Bored Apes creator Yuga Labs acquires IP for CryptoPunks and Meebits

Yuga Labs, the creator of popular non-fungible token (NFT) project Bored Ape Yacht Club, has just acquired the rights to two of the most popular NFT collections on the market.

Yuga Labs announced Friday that it acquired the intellectual property rights of CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from Larva Labs.

"This means that we now own the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for both collections, along with 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits," said the announcement, which stated that "the first thing we’re doing is giving full commercial rights to the NFT holders."

This means CryptoPunks and Meebits holders will be granted the same rights as holders of Yuga Labs' existing collections. It's currently working with its legal team to draft new terms and conditions for the holders of CryptoPunks and Meebits.

"By handing over these rights, we’re further aligning CryptoPunks and Meebits with the web3 ethos, and we expect a wide-range of third party developers and community creators to incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into their web3 projects. We’ll be building the overall brand right alongside them."

But CryptoPunks and Meebits won't necessarily take on the "club" model that BAYC utilizes. Yuga said BAYC will continue to be the central project, while CryptoPunks is a "historic" collection. Indeed, CryptoPunks was one of the first major NFT collections to gain broader attention. Yuga Labs will, however, look to add utility to the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections.

Larva Labs founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson, also the creators of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections, will remain at Larva Labs. They called Yuga the "ideal stewards" for their early projects to continue on as "vital, thriving projects in the emerging decentralized web."

Bored Apes and CryptoPunks are the two highest-value collections by market capitalization and floor price, according to CoinGecko data.