Yuga Labs, the renowned company that has created some of the most famous NFT projects, has announced the suspension of the CryptoPunks project due to a wave of criticism from its community. 

This decision was made following the launch of the new collection – Super Punk World – which sparked a wave of controversy and negative reactions from some holders of the famous NFTs.

CryptoPunks NFT: Yuga Labs introduces the collection Super Punk World

On May 20, the official CryptoPunks launched the Super Punk World collection, consisting of 500 hybrid 3D sculptures.

These works, created by New York artist Nina Abney, aimed to pay homage to the primordial project of the CryptoPunks launched back in 2017.

The negative reaction of the community

Despite YugaLabs’ good intentions, the collection was immediately criticized by the crypto community, which immediately accused it of being too “politically correct”. 

A member of the community has indeed stated: 

“Going politically correct means going bankrupt. Yuga destroyed the Punks today” while another user threatened instead to sell their CryptoPunk.

Yuga Labs’ response to the new NFTs of CryptoPunks

In response to the criticisms, Greg Solano, CEO of Yuga Labs, promptly published a statement explaining that the team’s intention was to collaborate with world-class artists, such as Nina Abney, to connect the world of Web3 with traditional art.

Solano has also communicated that the Abney collection, given the strong negative feedback received after its launch, could be distributed via airdrop to SuperCoolWorld holders. An initiative designed to support those who already appreciate the artist’s work.

The story of Yuga Labs

We remind you that Yuga Labs, founded in 2021, has quickly become a reference point in the NFT landscape thanks to the success of their Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection.

This was made up of 10,000 unique images of monkeys, NFTs that have taken the crypto market by storm attracting celebrities and major investors. 

The success of BAYC has then allowed Yuga Labs to also acquire CryptoPunks and Meebits, consolidating its leadership in the Non Fungible Token sector.

The future of CryptoPunks

Solano has declared that Yuga Labs will no longer interfere with the CryptoPunks project, stating: 

“What about the punks? Yuga will no longer touch them. They will simply be decentralized and preserved on the blockchain.” 

Furthermore, Yuga Labs will commit to supporting museums and institutions in acquiring NFT CryptoPunk and educating the public about this collection.

The NFT market

Despite a drop in NFT trading volumes, the CryptoPunks collection saw a resurgence in March, when two transactions set new sales records.

On March 4th, a rare alien CryptoPunk was sold for 4,500 Ether (ETH), equivalent to about 16 million dollars at the time of sale. This record was immediately surpassed on March 20th, when another CryptoPunk was sold for 4,850 ETH, approximately 16.4 million dollars.

Conclusion

The decision of Yuga Labs to suspend the CryptoPunks project represents a critical moment in the management of NFTs by the company. 

However, let’s highlight how Yuga Labs has once again proven to be a company that never gives up on being extremely transparent and responsible in managing its NFT projects, also showing particular interest in the will and feedback of its community.

With the NFT market constantly evolving, it will be interesting to see how Yuga Labs and other industry leaders will adapt their strategies to meet the needs and expectations of its investors.

Yuga Labs enhances its presence in the metaverse and NFTs with the acquisition of PROOF, planning to transport Moonbirds to Otherside, expanding its digital universe. Below we see all the details. 

Yuga Labs’ new programs in the metaverse and NFTs 

As anticipated, Yuga Labs, the leading company in the web3 media and lifestyle sector, creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside, TwelveFold and owner of Meebits, CryptoPunks and 10KTF, has officially acquired PROOF.

Which includes PROOF Collective, Moonbirds, Oddities, Mythics and the Grails exhibition series.

The acquisition of all PROOF assets, including the team, intellectual property, and artistic portfolio, perfectly aligns with Yuga’s vision of becoming the leading platform in the web3 landscape.

Yuga will start the integration process by bringing Moonbirds inside Otherside, a place designed to bring together content creators, communities, and brands, thus creating a social fabric in the world of web3.

Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs, stated the following: 

“As a company deeply committed to promoting art, culture, and community on the blockchain, we are excited to welcome PROOF into the Yuga ecosystem. Moonbirds represents a collection with huge potential and many brand features in common with Otherside. We look forward to PROOF Collective becoming a key element in our ongoing artistic and community engagement efforts.”

The objectives: innovation and a broader audience

Kevin Rose, CEO and founder of PROOF, will spend a short period of transition before taking on the role of business consultant. 

In addition to the PROOF team that will join Yuga’s positions, Josh Ong, Jesse Bryan, and Amanda Gadbow will oversee the transition process of the Moonbirds collection and other key elements within the Yuga ecosystem.

Kevin Rose, CEO and founder of PROOF, stated: 

“We are excited to integrate Moonbirds into Otherside. It is the home and ideal future for our collectors. With the entry of the PROOF Collective on board, we demonstrate Yuga’s commitment to digital art, and our combined resources will allow us to innovate more quickly and reach a wider audience. It will be an exciting journey.”

