The company behind the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs, has acquired the intellectual property rights to the CryptoPunks and Meebits tokens from Larva Labs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Some big news to share today: Yuga has acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from @LarvaLabs, and the first thing we’re doing is giving full commercial rights to the NFT holders. Just like we did for BAYC and MAYC owners. pic.twitter.com/lAIKKvoEDj
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 11, 2022
Under the agreement, Yuga Labs acquired the copyright to the tokens of the specified collections, as well as 423 CryptoPunks and 1,711 Meebits.
According to the press release, the company intends to grant intellectual, commercial, and exclusive licensing rights to individual NFT holders. “In the near term,” holders will receive expanded privileges.
“We’re not rushing to do anything. We’re simply handing people the rights, seeing what they create, and listening,” said the co-founders of Yuga Labs, who go by the pseudonyms Gordon Goner and Gargamel.
Similar terms apply to the BAYC collection, which some token holders have already exploited. For example, Arizona Iced Tea launched a marketing campaign with NFTs, and Universal Music Group introduced a musical group composed of \”bored apes\”.
NEWSFLASH: UMG’s next-gen label 10:22PM forms KINGSHIP, the First-Ever Group Consisting of NFT Characters from Bored Ape Yacht Club.🐒 pic.twitter.com/zMSAq4HI2Z
— Universal Music Group (@UMG) November 11, 2021
In a statement, Yuga Labs stressed that the company’s primary focus is on developing the BAYC collection, which “will remain the centre of the ecosystem.”
According to CryptoSlam, NFTs from the CryptoPunks and BAYC collections are among the most in demand on the market. The aggregate sales volume of the former stands at $2.11 billion, the latter at $1.41 billion. Leading the sector is the P2E game Axie Infinity — its metric exceeds $4 billion.
As reported in February by the Financial Times, Yuga Labs to attract investment from Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation of $4 billion–$5 billion.
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