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CryptoPunks, backed by the Yuga Labs team, relaunched with a new nft collection that turned out to be a complete flop.
Yuga Labs has created a new non-fungible token (nft) collection called Super Punk World, featuring 500 nfts as three-dimensional figures that “blur the lines of race and gender.” The idea is to erase the borders between race and gender and rethink the essence of virtual and real identity.
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This is the first collection created by Yuga Labs under the CryptoPunks brand. The author of the nft collection is the artist Nina Abney. The digital characters combine their artistic style and pay homage to early web3 projects, particularly CryptoPunks. Furthermore, they also raise pressing social issues, namely racism and sexism.
Project co-founder Greg Solano said the team plans to collaborate with world-class artists to merge web3 with the traditional art world.
An auction was planned to sell tokens from the Super Punk World collection. The highest price would be announced first and, at certain time intervals, the value of the nft would decrease until the asset was purchased or its price reached a set minimum. However, after criticism from the community, Yuga Labs chose a different path.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="the-stupidest-idea-and-the-killers-of-crypto-punks”>The “Stupidest Idea” and CryptoPunks Killers
Despite the global goals, the collection was criticized by members of the crypto community. Some users condemned the art style and concept as an attempt to rethink the cult CryptoPunks project. Others accused Abney of inciting hate in the community through his work focused on race and gender.
One of the users noted that Yuga Labs literally “killed” the idea of CryptoPunks.
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The developer of the Ordinals protocol, Leonidas, x.com/LeonidasNFT/status/1792679667805167676″ target=”_blank” rel=””>noted that with the launch of the new CryptoPunks collection, Yuga Labs is simply looking to replenish their wallets and follow basic game theory and incentives. In this case, the owners of the original CryptoPunks collection are to blame for everything.
“Yuga owns nothing. The holders of Punks are the owners of CryptoPunks. So he starts acting like this and stops pretending that this random collection has any meaning or relationship to CryptoPunks.”
Leonidas, Ordinal protocol developer
A collector under the nickname quary.sats. x.com/const_quary/status/1792624245979185589″ target=”_blank” rel=””>noted that “blurring the line between genres” is the “stupidest” idea that representatives of the CryptoPunks brand came up with. He advised the team to leave Yuga Labs and move on.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="yuga-labs-will-abandon-the-crypto-punks-brand”>Yuga Labs will abandon the CryptoPunks brand
After a barrage of criticism over the new collection, Solano announced that the company would cease any activity related to CryptoPunks, leaving the collection as a completely decentralized blockchain project. He also noted that the last step in promoting the project would be to popularize the NTF collection among the public of various museums.
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The Yuga Labs team decided to distribute the Super Punk World nfts via an airdrop to those who support Abney's work. At the same time, Solano emphasized that Yuga Labs “will no longer touch” CryptoPunks.
“What's up with punks? Yuga won't touch the punks anymore. They will simply be decentralized and preserved on the blockchain. All we intend to do is support some museums and institutions in their quest to acquire a punk and help educate their audience about them.”
Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs
Abney x.com/ninachanel/status/1792723982103236953″ target=”_blank” rel=””>confirmed Yuga plans and thanked the project for its support. He also condemned the attacks from the crypto community.
“I am absolutely disgusted by some of the racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic comments that the controversy surrounding this project has unearthed. What is really at the most vulnerable point of this space?
nft Artist Nina Abney
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="crypto-punks-before-yuga-labs-and-purchasing-copyrights”>CryptoPunks before Yuga Labs and purchase of copyrights
The CryptoPunks project became one of the first nft collections to achieve popularity. Its success has inspired many digital artists in their creativity.
The creator of CryptoPunks was the New York company Larva Labs, founded by developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson. They started working on the project in 2017. CryptoPunks is based on combining art with the power of non-fungible tokens.
The digital art in the CryptoPunks collection was some of the most expensive. The jump from giving away free items to selling nfts for big bucks comes amid the growing popularity of non-fungible tokens.
In 2022, Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of intellectual property rights to popular nft collections published by Larva Labs. As with its Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, Yuga Labs has assigned intellectual property and commercial and exclusive licensing rights to nft owners.
As part of the acquisition of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections, Yuga Labs received ownership rights to 423 CryptoPunks and 1,711 Meebits.
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