Use 8 questions to understand why YugaLabs acquired CryptoPunks

On the morning of March 12, a heavyweight news instantly detonated the entire NFT circle.

Around 7:00, Yuga Labs (BAYC development company) and Larva Labs (CryptoPunks development company) jointly issued a statement saying that Yuga Labs had acquired the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. Affected by this news, CryptoPunks and Meebits rose in the secondary market at the same time. As of 10:10 Beijing time, the floor price of CryptoPunks was temporarily reported at 76.2 ETH, and the floor price of Meebits was temporarily reported at 6.93 ETH.

Regarding some details of the acquisition, the respective announcement statements of Yuga Labs and Larva Labs gave a very detailed explanation. details as follows:

Q1: What is the acquisition content?

A: As mentioned above, Yuga Labs will obtain the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs, including brand, art copyright and other IP rights. Most NFTs, with the transaction completed, Larva Labs now holds 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits.

Q2: How much is the acquisition amount? Where did the money come from?

A: Neither Yuga Labs nor Larva Labs disclosed the specific acquisition amount, but based on the floor price calculation, the total value of NFT transferred through this acquisition alone has reached tens of thousands of ETH, plus the most important IP acquisition fee, It can be speculated that the total amount of this acquisition is likely to be in the unit of "100 million US dollars".

It's hard not to be reminiscent of some of the rumors that have been circulating in the last month. As early as January, people familiar with the matter revealed that Yuga Labs was seeking financing at a valuation of US$5 billion, and in early February, another person familiar with the matter revealed that Yuga Labs was negotiating with a16z on financing.

Q3: Why did Larva Labs sell CryptoPunks and Meebits?

A: Larva Labs said that the reason why they chose to sell the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits is that with the rapid development of NFT (especially PFP), the team gradually realized that their tonality and expertise were in the early stages of a certain technology Create new things instead of doing day-to-day management of a certain project.

While Larva Labs was working on these community management issues, the team met Yuga Labs, where they found skills and expertise that they lacked. At first, Larva Labs and Yuga Labs tried to solve the problem through cooperation, but eventually Larva Labs realized that letting Yuga Labs take over the operation was the best way.

Q4: How will Larva Labs develop in the future?

A: To be clear, Yuga Labs only acquired the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits, not Larva Labs. In the future, Larva Labs will continue to develop independently. The team currently also owns the Autoglyphs project, and team members also hold some of their favorite CryptoPunks and Meebits NFTs.

Q5: How will the acquisition affect CryptoPunks and Meebits holders?

A: Yuga Labs has stated that it will soon grant CryptoPunks and Meebits holders the same commercial rights as BAYC and MAYC holders. In this regard, Yuga Labs is working with the legal team to draft new laws for these two collections of NFT series terms to transfer these rights to social as soon as possible.

Prior to this, Larva Labs' behavior of holding on to the commercial rights of CryptoPunks (and Meebits) has been criticized by the community. According to the general perception of the industry, a move by Larva Labs does not conform to the spirit of Web3. In the eyes of many people This is also the key reason why the floor price of CryptoPunks continues to fall.

Q6: How will CryptoPunks and Meebits develop in the future?

A: The vision of Yuga Labs is to hope that more third-party developers and community creators will incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into their Web3 projects. During this journey, Yuga Labs will work with them to build the brands of CryptoPunks and Meebits.

In more detail, Yuga Labs said that it does not intend to force these two NFT series into the club model it developed for BAYC, but will build new applications around CryptoPunks and Meebits. However, these events are not urgent at this time, so Yuga Labs will listen to the community before deciding on the next steps.

Q7: How does the acquisition affect BAYC?

A: BAYC holders can rest assured that Yuga Labs has clearly mentioned that it will still regard BAYC as its construction center.

Q8: BAYC + MAYC + BAKC + CryptoPunks + Meebits, how should Yuga Labs be positioned?

A: As Yuga Labs has acquired many of the most well-known projects in the NFT field, it has become the most noteworthy "new" force in the entire NFT field. At the end of this announcement, Yuga Labs also clearly mentioned its own positioning-"Hope to build a brand that is beyond NFT and is completely owned by the community."

Finally, I recommend that you take a look at"Understand why CryptoPunks lost to BAYC from the V1 Punks controversy". If the story of BAYC flip CryptoPunks is regarded as the road to consensus expansion in the spirit of Web3.0, then this acquisition should be regarded as a phased victory in this journey.

From the perspective of the event itself, as the largest acquisition in the history of NFT (it seems to be the first), this acquisition is bound to have a profound impact on the future development of the entire NFT industry. On a smaller scale, the different endings brought about by the completely different operating methods of the two teams will inevitably become a reference for all other project teams; at a larger scale, the problem of adaptability between professional capabilities and market stages mentioned by Larva Labs is also the first It once made people realize that the (PFP) NFT industry can also be divided into upstream and downstream. Is it possible to separate the issuance and operation of PFP NFT in the future? How to choose follow-up projects, in order to catch up with and surpass BAYC like BAYC "slaying the dragon" CryptoPunks, is worthy of everyone in the industry to open their minds and imagine freely.