Yuga Labs wins legal battle to defend NFT trademarks

Yuga Labs has recently achieved a significant legal victory against artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen. 

The federal court has issued a historic ruling condemning the two artists to pay nearly 9 million dollars in damages and sanctions for copyright infringement. 

Specifically representing a crucial recognition for the protection of intellectual property rights in the emerging space of digital resources.

The court’s decision rejected the counterclaims of the defendants, strongly supporting Yuga Labs, which holds exclusive rights to BAYC.

This verdict sets an important precedent, emphasizing that standard laws on intellectual property apply with the same force in the context of NFTs.

The controversy concerns the NFT collection “RR/BAYC” by Ripps and Cahen, launched in 2022, which imitated the valuable Bored Ape Yacht Club, violating the trademarks and intellectual property of Yuga Labs. 

The judgment ordered the two artists to pay 1.57 million dollars, but a subsequent statement imposed on them a total penalty of almost 9 million dollars, including the reimbursement of illegal profits, legal expenses, and irreparable damages to the BAYC brand.

The court has ordered Ripps and Cahen to permanently transfer to Yuga Labs websites, social media accounts, NFTs, and promotional material associated with their collection, emphasizing the seriousness of the copyright infringement in the digital world. 

This victory strengthens Yuga Labs’ position in defending the rights of its brands in the Web3 space, even though the BAYC collection faces economic challenges with the collapse of the minimum NFT price.

Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs, the popular company that owns the commercial rights to NFT CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club collections, announced today at X that the company’s restructuring is finally complete.

After a very tense period of downsizing and refocusing, Yuga Labs is now ready to focus on enhancing its brands and supporting the various communities that orbit around them.

First and foremost, the parent company of the industry’s top-rated NFTs is focusing on the development of the Otherside metaverse, which was announced about a year ago.

Otherside encompasses all the creations and products over which Yuga has control, including BAYC, MAYC, CryptoPunks, Meebits and other small collections of non-fungible tokens.

See all the details below

News from Yuga Labs: Home of NFT CryptoPunks completes corporate restructuring

Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs for the past six months, published a post on social media site X today giving an update on the company, which owns the commercial rights to the hugely popular NFT collections “Bored Ape Yacht Club” and “CryptoPunks”, as well as a number of other projects.

Following the announcement at the beginning of the year that Yuga was undergoing a corporate restructuring, which included staff cuts and reduced community activities, there is now a new positive impetus.

Alegre said that the restructuring is now complete and that the Crypto Signature team can now focus on improving its brands, collaborating with the outside world and expanding the Otherside metaverse.

This is a turning point for the company in the area of Web3 and NFTs, as evidenced by the words of its CEO, who described this milestone as follows:

“As difficult as it has been, the restructuring is complete and we now begin the task of sharpening our focus with our new team configurations”

I want to address some of the feedback the company and I have been receiving from many of you recently.
I respect the relevant, pointed feedback as I know it comes from a place of wanting to see improvements in our Yuga communities.

First, I will start with sharing some advice…

— Daniel Alegre (@dalegre) October 18, 2023

All of this will go through the filter of the community, whose role, according to the company’s CEO, will be crucial in providing ideas and feedback.

The signals from Yuga Labs’ stakeholders are many and varied, both encouraging and demoralising, as the ecosystem of CryptoPunks’ parent company is made up of different groups, each primarily concerned with the project in which they have invested.

Alegre revealed that he arrived at Yuga six months ago with a desire to hear as many voices as possible from the various communities in order to identify all the facets that the project might be hiding behind its facade.

During this time, the company’s current CEO travelled extensively to various cities in the US and abroad to attend as many BAYC, CryptoPunks, Meebits and 10KTF events as possible.

After carefully analysing the situation, Alegre identified a tense relationship with the NFT CryptoPunks supporters that had almost reached the point of collision with the Yuga board. In order to resolve this tension, it was necessary to reconcile the parties by working on strengthening the brand through events and physical activities. 

These are his words in his post on X:

“The relationship between Punks and Yuga when I came in was, I have to say, strained. We constantly felt that Yuga didn’t care – while at the same time there was a strong desire to be left alone.

As a result, we expanded our engagement with top museums to increase the already strong stature of CryptoPunks and broaden the appeal of the brand to art collectors. We have doubled… even tripled… community support” 

On the BAYC front, however, Yuga will continue to support offline events and try to be selective in its commitments, focusing mainly on the multi-year deal with Gucci and the recently announced BAPE collaboration.

The CEO concluded by saying that there are a few more collaborations in the pipeline that will be announced soon.

Yuga Labs and the push to expand the Otherside metaverse

As mentioned in Alegre’s post on X, Yuga Labs will not only be working to repair the relationship with the NFT Crypto Punks holding community, but will also be focusing on the development of the Otherside metaverse.

On 30 April 2022, this virtual world was publicly launched, accompanied by an airdrop of virtual lands called “Otherdeed” to all holders of Yuga-branded NFTs such as BAYCs, MAYCs, CryptoPunks, Meebits and many more.

