A CryptoPunks-inspired digital avatar collection created by New York-based painter Nina Chanel Abney has been on display in recent days. The blue chip NFT collection touted the use of 3D to “reimagine the viewing experience for Abney’s art through the punk lens.”
When videos of the collection caused a stir online, Greg Solano, CEO of CryptoPunks intellectual property owner Yuga Labs, revisited the broader “Punk in Residence” initiative that created the Abney-CryptoPunks partnership.
“Yuga will no longer touch the punks,” Solano promised on X, formerly Twitter.
Yuga’s attempt to leverage CryptoPunks’ intellectual property beyond the PFP collection is in line with the Pudgy Penguins popularized playbook on expanding NFTs beyond initial avatars. If NFTs can prove ownership of intellectual property, the thinking goes: why not expand the use of that intellectual property to things like gaming and plush collectibles?
Read more: Pudgy Penguins are waddling their way into 2,000 Walmart locations
Yuga Labs is executing a version of this strategy elsewhere with the Otherside metaverse game it’s building.
Read more: Web3 Watch: Yuga Labs demonstrates ‘Otherside’ metaverse, users left with mixed feelings
But for CryptoPunks, the most sought-after NFT collection in terms of bottom price, releasing the shaky three-dimensional figures proved to be a bridge too far. Some labeled the collection as ‘woke’.
Perhaps punk owners don’t see much need to increase the collection’s popularity, as the collection’s heralded status still seems intact seven years after its launch.
Two so-called alien punks sold for more than $16 million in March, the second and third largest dollar sales in the collection’s history.
Read more: Web3 Watch: Someone bought another CryptoPunk for $16 million
Abney expressed dismay at some of the criticism of her collection.
“I am deeply disgusted by some of the racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic comments that the controversy surrounding this project has brought to light. [What’s] really at the underbelly of this space?” Abney wrote on X.
Abney’s exhibit featuring the CryptoPunks collection is on display in Kinderhook, NY until October 5.
The Dogecoin doge crosses the rainbow bridge
Kabosu, the Shiba Inu whose likeness inspired Dogecoin, died Friday morning, the dog’s owner said on Instagram.
“Kabosu crossed the rainbow bridge,” the owner wrote. “She passed away very peacefully without suffering, as if she fell asleep feeling the warmth of my hands stroking her.”
A 2010 photo of Kabosu with a surprised-looking expression would quickly become the “doge” meme that led to the launch of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency in 2013.
Since then, Dogecoin has become one of crypto’s paradigmatic memecoins and the ninth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Newer memecoins like Shiba Inu and BONK based themselves on the same breed of dog in a likely hat tip to Kabosu’s original photo.
One interesting statistic:
- NFT trading volume for the Blast-based social card game fantasy.top fell 56% this week, but still saw the second-highest volume among NFT collections, according to CryptoSlam.
Also important:
- A Blockworks Research thread outlined the state of Web3 gaming.
- The Polymarket prediction market for the ether ETF soared in the days leading up to its approval.
- The creator of a Pump.fun memecoin was hospitalized after burning himself during a livestream to promote his token, Decrypt reported.