Yuga Labs’ Purchase of CryptoPunks, Meebits Shoot Up BAYC NFT Prices

The floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs have soared by over 25 percent in the last 24 hours. The development came immediately after BAYC parent, Yuga Labs, acquired two other popular NFT collections — CryptoPunks and Meebits that were originally created by Larva Labs. The intellectual property rights of 423 CryptoPunks NFTs as well as 1,711 pieces of Meebits NFTs are now held by Yuga Labs. NFTs or non-fungible tokens are blockchain-supported digital collectibles, inspired by literally anything — books, movies, artwork, and game characters among other items.

Pieces from the BAYC NFT collection, which features variations of cartoonised apes, are currently standing at a floor price of Ether 95.88 or $248,801 (roughly Rs. 2 crore) as per CoinGecko.

In an official statement, Yuga Labs credited Meebits and CryptoPunks project founders for influenced the creation of the BAYC pieces.

“Their work moved NFTs, the Ethereum blockchain, and the entire crypto space forward, and influenced how we built BAYC. We’re honored to shepherd the CryptoPunks and Meebits brands into the future as part of the broader ecosystem we’re building,” Yuga Labs said.

The parties involved in the deal have not revealed the amount of capital that sealed the purchase.

“This deal came about in a very organic way from conversations between our partner Guy Oseary and the Larva Labs founders. One call led to another and here we are at this historic moment,” Yuga Labs said.

Matt Hall and John Watkinson, the co-founders of Larva Labs will not be joining Yuga Labs in any way in the backdrop of this deal.

Both, Meebits and CryptoPunks are among the top selling NFT collections on OpenSea and LooksRare marketplaces.

The Meebits are unique 3D voxel characters, created by a custom generative algorithm. The floor price of these pieces stand at ETH 4.7 or $12,112 (roughly Rs. 10 lakh), as per NFTPriceFloor. The project was launched in 2021.

On the other hand, the CryptoPunks are 10,000 uniquely generated characters and no two are exactly alike. The project was launched in June 2017. Its floor price at the time of writing is ETH 69.95 or $180,226 (roughly Rs. 1.35 crore).

As per reports, the volume of NFT sales crossed $25 billion (roughly Rs. 1,84,700 crore) in 2021.

With NFT-owning becoming a trend among crypto holders and celebrities, platforms like the New York Stock Exchange have applied to operate as an NFT marketplace in the future.

Last month, the world’s first NFT vending machine was established in New York City that allows non-crypto holders to purchase digital collectibles via their debit and credit cards.

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