Otherside was designed as a home for all these crypto specimens, where they could find an alternative utility to mere display in virtual museums and non-fungible token marketplaces.

The launch was initially a success, although a year later Yuga found it difficult to develop his creation in the face of a collapse in media attention to these forms of entertainment.

Having completed its internal reorganisation, the NFT Brand Incubator is now able to focus on the development and creation of new digital experiences that can improve the state of the metaverse.

The uniqueness of these new ventures being designed and the support of a strong and scalable blockchain technology will be the drivers of Yuga’s business success, reports Alegre.

Describing Yuga’s primary goal in relation to the expansion of Otherside, he said:

“Building an immersive metaverse platform is difficult, both technically and creatively. Recently, you’ll have noticed a steady stream of announcements – from partnerships with Hadean and Big Rhino to the acquisition of Roar Studios – all aimed at accelerating the development of Otherside to become the digital connection and experience platform for our family of Yuga communities and beyond”. 

To date, the scarcity of the speculative factor on NFT collections orbiting the metaverse has unfortunately not been conducive to Yuga Labs’ efforts to develop its decentralised ecosystem.

Analysing the floor prices of the two main collections on the market, we see that BAYCs have lost more than 80% of their value on the market since the highs of May 2022, when they were quoted at 128 ETH.

CryptoPunks, on the other hand, have lost around 60% of their value since the highs of October 2021, when each digital punk was worth a whopping 112 ETH.

The CEO of Dapper Labs said today that the company had to lay off 51 brilliant employees due to the bear-market in NFTs. 

We said goodbye to 51 brilliant colleagues and friends today @dapperlabs – this is the note I sent our team.

We remain fully dedicated to our core communities and committed to building amazing products that push the world forward together.

If you’re looking to hire some of the… pic.twitter.com/xwhjZAYLN8

— roham (@roham) July 13, 2023

Dapper Labs calls itself an “NFT company,” and it is the team behind famous projects such as CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL ALL DAY, LaLiga Golazos, and others. 

The bear-market of NFTs and the problems of Dapper Labs

Taking data from OpenSea, which is what has long been the world’s leading marketplace for NFTs, the bear-market began in June last year, and is still ongoing. 

After an all-time high of $4.8 billion in monthly trading volume in January 2022, the growth of this marketplace has stalled. It is enough to think that only a year earlier, in January 2021, monthly trading volumes had stopped just above $7 million. 

So what happened in 2021 was a real speculative bubble, in some ways very similar to that of the crypto markets, albeit with enormously lower volumes. 

Until May 2022, monthly trading volumes on OpenSea had remained above $2.5 billion, but with the implosion of the Terra/Luna ecosystem, and the collapse of the crypto markets, the bear-market of the NFT market began in June last year. 

Monthly volumes collapsed first to less than 700 million, and then fell again to 250 million in November. 

By 2023 they seemed to have recovered somewhat, as they exceeded 650 million in February, but then the slump continued. 

In June they plummeted to 160 million, and in the first twelve days of July they were even below 65 million. 

Such a slump could not help but affect the entire industry, including leading companies like Dapper Labs, which have been in business for years. 

Dapper Labs: the NFT gaming company

Probably the most famous collection of NFTs created by Dapper Labs are the CryptoKitties, which is one of the absolute most historic ones in this industry. 

Indeed, they were among the first ever NFTs to be launched, back in November 2017, when the OpenSea marketplace itself had not even been launched yet. 

The first complete monthly figures we have regarding trading volumes on OpenSea date back to August 2018, and at that time trades totaling only a little over $3,000 were recorded. 

Dapper Labs’ most successful NFTs, however, are probably the NBA Top Shots, which had a truly colossal boom in trading volumes in the first part of 2021. 

According to CryptoSlam data, they went from $99,000 in trades on 1 January 2021 to $6.7 million three weeks later. Then, after an initial downturn, they resumed their run, reaching a daily high of $45.7 million in late February. 

By April, average daily volumes had dropped to $1 million, and by the end of 2021 they even fell below half a million.

The real collapse occurred from the end of May 2022, when they fell sharply below half a million dollars in daily trading volume, and even plummeted below $30,000 on some days in early July 2023.

These figures clearly illustrate what a sales crisis the company is going through. 

Indeed, the one announced today is actually the third round of layoffs, following the massive ones of November 2022, when they were forced to cut the entire workforce by 22%, and February 2023, when the cut was 20%. 

This third round of layoffs seems much less extensive than the previous two. 

The future of the industry

As the bear-market in the NFT market seems unabated, the future for Dapper Labs seems uncertain. 

On a positive note, although they were forced to make a third staff cut, the latter was smaller in extent than the previous two. 

Thus it might seem that the bulk of the problem has already been solved in the past months, and that the current initiatives may well be merely an adjustment of the policy of reducing expenses.

Moreover, just as the speculative bubble in the NFT markets burst following the one in the crypto markets, perhaps the bottom of the bear-market might also be lagging behind the one in November. 

