10,000 CryptoPunks were sold during its initial release. They made it to secondary market before users discovered a critical smart-contract exploit that allowed Punks’ buyers ( ETH) to withdraw their Ether. Creator Larva Labs pulled recognition of the v1 collection and fixed the exploit to release the v2 Punks collection that we now have. They also sold dozens of their V1 Punks to send mixed messages about the collection.
The battle for the copyright to CryptoPunks v1 images is heating up. Larva Labs has sent a DMCA notice OpenSea, and members of the v1 community have responded with their own. Larva Labs deliberately coded the smart contract to make it irrevocable. This means that one collection (v1) cannot be destroyed without also removing the other (v2). Both communities remain deeply divided on the topic.
Cointelegraph spoke with Brittany Kaiser, cofounder of Own Your Data, using the assistance of CryptoPunks V1’s community admin @irishnftgal. Brittany purchased a v1 CryptoPunk via OpenSea in late January 2022. She believes it is a “true piece NFT history” created by Larva Labs.
“I was thrilled to hear that a group crypto activists and brilliant programmers, some of whom call themselves ‘NFT archaeologists’, decided to create an ERC-721 wrapper in order to make the original CryptoPunks token contract tradeable on modern NFT markets.”
Brittany said she was shocked and dismayed to learn that Larva Labs had sold about 40 wrapped CryptoPunks 1 on Opensea for just 210 ETH. The creators of the CryptoPunks 1 collection allegedly turned around. They took deliberate steps to undermine the authenticity of the CryptoPunks 1 collection’s traceability and traceability. Brittany says that the founders have publicly stated for years that these tokens were part of the original.
Brittany believes that the best outcome for Larva Labs is to “take ownership and responsibility for these blockchain assets” they put on the marketplace. She says, “Revoking DCMA would be an excellent start, and a public apologied would be even better.”
Many members of the V2 community have been unable to hear the efforts of the v1 community. User lookinrare#0911 posted the following:
“It’s possible to call them gambles, but at the end we knew that v1 [Punks] weren’t legitimate punks. They were just artifacts that helped create Punks. They have a place in history but I doubt that it is worth 1KETH, lol.
Another user, OG!#8654 wrote:
“I believe Larva Labs should aggressively pursue litigation. Since then, V1s have been in pain. Their floor price has fallen to 9 ETH and they are not being talked about anymore. I think the misinformation issue is taking a wrong turn. They changed their name from Wrapped V1 CryptoPunks to CryptoPunks v1. This is a clear attempt to mislead the public.
The authenticity of the collection is not just about NFTs’ philosophy. They also have significant financial implications. One, attempts to delegitimize v1 collections have in the past caused their floor prices and led to catastrophic losses for v1 owners. On the other hand, legitimizing CryptoPunks’ v1 collection would increase their total supply from 10,000 to 20,000. This would reduce their scarcity and possibly cause the price for v2 Punks decrease, although to the delight of v1 Punk owners who may see their NFTs rise due to their newfound recognition.
@v1punks mentioned in @muratpak collection https://t.co/9sXapFsNVw pic.twitter.com/wcg6zR1xmK
— Niamh || irishnftgal (@irishnftgal)
February 8, 2022
