on Larva Labs Twitter, March 11 2022