However, if the NFT market fails to recover soon, it is possible that the winter in this sector will last longer than expected. Should this be the case, for companies in this sector, the problems may only be just beginning. 

However, it should be noted that it is possible that if the crypto markets rebound strongly, the NFT markets may then rebound accordingly, especially if non-fungible tokens do indeed enter the gaming industry en masse.

The Q1 2023 Crypto Industry Report compiled by CoinGecko’s Labs was released today. 

The report states that, as everyone had already widely noted, during this new year the cryptocurrency market woke up from its hibernation at the end of 2022. 

It is enough to mention that on 1 January 2023 the total capitalization of the crypto market was only $831.8 billion, while as of 31 March it had already risen to $1,238 billion. 

Despite this, it has not been a smooth, linear path, but it still managed to undo all the losses from the FTX collapse last November. 

Indeed, the market has returned to the levels before the Ethereum Merge, with Bitcoin performing particularly well, gaining nearly 72% this quarter.

The rise of the crypto market investigated by the CoinGecko Labs report

The whole crypto market has benefited from this upward trend, with an overall increase of 48.9% that has lifted it back above the $1.2 trillion mark 

Average daily trading volume also increased by 30% on a quarterly basis, whereas it had contracted by 33% in the fourth quarter of 2022. 

From this point of view in particular, the recovery took place immediately, in January 2023, that is, as soon as the market started to rise. It then rose again at the beginning of March, and then faded somewhat at the end of the quarter. 

In such a scenario, it is not surprising that Bitcoin outperformed traditional asset classes, with a gain of 72.4%. For example, the Nasdaq stood at +15.7% over the same period, while gold posted an otherwise good +8.4%. 

To be fair, the quarter was closed on a positive note by almost all major asset classes except oil, which fell -6.1%. However, it is worth mentioning that oil was one of the only two assets that closed 2022 with a growth. 

In addition, the Dollar Index (DXY) remained essentially flat in the first quarter of 2023, while inflation data turned out to be cooler than expected.

It is worth noting that the spot trading volume of cryptocurrencies increased by 18.1%, with the percentage growth of DEX outpacing that of CEX: +33.4 %, versus +16.9 %. Overall, however, CEXs still capture about 90% of global trading volumes. 

However, despite the recovery, monthly volumes have not yet recovered to the levels they averaged in the first half of 2022.

Blur outperforms OpenSea: crypto report analysis by CoinGecko Labs

Another resounding development was the overtaking of Blur over OpenSea as the leading NFT marketplace.  

NFT trading volume overall increased significantly in the quarter (+68%) from $2.1 billion in the last quarter of 2022 to $4.5 billion. 

But most of this volume came from Blur, a new NFT platform launched only in October last year. In just six months, it has surpassed the industry leader, OpenSea, rising from a 52.8% market share in December 2022 to a 71.8% market share in March 2023. OpenSea’s market share dropped from 29.3% to 21.7%. 

Solana bucked the trend, because while most of the other chains experienced an increase in NFT trading volume in the first quarter of 2023, it declined on Solana. 

For example, the largest marketplace on Solana, Magic Eden, saw its trading volume decline from $73.9 million in December 2022 to only $23.6 million in March 2023, a decline of 67.9%. 

On the other hand, the impressive growth of Ethereum’s Layer 2, and in particular Polygon, makes it less necessary to turn to cheaper blockchains than Ethereum. 

The loss of stablecoins

Instead, it was stablecoins that lost market capitalization in the first quarter of 2023. 

In total, the loss was $6.2 billion, or 4.5%, concentrated mainly on USDC and BUSD.  

By contrast, USDT went in the opposite direction, with +$13.6 billion constituting an increase of 20.5%. USDC, on the other hand, lost 26.9% of its market capitalization, and BUSD as much as 54.5%.

In addition to USDT, another gainer was True USD (TUSD), which entered the top 5 stablecoins, surpassing FRAX. Its market capitalization in the quarter increased by 169.3%. 

DeFi also grows 

The decentralized finance market also made a nice rebound after the negative peaks in late 2022. 

The increase in the total market capitalization of DeFi tokens was $29.6 billion (+65.2%), supported in particular by liquid staking, which grew by as much as 210.9%. 

This has meant that liquid staking has now become the third most valuable asset in DeFi, surpassing even lending protocols. 

Despite this, DEX governance tokens continued to lose market share during the quarter, posting an overall loss of -5%.

During the 2023 edition of Metaverse Fashion Week, March 28-31, Gucci announced a new collaboration with NFT (Non-Fungible Token) giant Yuga Labs, creators of the famous NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club collections and currently owners of CryptoPunks and Meebits.

Every day, an increasing number of major companies are approaching Web3 ecosystems and the metaverse in general, and the fashion giants are no exception; in fact, it is fair to say that they are at the forefront and competing to grab a slice of a market in the making with immense potential.

