community accuses Yuga Labs of killing popular NFT collection

Backed by the Yuga Labs team, CryptoPunks relaunched with a new NFT collection that turned out to be a complete failure.

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 boundaries between race and gender and rethink the essence of virtual and real identity.

Super Punk World is a 500-piece collection that is as fun as it is deep. For our Punk in Residence collaboration – @ninachanel She created hybridized 3D sculptures that blur lines of race and gender and reflect virtual and real world identities. Read more and… pic.twitter.com/rWMraMW7Km

— CryptoPunks (@cryptopunksnfts) May 20, 2024

This is the first collection created by Yuga Labs under the CryptoPunks brand. The author of the NFT collection is artist Nina Abney. The digital characters incorporate his art style and pay homage to his early web3 projects, particularly CryptoPunks. They also raise pressing social issues such as 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 for the sale of coins from the Super Punk World collection. The highest price would be announced first, and at specific 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.

“The stupidest idea” and the killers of CryptoPunks

The collection was criticized by members of the crypto community despite its global ambitions. Some users condemned the art style and concept of the attempt to rethink the cult project CryptoPunks. Others accused Abney of inciting hatred in society through her work focusing on race and gender.

One user stated that Yuga Labs literally “killed” the idea of ​​CryptoPunks.

Leonidas, the developer of the Ordinals protocol, stated that with the release of the new CryptoPunks collection, Yuga Labs just wanted to replenish their wallets and follow the basic game theory and incentives. In this case, the owners of the original CryptoPunks collection will be responsible for everything.

“Yuga has nothing. Punk owners are the owners of CryptoPunks. So start acting like it and stop acting like this random collection has any significance or relationship to CryptoPunks.”

Leonidas, Ordinals protocol developer

A collector under the pseudonym Quary.sats stated that “blurring the line between genders” is “the stupidest” idea that representatives of the CryptoPunks brand came up with. He advised the team to leave Yuga Laboratories and move on.

Yuga Labs will abandon the CryptoPunks brand

Following criticism of the new collection, Solano announced that the company would cease all activities around CryptoPunks, leaving the collection as a fully decentralized blockchain project. He also stated that the final step in promoting the project will be the dissemination of the NTF collection among the audiences of various museums.

GM,

I wanted to share an update on the punks: When we acquired the collection a few years ago, we did so with the intention of preserving the collection’s legacy.

We see the punks as the first cave paintings of this new environment and we were very influenced by them while creating…

— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) 🍌 (@CryptoGarga) May 20, 2024

The Yuga Labs team decided to airdrop Super Punk World NFTs to those who support Abney’s work. At the same time, Solano emphasized that Yuga Labs “will no longer touch” CryptoPunks.

“What about punks? Yuga won’t touch the punks anymore. They will only be distributed in a decentralized manner and protected on the blockchain. “All we intend to do is support a few museums and institutions in their quest to acquire a punk and help educate their audiences about them.”

Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs

Abney confirmed Yuga’s plans and thanked him for his support of the project. He also condemned attacks from the crypto community.

“I am absolutely disgusted by some of the racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic interpretations of the debate that has emerged around this project. What is really at the bottom of this area?”

Nina Abney, NFT artist before CryptoPunks, Yuga Labs buys copyrights

The CryptoPunks project became one of the first NFT collections to reach popularity. Its success has inspired many digital artists in their creativity.

The creator of CryptoPunks was 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 artworks in the CryptoPunks collection were some of the most expensive. The shift from giving away free items to selling NFTs for big bucks comes at a time when non-fungible tokens are growing in popularity.

In 2022, Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of the intellectual property rights to popular NFT collectibles published by Larva Labs. As with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, Yuga Labs transferred intellectual property, commercial and exclusive licensing rights to NFT owners.

As part of acquiring the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections, Yuga Labs acquired ownership rights to 423 CryptoPunks and 1,711 Meebits.