Breaking News: Yuga Labs Hands Over CryptoPunks IP to Infinite Node Foundation!

Hang onto your hats, folks! Yuga Labs, the masterminds behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, just dropped a bombshell. They've sold the intellectual property rights of the legendary CryptoPunks NFT collection to the Infinite Node Foundation. Can you believe it?

This game-changing move was announced by the foundation on Tuesday, shaking up the world of one of the most iconic NFT collections out there. CryptoPunks, those 10,000 pixel-art characters that sparked the digital art revolution back in 2017 by Larva Labs, are now entering a new era. These punks aren't just art; they're a piece of blockchain history!

The Infinite Node Foundation, a nonprofit all about preserving and showcasing digital art, is stepping up big time. They're not just sitting on this treasure; they're planning to blast the legacy of CryptoPunks into the stratosphere with preservation efforts, academic deep dives, and mind-blowing physical exhibitions.

Museum-partnership program

Get ready for this: they're launching a museum-partnership program that'll knock your socks off. They're kicking things off with a curated show featuring all 10,000 Punks at their brand new permanent exhibition space in Palo Alto, California. And guess what? There'll be a live Ethereum (ETH) node right there, showing off the on-chain magic of these works!

“With this acquisition, we’re building an architecture that allows CryptoPunks to be understood and studied as part of both art history and internet culture,” said NODE chair Micky Malka, dropping some serious knowledge bombs.

NODE’s advisory board is stacked with heavy hitters like Matt Hall and John Watkinson (the brains behind CryptoPunks), Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow, and Art Blocks founder Erick Calderon. Talk about a dream team!

This foundation is making history as the first nonprofit to fully acquire the IP of a major internet-native artwork. That's right, they're the trailblazers here.

Remember, Yuga Labs scooped up CryptoPunks from Larva Labs in 2022, but they were always clear about their mission: long-term preservation, not turning a quick buck.

“We always knew Punks needed a permanent home built for preservation,” said Aronow, nailing it.

And get this: despite raking in over $377 million in secondary sales in 2024 alone, CryptoPunks have stayed largely under the radar of the traditional art world. But that's about to change, big time.