Unlike cryptocurrencies, the so-called Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are not interchangeable, meaning they cannot be duplicated. This means that different digital assets (e.g., drawings, videos or GIFs) can be authenticated and become unique and indivisible assets resulting in a deed of ownership for the buyer. In addition, the owner will have access to a multitude of services and opportunities in addition to the object itself depending on the NFT purchased, as well as the ability to be able to sell and buy tokens for collection or mere profit.

Gucci’s journey into the NFT sector: this time there will be Yuga Labs

This is not the first time Gucci has ventured into cryptocurrencies. Last year, the Italian fashion house announced that it will accept ApeCoin (APE), a cryptocurrency affiliated with the world-famous NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, in some US stores, becoming the first major brand to accept APE payments.

In addition, Gucci has made other investments within the Web3 and metaverse ecosystems, including:

• In February 2022, it purchased an undisclosed amount of land in The Sandbox game as an experimental base to host virtual experiences. Within The Sandbox metaverse, it is possible to develop your own video game using the free Game Maker software, but also to design and conduct business. In fact, built on the Ethereum blockchain, inside The Sandbox it is possible to buy and customize virtual land using the token called $SAND.
• In March 2022, it signed an agreement with the popular NFT project called 10KTF (a digital fashion start-up also acquired by Yuga Labs), to launch its own unique and customized ‘Gucci Grail’ collection, designed by Alessandro Michele and made by digital artisan Wagmi-san.
• In June 2022, it purchased $25,000 worth of native NFT SuperRare market tokens to participate in the DAO and open a digital art vault.

A further step was taken this Monday inside Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 within the Decentraland metaverse, as reported by Robert Triefus, Senior Executive of Gucci Vault & Metaverse Ventures, the company was in fact excited to reveal the success of an agreement for a multi-year partnership with Yuga Labs, strengthening the engagement between the communities of both companies and promoting the convergence of the fashion and entertainment industries in the Otherside metaverse of Yuga Labs and its 10KTF collection, with the goal of exploring joint opportunities between fashion and Web3 entertainment.

“We are excited to unveil this multi-pronged partnership with Yuga Labs, a leader and creative pioneer in Web3, this will give us an active role in the ongoing narrative of Otherside and 10KTF, which will unfold in multiple forms.”

The potential of NFTs in the fashion industry

In 2023, the NFT market reached an estimated value of $22 billion, growing about 220 times in not even one year in 2021, with recorded sales of $25 billion.

Despite a total collapse of the market that began in September 2021, with sales dropping as much as 90%, thanks to projected investments in the Web3 world, the NFT market growth forecast is approaching $80 billion by 2025.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, the sharp decline in NFT sales that began in late 2021 has forced industry giants such as Yuga Labs to seek new partnerships to achieve ever-changing avenues of remuneration.

On the other hand, big corporate giants, starting from the so-called big-tech (such as Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Meta, Ebay, and Twitter), to fashion or entertainment giants (Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, etc.), are increasingly curious to approach and implement Web 3.0 solutions given the public interest, commercial advantages the potential and creative insights that this world can offer, while also having the means at their disposal to always explore new solutions.

Creators of non-fungible tokens and these large companies therefore have a common interest in converging toward new partnerships and interconnections, as both can gain tremendous potential gain.

As we noted earlier, the luxury fashion giant Gucci has always been at the forefront in this regard, given the advances and investments presented to the public in recent years there is no doubt that more exciting updates will be on the way.

Given the weight of the company and Yuga Labs’ expertise, there is no doubt that a proven partnership can produce potentially game-changing innovations for the entire luxury digital fashion market and beyond.

Consumer attention to brands such as Gucci and its prowess in creating the right hype, its know-how in marketing campaigns and new product creation, may shed a new light on the entire luxury digital fashion market, bringing excitement back to consumers and competing companies, enticing them to join the fight to conquer the metaverse.

Therefore, one needs to pay close attention to the next moves, so as not to fall behind and arrive prepared when ready to venture into the world of digital fashion and NFTs in general.

There couldn’t be a better time, given the sharp downturn in sales and the market in this recent period, it is good to use your time to expand your knowledge and stay abreast of the ever-rapid times in this industry so that you are prepared for a possible positive counter-trend and enter the market at the right time.

 

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Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Apes Yacht Club non-fungible token (NFT) collection, which is also the owner of CryptoPunks, is now under investigation by the US Security Exchange and Commission (SEC) for possibly violating federal law in terms of security.

This is obviously only an investigation, so it is possible that the Miami-based company will not be convicted afterwards.

The SEC is also reportedly investigating ApeCoin, the ERC20 token launched by Yuga Labs and related to the ecosystem of the Bored Apes collection itself. According to the authority, this may also be a security and therefore follow different rules than those adhered to by Yuga Labs regarding utility-type tokens.

“It’s well-known that policymakers and regulators have sought to learn more about the novel world of web3. We hope to partner with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem. As a leader in the space, Yuga is committed to fully cooperating with any inquiries along the way,”

the team said.

Is Bored Apes a security?

