Bored Ape Yacht Club

Nifty News: Yuga Labs scores court battle win, Mandala Metaverse to drop on Polkadot and more…

A metaverse/AR story game is coming to Polkadot, Square Enix has made another Web3 gaming play, and an NFT esports cricket game has launched on Tezos.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator Yuga Labs has scored a key victory in its long-running court battle with Ryder Ripps, the co-creator of copycat nonfungible token (NFT) project RR/BAYC.

Yuga Labs initially filed a complaint against Ryder Ripps and his co-founder, Jeremy Cahen, back in July 2022, alleging that the duo had engaged in trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition, among other things.

In a pre-trial summary judgment ruling on April 21, the United States District Court for the Central District of California found that Ripps and Cahen had infringed Yuga Lab’s trademarks with their RR/BAYC NFT collection.

The court further ruled that Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages, the latter of which will be determined at trial.

In a message shared with Cointelegraph, a Yuga Labs spokesperson said:

“In a landmark legal victory for Web3, a federal judge found that Ryder Ripps and Jermey Cahen infringed Yuga Lab’s intellectual property. This isn’t just a win for us, it’s a win for the entire Web3 industry to hold scammers and counterfeiters accountable.”

Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen created RR/BAYC back in May 2022 as a satire and protest against Yuga Labs. The project essentially uses all of the same imagery as the original BAYC NFTs.

Copycat NFTs. Source: RR/BAYC

Ripps, in particular, is a leading proponent of the conspiracy theory that Yuga Labs purposely designed the BAYC artwork to convey racist caricatures. Additionally, Ripps also asserts that the project’s logo and branding have several nods to certain Nazi symbols and language.

Mandala Metaverse to drop on Polkadot

Upcoming cross-chain augmented reality (AR) game Mandala Metaverse has chosen Polkadot parachain Astar Network to host its first major NFT drop on April 28.

Mandala Metaverse is a story-based project with content spanning TV, graphic novels, gaming and AR. Its gaming elements have been developed in Epic Games’ AAA quality Unreal Engine.

The drop is called “Cryptonauts,” and the NFTs depict various avatars that will serve as playable characters in the game. The artwork was illustrated by comic artist Bruce Zick, who has worked with giants such as Disney and Marvel.

The Polkadot blockchain is not necessarily known for hosting gaming and NFT projects, with the network not even having any recorded sales data on aggregators such as CryptoSlam.

Regarding the decision to take the Cryptonauts NFTs to Polkadot, Mandala Metaverse CEO Jon Shanker noted:

“Polkadot has real future-proof NFT applications, such as nesting, staking and the ability to send NFTs over bridges – plus many other innovative ways to use NFT assets. We can now do things we didn’t think were possible.”

Square Enix partners with Elixir Games

Final Fantasy developer Square Enix has partnered with Web3 infrastructure firm Elixir Games to bring blockchain gaming to the mainstream.

The move was announced on April 19, though specific details on the partnership are still sparse.

Elixir hosts both traditional and Web3 games on its platform and also offers Web3 distribution features for its partnered games, such as NFT sales and marketplaces.

As such, Square Enix will likely take advantage of those features when launching games via Elixir, something the firm has become increasingly interested in doing over the past year or so.

Related: NFT.NYC: Games and tokenization are driving NFT industry maturation

“This partnership brings us closer to Web3 gaming mass adoption. Our team is incredibly excited to bring our technology to work, and we foresee Elixir users playing Web2 and Web3 games alike without distinction,” said Carlos Roldan, Elixir Games’ CEO, as part of the announcement. Roldan added:

“2023 has already seen more industry leaders enter the space with impactful projects, and we anticipate to see more as the year progresses. We’ve put all efforts to ensure we are ready for scalability.”

NFT cricket game on Tezos

A free-to-play multiplayer NFT cricket strategy game called Cricket Stars has been launched on the Tezos blockchain.

The game is being led by Tezos India — an organization that focuses on developing projects on Tezos — in partnership with esports game publisher GoLive Games. Despite the name, however, no licensing deals with actual cricket stars appear to be in place.

Cricket Stars. Source: GoLive Games

Cricket Stars follows a similar model to other sports NFT games, like Sorare, by offering player cards that can be used to have an effect on the game or traded on the marketplace. The game also offers player vs. player modes, knockout tournaments and esports tournaments.

“We understand the power of blockchain technology and its role in the gaming ecosystem. Our partnership with Tezos India is an astounding statement of blockchain technology becoming an integral part of the gaming industry,“ noted GoLive Games founder Ravi Kiran as part of the announcement. 

