• The NFT community isn’t ready to see the CryptoPunks NFTs leave Yuga Labs
• The community is irritated by rumors that Yuga Labs is considering selling the collection’s intellectual property (IP) rights
• Yuga Labs co-founder partially addressed the issue but neither confirmed nor denied the rumors

The NFT community isn’t ready to see the CryptoPunks NFT collection leave Yuga Labs and has protested a rumored sale of the collection’s IP rights. Wale.moca, an Azuki researcher, was the first to claim that Yuga Labs “is in the process” of handing the collection’s IP to a new owner but didn’t disclose to whom or the monetary value of the presumed sale. Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solana admitted there have been some interested parties but neither denied nor confirmed the sale rumors, giving the speculations some weight.

Why Buy the IP and Do Nothing With It?

Citing “several sources close to the matter,” the Azuki researcher said that the buyer isn’t “a major web2 brand” or a popular NFT company. He added that the buyer plans to leave the NFTs untouched.

I’m now confident enough to share it with y’all after hearing it from several sources close to the matter:

Yuga Labs might be in the process of selling the CryptoPunks IP.

They bought the IP + more than 400 CryptoPunk NFTs from Larva Labs back in March 2022.

Who is the buyer?…

— wale.moca ???? (@waleswoosh) January 14, 2025

In an X post, Solano said that being approached by interested parties isn’t a sign that they’re selling CryptoPunks’ IP rights. According to the Yuga Labs executive, they would only sell the rights “if it felt very confident” that the move would benefit the collection.

a lot of people have approached us, esp last few months

doesn’t mean we are doing anything

would only ever do a deal if it we felt very confident it would be long term extremely +EV for punks

my biz and life are nfts

not going to take a deal for money if I feel like it hurts…

— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) January 15, 2025

The NFT community isn’t happy with the revelations with some questioning why anyone would “want to buy and do nothing with them.” Others like NFT collector Adam Smoot pointed out that even Yuga Labs had promised not to do anything but “did stuff” and the IP is going to “someone else who promises not to do anything.”

The Cryptopunks IP was sold once because the owner wasn’t doing anything, to a new owner who promised not to do anything, and is now being sold again because the owner who promised not to do anything did stuff, so it’s being bought by someone else who promises not to do anything.

— smoot (@adamsmoot) January 14, 2025

It Won’t Be the First Sale

NFT community members also claimed that the NFT collection “lost direction” after Yuga Labs acquired it. Some even proposed putting the collection’s IP rights under the watch of a DAO.

Instead of selling, Yuga should free the @cryptopunksnfts IP to the community.

Put it in a DAO with a token. Capitalize the DAO with a token sale. This money is used to drive awareness of the Crypto Punks brand – get it licensed into movies, cobrand with luxury brands, make gifs…

— Avichal – Electric ϟ Capital (@avichal) January 15, 2025

The rumored CryptoPunks’ IP sale comes less than two months after Yuga Labs acquired web3 platform Tokenproof to make NFTs more fun. It also comes less than a year after the web3 firm sold two of its blockchain games.

With Solano neither denying nor confirming the rumors, its possible that the CryptoPunks IP has found a new home.