The problem is that if the NFT collection were truly labeled as security assets, it would open up an unprecedented case on many other collections of non-fungible tokens, at that point also considered to be securities and therefore equally actionable by the SEC or other regulators in several countries.

As mentioned, the Miami-based company also owns other NFT collections such as CryptoPunks but also Meebits. The question that therefore arises is whether all of the company’s collections of non-fungible tokens would also be in “jeopardy” and subject to investigation, plus the fact that many drops were based on BAYC so many others could also fall under SEC scrutiny.

Why is the SEC investigating?

According to rumors that spread in late July, a group of investors opened a class action lawsuit against Yuga Labs for selling securities that did not have the guaranteed returns. This news has been making the rounds and may be behind the SEC’s initiation of the case.

The lawsuit alleges that investors were misled by the company, which allegedly promised returns that were later not met. The lawsuit is still in the preliminary stage and lawyers are reportedly still gathering endorsements from investors.

After EOS and Ripple now also ApeCoin

Years back it was the turn of EOS to be condemned by the SEC for being identified as a security. Block.one, the company that had released the token, had to pay a hefty fine of $24 million for raising funds through an ICO because of this.

After EOS, it is now Ripple’s case that is still open as to whether or not XRP can be likened to a security.

Ripple now says it expects an answer from the SEC by 2023, at least according to CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

The latest news on BAYC

The popular Ethereum-based NFT ape collection had already faced problems related to its fame, so to speak.

In late September, a YouTube channel linked to the hacker group Anonymous posted a video in which Yuga Labs is accused of using Nazi symbols in images of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The video showed dozens of images that appear to be traceable to Nazi iconography, even though these images are not immediately recognizable as pertaining to that iconography.

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According to rumors, the famous company that created Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT collection, Yuga Labs, may face a lawsuit from a group of investors for selling securities that failed to have guaranteed returns.

The allegations against Yuga Labs

“Yuga Labs investors were inappropriately induced to buy financial products created by Yuga Labs (YUGA LABS), namely the Ape Coin and the Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”). The YUGA LABS leadership used celebrity promoters and endorsements to inflate the price of the company’s NFTs and token, by generally promoted the growth prospects and change for huge returns on investment to unsuspecting investors”.

This is the text of the lawsuit in the form of a class action that the famous Los Angeles law firm, Scott & Scott, is reportedly filing against the makers of the famous NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club collectibles.

The lawsuit will argue before a court that investors were misled by the company that promised returns that were then not met at all. The lawsuit would still be in the preliminary stage and the law firm is reportedly gathering endorsements from investors.

The key issue underlying the chances of success of this class action against Yuga, once filed, will be whether or not the court will determine that NFTs can be considered securities, similar to stocks. If a court finds that BAYC NFTs are securities, Yuga Labs would have failed to fulfill the necessary disclosure and registration obligations arising from the securities offering.

This has been the subject of several lawsuits filed by the SEC against companies in the industry over the past two years. The latest is the long-running case with Ripple in December 2020, which only now seems to be resolving favorably for the crypto company.

ApeCoin is the main reason for the class action lawsuit

According to the indictment, Yuga Labs used sponsors and famous faces to convince investors to buy the monkey collections and the ApeCoin coin, which allegedly lost as much as 87% of its value in just a few months.

However, it is difficult for a court to consider Yuga Labs’ NFTs as securities, whereas it is easier for the lawsuit to succeed if it refers only to the ApeCoin token. 

In late June, Yuga Labs sued an artist creator of a Bored collection, Ryder Ripps, for confusing investors. The lawsuit filed by Yuga, accuses Ripps and other artists of minting and selling identical copies of Bored Apes and using misleading labels and tracking information to make them appear legitimate.

Our security team has been tracking a persistent threat group that targets the NFT community. We believe that they may soon be launching a coordinated attack targeting multiple communities via compromised social media accounts. Please be vigilant and stay safe.

— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) July 18, 2022

 

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Yuga Labs has officially revoked the code to create infinite NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. The removal of this code came only a year after the intention was declared. 

Yuga Labs and the revocation of the code that creates infinite BAYC NFTs

EmperorTomatoKetchup, one of the co-founders of Yuga Labs, stated on Twitter that he had revoked the code that allowed the infinite creation of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, adding the link to the transaction. 

tx in question: https://t.co/fmLjnFapvb

— EmperorTomatoKetchup (@TomatoBAYC) June 7, 2022

“The contract owner has now been burned. While we’d been meaning to do this for a long time, we hadn’t out of an abundance of caution. Felt comfortable doing it now. All done. In lay terms: The issue flagged in this article is now impossible”.

Essentially, for the past year, some code existed that, if executed, could create an unlimited supply of Bored Ape NFT. This resulted in potential hacking vulnerabilities that could have seen new BAYC NFTs flooding the market.

Yuga Labs and the removal of the code one year after its discovery

Exactly one year ago, in June 2021, this code, which would have allowed Yuga Labs to mint as many Bored Ape as it wanted, had already been spotted by Dan Kelley on Twitter. 

