Latest news with #CryptoPunks
TechCrunch
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- TechCrunch
NFT phenom CryptoPunks was just sold to a nonprofit
Yuga Labs, known as the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club and other notable NFTs, sold its iconic CryptoPunks to the nonprofit NODE Foundation, which focuses on preserving digital art. The deal details are undisclosed, and a representative declined to comment. Back in April, NODE announced it received a $25 million grant to 'build the future of digital art' from investor Micky Malka and Becky Kleiner. The former is chair of the foundation. Yuga Labs purchased CryptoPunks back in 2022 from Larva Labs amid the digital token craze that saw NFTs sell for millions of dollars. The highest-priced CryptoPunk NFT sold for nearly $24 million worth of crypto, according to the CryptoPunks website. The markets have slowed since then, however. Malka said that CryptoPunks 'sparked a cultural movement,' and that NODE will 'future-proof this landmark work,' to make it more accessible for people to engage with.
The Verge
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
The CryptoPunks NFTs are being sold to a non-profit as their value continues to fall
It would seem that the money-making days for CryptoPunks, one of the oldest and most valuable NFT brands, are well and truly over. After acquiring the non-fungible token collection from Larva Labs in 2022, Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs is now selling CryptoPunks to Infinite Node Foundation — a non-profit focused on preserving digital art. CryptoPunks, alongside brands like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoKitties, is frequently credited for kicking off the NFT craze in 2021. Several tokens have been sold for millions, including one in 2022 that was purchased for more than $23 million worth of Ethereum cryptocurrency, but the sales charts have largely stagnated since. Details for the purchase are slim. CryptoPunks general manager Natalie Stone told The Verge that the terms of the deal won't be disclosed, and that the brand will be stewarded by the Node Foundation, with no plans to integrate the CryptoPunks token collection into the gamified Otherside metaverse that Yuga Labs is developing. 'Yuga is still one of the biggest holders of Punks, and like all other CryptoPunks NFT holders, will retain the right to its CryptoPunks characters under the IP license,' said Stone. It was also never clear how much Yuga Labs spent to acquire CryptoPunks in its heyday, but being sold to a non-profit is probably not a good sign for, well, profitability. Now that NFT's are a shambling shadow of their former glory, the focus is turning to making CryptoPunks relevant in the mainstream art industry. 'We've worked to elevate and protect their legacy, but we always knew Punks needed a permanent home built for preservation,' Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow said in the announcement release. 'Seeing that vision come to life with the Node Foundation feels like a full-circle moment. They are best positioned to protect the Punks legacy.' Node Foundation chair Micky Malka said that 'CryptoPunks sparked a cultural movement,' and that the non-profit intends to 'future-proof this landmark work' and make it more accessible for scholars, curators, and collectors to engage with. Node is planning to showcase all 10,000 CryptoPunks tokens at the foundation's permanent exhibition space in Palo Alto, and in the ' Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms ' exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CryptoPunk NFT, Once Bought for $16M, Sold for $10M Loss
Remember when CryptoPunks were the ultimate flex? The 10,000 avatars issued by Larva Labs back in 2017, were among the crown jewels of the non-fungible token (NFT) craze in 2021. Some NFTs of that collection fetched as high as $56 million worth of ether (ETH) on the open market in 2024. The top five most expensive NFTs belong to the CryptoPunk collection, data from NFT analytics service CryptoSlam shows. But holders seem to be moving their money out. The wallet behind CryptoPunks #3100, the third-highest NFT sale ever, sold their collectible earlier Friday for 4,000 ETH — a 500 ETH haircut worth over $10 million in dollar terms as ETH has itself dove nearly 60% in the past year. That's still a relatively high price for CryptoPunk compared to the collection's floor price — or the minimum asking rate — of 42 ETH, or about $65,000, per CoinGecko. #3100's value was driven by its rarity of being an 'alien' (9 of 9985 punks) and wearing a hairband (406 of 9742 punks). NFT trading volumes have been on a general decline since 2021, bar a few spikes amid frenzied periods. Overall sales dipped to just over $58 million as on April 7, reaching levels previously seen in early 2021.
