After buying a number of the NFT world’s greatest names, Yuga Labs is now offloading CryptoPunks, Moonbirds, and different manufacturers because the market faces ongoing challenges.
Yuga Labs has not too long ago began slimming down, handing over IP rights to a number of NFT collections — together with CryptoPunks and Moonbirds — in what might sign a shift for the once-dominant NFT big. The CryptoPunks IP now belongs to the Infinite Node Basis, a non-profit centered on digital artwork preservation.
In the meantime, Moonbirds — one other blue-chip assortment — has landed within the palms of a comparatively unknown gaming firm referred to as Orange Cap Video games.
Whereas Natalie Stone, basic supervisor of CryptoPunks, stated the phrases of the deal gained’t be disclosed, stories recommend the Infinite Node Basis might have paid round $20 million. That’s seemingly lower than what Yuga paid in 2022, and a far cry from the hype-driven costs seen on the peak of the NFT increase.
Nonetheless, Yuga isn’t strolling away solely because the agency nonetheless retains its rights below the usual IP license, Stone advised The Verge.
Nicki Schiller, chief of employees at Yuga Labs, emphasised in a commentary for crypto.information that “with Punks, we stay the biggest holder and selected Node for his or her skill to steward the legacy — we’ll keep concerned through the advisory council.”
“Moonbirds deserve a group totally devoted to their world, and Orange Cap Video games is the proper match to take them ahead. With Punks, we stay the biggest holder and selected Node for his or her skill to steward the legacy – we’ll keep concerned through the advisory council. These strikes mirror a transparent focus: Yuga goes all-in on Apes, Otherside, and what’s subsequent.”
Nicki Schiller
Cultural motion
Even so, the sale marks an enormous shift. When Yuga Labs acquired CryptoPunks from Larva Labs in 2022, the NFT market was nonetheless glowing. Costs had been sky-high and one CryptoPunk famously bought for over $23 million in Ethereum (ETH), and that type of factor doesn’t actually occur anymore.
Whereas the precise motive behind the acquisition stays unclear, Node Basis chair Micky Malka famous that CryptoPunks “sparked a cultural motion,” including that the agency is establishing a everlasting exhibit house in Palo Alto and planning to point out the complete 10,000-piece assortment on the Toledo Museum of Artwork to make it simpler for “students, curators, and collectors to have interaction with it.”
So what occurred? CryptoPunks had been created by Matt Corridor and John Watkinson of Larva Labs in 2017. Simply 24×24 pixels, the ten,000 characters shortly grew to become extra than simply JPEGs. They had been standing symbols, collector bait, and a few say, the start of the NFT motion. Lengthy earlier than the Bored Apes took over Twitter profile pics, the Punks had been already being auctioned by Christie’s, an artwork and luxurious public sale home.
Yuga got here in throughout peak hype, buying a number of NFT collections. However now, it’s offloading those self same belongings — and never simply CryptoPunks. Earlier in Could, Yuga additionally bought the Moonbirds IP to Orange Cap Video games, a low-profile outfit within the NFT gaming house. The deal contains not simply Moonbirds, but additionally associated spinoffs Mythics and Oddities.
https://t.co/dWNVvZKTuZ
— Orange Cap Video games (@Ocapgames) Could 30, 2025
Orange Cap Video games described the acquisition in an X put up as an opportunity to deliver “beloved IPs to life via fastidiously crafted experiences that introduce them to new followers and deepen the reference to current communities.” The corporate emphasised its pleasure about taking up the Moonbirds franchise, stating that Moonbirds “have merely been nesting in the course of the bear market, crammed with untapped risk, and below our stewardship, it’s now time to take flight.”
Orange Cap Video games has a monitor document in NFT gaming, having launched Vibes TCG, a collectible card sport centered across the Pudgy Penguins IP, which “celebrates tradition, neighborhood, and pleasure.” The studio prides itself on consideration to element, saying that “those that know us via Vibes know that we obsess over excellence, whether or not in sport design, bodily product improvement, or artistic execution.”
“In reality, we’re the one TCG studio we all know of that developed its personal customized paper inventory for our upcoming bodily launch. Particulars matter. That is the perspective that we deliver to the whole lot we do.”
Orange Cap Video games
Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano appeared optimistic. “Moonbirds deserve a group whose entire world is the birds,” he stated, praising Orange Cap Video games’ execution thus far.
Concerning the blockchain surroundings, Orange Cap Video games identified that that future on-chain elements of Moonbirds created by them can be on both mainnet or, if on a layer-2, will completely use ApeChain, a community which was additionally backed by Yuga Labs.
As soon as-hyped time
Nonetheless, it’s onerous to disregard the backdrop: NFTs aren’t what they was once. Market exercise has dropped off a cliff. In accordance with information from DappRadar, buying and selling volumes for high NFT collections are down 95% from their peaks. As soon as-hyped initiatives have both vanished or turned to licensing offers, artwork displays, or bodily merch, all within the identify of staying alive.
Artwork NFTs yearly buying and selling quantity and gross sales depend | Supply: DappRadar
Schiller pushed again on the concept that declining market situations prompted the selloff, emphasizing that the offers “weren’t pushed by market volatility” however as an alternative mirrored “strategic readability, not short-term situations.”
Yuga Labs appears to be doubling down on what it sees as core, with Solano saying in an X put up that the agency is “laser-focused on Apes, Otherside, and one thing particular we’ve been cooking up.”
The corporate’s Otherside metaverse — a gamified, immersive world tied to Bored Apes — stays a key focus. And possibly that’s the actual story. Whike Yuga isn’t essentially giving up, it definitely retreating from the concept that one firm can personal the NFT canon.
When Yuga acquired CryptoPunks’ IP, “it wasn’t nearly possession — it was about honoring a cultural icon we believed in,” stated Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow, including that giving the model away was “a full-circle second.”
In the meantime, the Infinite Node Basis appears to be pulling collectively a reasonably severe group to steward the gathering. Founders from each Larva Labs and Artwork Blocks are on its advisory board, and a dwell Ethereum node will run at its new facility to emphasise decentralization.
Trying forward, Schiller confirmed that the “persistent Otherside expertise begins this summer time, marking a significant new section within the challenge,” and teased upcoming developments round ApeFest and the long-awaited real-life Clubhouse. “We’ll be sharing extra on all of this quickly,” she added.
Whereas some within the NFT neighborhood view this as an enormous win, others see it otherwise, likening the sale of a high-profile assortment to a small gaming startup because the web3 model of a storage sale. However possibly that’s merely the brand new actuality, the NFT market isn’t useless. It’s simply quieter, extra mature, and, presumably, a bit wiser.
Learn extra: U.S. SEC ends probe into Bored Apes NFTs creator Yuga Labs