The official Bored Ape account at the time, had replied that it would revoke this code in a day or two, but instead an entire year had passed.

Hey thanks, we were just talking about this. Obviously, we’re never going to call that function again and we’re planning on revoking ownership in the next day or two.

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) June 2, 2021

“It seems that the hard cap is not actually 10k since the owner can “reserve”/mint as many as they like. @BoredApeYC, any plans to remove the contract owner (or set to an non-existant wallet)?”

“Hey thanks, we were just talking about this. Obviously, we’re never going to call that function again and we’re planning on revoking ownership in the next day or two”.

A relief for BAYC NFT holders

The revocation of this code could be a relief for all owners of BAYC NFTs after the project has been the target of hacking attacks this year. 

And indeed, just a few days ago, Bored Ape Yacht Club had claimed that its Discord servers were the subject of a “brief” exploit, as 200 ETH ($357,000) worth of NFTs were eventually stolen from users.

Our Discord servers were briefly exploited today. The team caught and addressed it quickly. About 200 ETH worth of NFTs appear to have been impacted. We are still investigating, but if you were impacted, email us at [email protected]

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) June 4, 2022

“Our Discord servers were briefly exploited today. The team caught and addressed it quickly. About 200 ETH worth of NFTs appear to have been impacted. We are still investigating, but if you were impacted, email us at [email protected]”.

Something already happened last April, when hackers allegedly breached BAYC’s Instagram and Discord accounts, running a fraudulent link in chats and managing to compromise some wallets to steal NFTs. 

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Today’s NFT News can’t fail to include the biggest Non-Fungible Token mint in history: the $320 million sale of Otherside (Otherdeed) virtual land by Yuga Labs. The consequence of this mania is that Etherscan crashed and Ethereum gas skyrocketed. 

Not only that, Minecraft developers launched a petition against in-game NFTs that got only 72 signatures in a week, while the Big3 basketball team, the Killer 3s, were sold to Degods DAO, built on Solana Blockchain. 

Biggest mint in history goes to Yuga Labs

On Saturday, the sale of the Otherside metaverse’s virtual land, Otherdeed NFT, was launched by the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs, becoming the largest mint in history. 

They collected $320 million through the sale of 55,000 Otherside NFT lands. Specifically, each NFT was minted at 305 APE each, so the cost per Otherdeed was approximately $5,800 as ApeCoin was worth $19. 

At the time of writing, according to CryptoSlam’s data, the sale of Otherside’s Ortherdeed NFTs has reached $453 million in the secondary market, with over $411 million of that coming from OpenSea. 

In conjunction with Yuga Labs’ big numbers, there was also the crash of Etherescan and the surge of Ethereum gas, which hit thousands of dollars per transaction. 

In a roundup of tweets, Yuga Labs also said:

“This has been the largest NFT mint in history by several multiples, and yet the gas used during the mint shows that demand far exceeded anyone’s wildest expectations. The scale of this mint was so large that Etherscan crashed. We’re sorry for turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while. It seems abundantly clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale. 

We’d like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction. We are aware that some users had failed transactions due to the incredible demand being forced through Ethereum’s bottleneck. For those of you affected, we appreciate your willingness to build alongside us – know that we’ve got your back and will be refunding your gas“.

Minecraft’s petition against Non-Fungible Tokens in gaming

Minecraft developers have opened a petition against NFTs in gaming, getting only 72 signatures in a week. 

The initiative is by Climate Replay, a group that includes a number of developers from Minecraft producer Mojang Studios, which has asked developers and players around the world to sign its NFT petition. 

It is an educational guide informing and educating developers to call themselves out of popular play-to-earn games, or any that involve NFTs, whether for ecological, venal or mental health issues. After one week, the petition has seen only 72 signatures.

In this regard, the petition reads:

“By ignoring key risk factors and glaring issues, adopters of NFTs and other forms of digital ownership that embrace these problematic aspects erode efforts to create an equitable and sustainable existence for all. NFTs in gaming do not bring any meaningful value to the players”.

Big3 basketball team sold to a DAO for 25 NFTs

DAO Degods, a project built on Solana, has revealed that it has acquired the Big3 basketball team called Killer 3s. 

The DeDAO has acquired a professional basketball team. pic.twitter.com/TgcwKy9tLU

— DeGods (33.3%) (@DeGodsNFT) April 28, 2022

Basically, Big3 is a basketball league created by hip-hop mogul and actor Ice Cube and the league’s games are based on a 3-on-3 basketball tournament who decided to sell the rights to the team to a DAO, leveraging Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT).

According to reports, the Big3 league decided to sell 25 Fire-tier NFTs for $25,000 per unit, namely the team’s licensing rights and intellectual property rights to league-approved merchandise. 

In essence, Degods DAO acquired the Killer 3s team for approximately $625,000 by purchasing all 25 NFTs linked to the Killer 3s.

