Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks IP from Larva Labs

Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Yuga Labs has purchased the rights to CryptoPunks and is offering a full commercial license to Punk owners.

Yuga Labs, the business behind one of the industry's largest and most valuable NFT collections, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, said today that it had purchased the rights to the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections' intellectual property from Larva Labs.

According to a statement from Yuga Labs, the first stage is to offer full commercial rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits holders.

“With this acquisition Yuga Labs will own the CryptoPunks and Meebit brands and logos, and as they’ve done with their own BAYC collection, Yuga Labs will transfer IP, commercial, and exclusive licensing rights to individual NFT holders.”

Yuga Labs, which released the BAYC collection in April of last year, had previously allowed all Bored Ape NFT owners complete permission to use their BAYC NFTs for any commercial purposes they wanted. Entrepreneurs, brands, and celebrities rapidly capitalized on the BAYC craze, launching a variety of Bored Ape-branded businesses, including an Arizona Iced Tea commercial campaign and Universal Music Group's Gorillaz-inspired "metaverse band."

The company behind CryptoPunks NFT collection, Larva Labs, had been hesitant to provide the same commercial license to its NFT holders, which had sparked debate among CryptoPunks investors. As a result, a number of high-profile investors pulled out, including "punk4156," who told Decrypt in December that the IP issue was the reason for his $10 million CryptoPunks NFT sale.

With Yuga Labs' announcement today confirming rumors of an imminent acquisition, both collections will now be housed under the same roof.

Yuga Labs, on the other hand, stated in its announcement today that it will continue to focus on the Apes.

"To be clear: the BAYC ecosystem will remain the center of our universe," Yuga Labs tweeted. "We believe that what's good for Punks is good for Apes and the rest of the space. Likewise, what's good for Apes is good for Punks. We want to grow the pie, not fight over slices."