- The CryptoPunks v1 collection had accumulated 12,069 ETH ($34.1 million) in overall amount traded on OpenSea at the time of publication, whereas the CryptoPunks v2 collection had accumulated 819,900 ETH ($2.22 billion) on the same platform
- The first 10,000 CryptoPunks V1 collection sold out, there are now a total of 20,000 CryptoPunks on the market, with the legitimacy of 10,000 of them being challenged
- CryptoPunks were supposed to be fixed at 10,000, adding another 10,000 to the collection by recognizing their authenticity dilutes the brand and may cause the collection’s value to plummet
Delegitimize CryptoPunks v1 and risk retaliation from v1 owners, or legalize v1 and risk dilution of the brand, lowering the value of v2. Matt Hall, the core developer at Larva Labs, the company behind a famous CryptoPunks v2 and, initially, CryptoPunks v1 non-fungible tokens (NFT) collections, an announcement was made on Wednesday that he would be taking appropriate steps in the coming days regarding the alleged copyright infringement of the CryptoPunks V1 collection’s both the art and the CryptoPunks name. Normally, this would entail sending a takedown request to the platform hosting the auctioned content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.
The Cryptopunks V1 Collection Had Accumulated 12,069 ETH ($34.1 Million)
Larva Labs released its CryptoPunks v1 NFT collection in 2017, with a limited edition of 10,000 pieces. Users quickly uncovered an underlying issue inside the project’s smart contract, allowing Punks buyers to withdraw their Ether (ETH) after the sale, resulting in theft. Larva Labs swiftly debunked the collection and released CryptoPunks v2, which had a fixed quantity of 10,000 photos as well. However, because the first 10,000 CryptoPunks V1 collection sold out, there are now a total of 20,000 CryptoPunks on the market, with the legitimacy of 10,000 of them being challenged.
Furthermore, as Twitter user @0xStroudonian purportedly pointed out, Larva Labs cannot simply abandon the v1 project, as both the v1 and v2 smart contracts are interconnected and a reference to the same file
The problem went unnoticed because OpenSea had already prohibited its sale of CryptoPunks v1, even though users had wrapped them in ERC-721 tokens to mask the underlying exploit. The recent listing of the wrapped collection on LooksRare, however, led OpenSea to lift the embargo. The CryptoPunks v1 collection had accumulated 12,069 ETH ($34.1 million) in overall amount traded on OpenSea at the time of publication, whereas the CryptoPunks v2 collection had accumulated 819,900 ETH ($2.22 billion) on the same platform.
The V1 And V2 Cryptopunk Collections Continue To Split Blockchain Aficionados
The legitimacy concerns of both the v1 and v2 CryptoPunk collections continue to split blockchain aficionados. Rufus Xavier#9449, for example, wrote on Discord: They should get their act together, Larva Labs. The DMCA is not the way to go. Are they redoing that to your collection now that they have sold it? they are ruining the aesthetic of the entire place. Stop
I just don’t know if I can sell someone V2 knowing that there is another token that may or may not is related to it.
In copyright law, the presence of counterfeits and diluted items can have a substantial impact on consumers’ trust in the original brand, thus lowering its value. Because their supply of CryptoPunks was supposed to be fixed at 10,000, adding another 10,000 to the collection by recognizing their authenticity dilutes the brand and may cause the collection’s value to plummet. However, no legal precedent exists to determine if the spin-off, resurfacing, and re-commercialization of an NFT art collection as a result of a smart-contract issue constitutes copyright infringement.