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Yuga Labs, the well-known company that founded the world’s most famous NFT collection, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which last summer sold 21 pieces of its collection at auction for $24.4 million, has recently purchased two of the most valuable NFT pieces in existence. These are CryptoPunks and Meebits.

NFTs acquired by Yuga Labs

“[Yuga Labs is] the ideal stewards of the CryptoPunks and Meebits. In their hands, we are confident that they will continue to be vital, thriving projects in the emerging decentralized web”,

Matt Hall and John Watkinson, co-founders of Larva Labs, CryptoPunks and Meebits said in a statement.

The two collections of Bored Apes and CryptoPunks have now become icons for the growing NFT community, with a trading volume of over $1 billion and $2.2 billion respectively.

In 2021, the NFT world experienced a real boom, reaching around $17 billion in sales. According to a recent report, NFT sales would have increased by 21,000% by 2020.

Cryptocurrency wallets reportedly transacted in the non-fungible token market amounted to around 2.5 million.

Yuga Labs also announced that it would leave the commercial rights of the two NFTs to Larva Labs. CryptoPunks was one of the first ever projects and one piece in the collection fetches a valuation of almost 70 ETH, or about $185,000.

While Meebits, the second piece purchased, recorded a trading volume of about $227 million, on OpenSea, with the floor price trading at 4.7 ETH, or about $12,000.

Artist Dillon Francis gets paid in NFTs

Electronic music artist Dillon Francis has accepted a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT as part of a record partnership deal with upcoming DJ duo ESCAPΞPLAN, whose musical identities are represented by their Bored Apes.

The traded NFT represents the monkey with the “DMT” fur, which was sold for 109 ETH (approximately $283,000 at current prices) to Randy Greenstein of Big Night Entertainment, only to be transferred to Dillon Francis a month ago.

The artist commenting on the news said:

“I had to have a monkey to be in ESCAPΞPLAN’s music videos”.

Francis‘ interest in Web3 and the world of cryptography is certainly not limited to his newly received NFT. The artist said he has been involved in the world of NFTs for about a year with over 100 pieces already in his possession. He also said in a recent interview that he first learned about the crypto world in 2017:

“In 2017, when a friend of mine told me to buy Ethereum and Bitcoin, I already thought I was too late. It’s never too late”.

 

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Renowned mixed martial arts organization UFC and Dapper Labs, creators of NBA Top Shot and NFL ALL DA, announced the launch of ‘UFC Strike’: the new NFT experience and collection on Flow Blockchain for all MMA fans. 

UFC and Dapper Labs launch ‘UFC Strike’ NFT collection

UFC and Dapper Labs have announced UFC Strike: the all-new Non-Fungible Token collectible experience, available to fans starting Sunday, January 23. Here’s the announcement on the official UFC Strike channel. 

WE ARE LIVE
Jump in and grab your @UFCStrikeNFT Packs Now!
https://t.co/GbicCmIMkA pic.twitter.com/WtS1pI498A

— UFC Strike (@UFCStrikeNFT) January 23, 2022

“We’re live! Jump in and get your @UFCStrikeNFT Packs now!”

The launch includes a distribution of 200,000 total UFC Strike packs, including an initial 100,000 “Fully Loaded” packs, which consist of three NFT Moments capturing incredible finishes and incredible striking and grappling performances from UFC fighters. 

Among the many, names like Francis Ngannou, Amanda Nunes, Kamaru Usman, Rose Namajunas, Derrick Lewis, and Justin Gaethje pop up. 

With robust audio and video content, each UFC Strike Moment NFT is designed to capture, memorize and celebrate a specific moment in UFC history.

UFC in partnership with Dapper Labs and the launch of the second NFT

Apparently, UFC and Dapper Labs’ partnership is also ready to launch the second series of NFT. 

On that note, Tracey Bleczinski, Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Products at UFC, said: 

“Dapper Labs is an innovator in this field, creating an industry that didn’t exist a few years ago. Their vision for the potential of these products is the reason UFC chose Dapper Labs as its first NFT partner. We’re thrilled to finally be able to offer these amazing digital collectibles to enrich the UFC experience for our fans.”

To access the initial open drop, fans simply need to visit ufcstrike.com, where they can join the queue for a chance to purchase a pack (while supplies last) for $50.00.

 

Not only that, the second launch of UFC Strike’s “Fully Loaded” series of NFT packs priced at $50.00 will be available to fans beginning Monday, January 31, 2022. 

Flow Blockchain (FLOW) 

Dapper Labs is the Flow Blockchain (FLOW) creator, which is slowly taking over all sports. 

Not only that, last September, Dapper Labs had also partnered with Google to support Flow Blockchain and help it scale through Google Cloud. 

The search engine giant has called Dapper Labs as the leader to power the next-generation WEB 3.0, supercharged by blockchain. 

FLOW, its native token, is among the top 60 tokens by total market capitalization, with a market cap of nearly $1.5 billion. Over the past month, FLOW, like all cryptocurrencies, has followed the bearish trend, falling from a price of $9 to the current $4.69. 

 

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