Hyperlink Sunday Edition Nº2
Hyperlink Sunday Edition Nº2
Sunday, March 13th, 2022
Top Stories
Here are the biggest stories from the last week.
Yuga Labs acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs
In a blockbuster deal, Yuga Labs has acquired the IP rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits from developer Larva Labs.
Early speculation around the deal pointed to a complete acquisition of Larva Labs, but the final deal only covered the IP rights of its two major collections. Yuga Labs will also acquire most of the developer owned Punks and Meebits. Notably, Larva Labs will keep the rights to Autoglyphs.
Collections become media companies
“As avatar projects became more popular throughout 2021, they grew into a category of their own and the creators of such projects started looking more like media companies rather than digital artists.”
It’s been said that in the modern era of social media, everyone is a media company. Gary Vee said that most recently, bringing forward the ideas of Marshall McLuhan.
NFT collections are no exception. The conversations are just starting to take shape around what a decentralized media might look like in the coming years. Innovative teams like Yuga with an understanding of their underlying business, the willingness to create sustainable revenue streams, and the foresight to give commercial rights to their holders—have the best chance of coming out on top.
Larva Labs’ Chess Move
This is speculation on my part, but if I were analyzing this move from a corporate strategy perspective, this seems to be a well-timed chess move on the part of Larva Labs (LL).
They know Yuga is ascendant. Bored Apes flipped CryptoPunks as highest-floor-priced collection back in December ‘21. There were some calls for Larva Labs to do more for CryptoPunks in terms of ecosystem, future utility, airdrops, etc. As LL’s accouncement post notes, the continual development needed to grow an NFT collection is not their strong suit. Yuga is already building on top of Bored Apes, and growing the ecosystem steadily.
From LL’s perspective, they know they have a small window to get a deal done at an ideal price. Who else would LL sell to? Yuga is the only real option. They are well-capitalized, they already have blue-chip IP, and the team to build for the next era of NFTs.
With the deal done, LL is flush with cash, and can focus on their next $100M project unburdened by continual development on Punks or Meebits.
Go deeper:
Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits [Larva Labs blog]
Thread from 6529:
Yuga Labs Buys CryptoPunks and Meebits [CoinDesk]
TradFi Offers ETH Exposure to Clients
Goldman Sachs offers ETH exposure to clients via Galaxy Digital’s Institutional Ethereum Fund.
This move is part of a broader movement by institutions to offer crypto exposure to their clients, with investment managers like Galaxy paying introduction fees to secure those client funds.
Many TradFi leaders have signaled an interest in digital assets, but many have also remained skeptical.
Former Goldman Sachs Senior Chairman, Lloyd Blankfein:
Go deeper:
Data to Watch
The data and metics to keep an eye on.
NFT Trading Volume
The decline in NFT trading volume continues, although I would keep an eye on this chart over the coming weeks. Renewed interest in the NFT space on the tailwind of the Yuga-LL deal may be delayed. I’m watching for a possible reversal by early April.
Uniswap Volume
Volume on Uniswap remains steady.