Snoop Dogg revealed as co-founder of Web3-powered livestream platform

Snoop Dogg has had a considerable presence in the Web3 creator movement since NFTs first gained popularity in 2021.

American rapper and actor Snoop Dogg has been revealed as one of the co-founders of a Web3-powered live streaming app called “Shiller” — adding to yet another Web3 partnership for the well-known hip-hop artist. 

The app is described as a “live broadcast platform” that aims to combine Web3 technology with real-time live-streaming content. The rap star has been named as a co-founder of the app along with technology entrepreneur Sam Jones.

It follows a wave of Web3 partnerships by Snoop Dogg in the last year.

In April last year, Snoop Dogg partnered with Sandbox metaverse to launch an NFT collection called “Snoop Avatars” and released a hip-hop single titled “A Hard Working Man,” which was later accompanied by a 50,000-piece NFT drop.

The rap star also partnered with Yuga Labs — the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks — to perform on a metaverse-transformed stage at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Aug. 29.

Snoop Dogg also recently partnered with crypto casino Roobet, where he will serve as the firm’s “Chief Ganjaroo Officer,” according to a March 1 statement from Roobet.

As for Shiller, blockchain will feature heavily in the platform, allowing content creators to “token-gate” their streams and promote nonfungible tokens or other products from e-commerce websites.

These content creators can be paid out in cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) or NFTs, which can be cashed out as fiat.

A preview of the Shiller application. Source: Shiller

It was slated for a January release but has been delayed until April, according to Shiller’s latest update on March 2.

Creator economy movement

The launch of Shiller appears to be part of a broader creator economy movement where Web3 will likely play a role.

While “Web1” enabled users to write HTML and read content, “Web2” enabled user-to-user interactions — which was brought to the masses by a few social media monopolies, such as Facebook, Google and YouTube.

The “Web3” movement aims to eliminate these intermediaries by providing creators with complete ownership over their content and the monetization that flows from it.

Related: Music NFTs are helping independent creators monetize and build a fanbase

Decentralized messaging platforms are beginning to emerge too, with one named “Damus” attempting to become a “Twitter killer.”

Backed by Jack Dorsey, Damus went live on the Apple App Store on Feb. 1. It is built on a decentralized network that enables encrypted end-to-end private messaging, called “Nostr.”

The platform comes with built-in Bitcoin (BTC) payments on the Lightning network.

Nifty News: Yuga Labs jumps on Ordinals hype, Dookey Dash key sells for 1,000 ETH and more

Google Trends data shows interest in NFTs has waned, even as trading volumes are surging, while Korean multinational giant Lotte has partnered with Polygon.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs have announced a new nonfungible token (NFT) collection on Bitcoin dubbed “TwelveFold.”

The move was announced via Twitter on Feb. 28, with Yuga Labs unveiling 300 tokenized computer-generated artworks as part of the TwelveFold collection that will go up for auction later this week.

In an accompanying blog post, Yuga Labs explained the concept behind the collection is based on mathematics, time and the Bitcoin blockchain.

“TwelveFold is a base 12 art system localized around a 12×12 grid, a visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain,” the post reads, adding that:

“Satoshis are the smallest individually identifiable units of a Bitcoin. An inscribed satoshi can be located by tracking when that satoshi was minted in time via the Ordinal Theory protocol.”

“Inspired by this, our collection explores the relationship between time, mathematics, and variability,” it explained.

TwelveFold NFT: Yuga Labs

Yuga Labs cited the recent buzz around Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, as why it chose to drop a collection on the network.

“Stepping into the Ordinals Discord a month ago felt like getting a glimpse of the 2017-era Ethereum NFT ecosystem. It’s the type of energy and excitement we love at Yuga,” the firm stated.

Search down, trading up

According to Google Trend data, search interest for NFTs has fallen to levels not seen since early 2021 — before the NFT boom — suggesting interest could be waning for NFTs.

NFT trading volume data from February however, suggests otherwise.

Google Trends uses a metric of 0–100 to display interest in various keywords that people look up in its search engine. Between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25, the keyword “NFTs” scored a mere seven out of 100.

Such levels haven’t been seen since early-to-mid January 2021, while it has been a steep decline since the all-time high of 100 between Jan. 23 and Jan. 29, 2022.

“NFTs” search interest: Google Trends

NFT trading volume in February paints a different picture, however.

According to data from CryptoSlam, there has been $997.14 million worth of global NFT sales for the month, following the $1 billion posted in January.

These levels bring the NFT market back to June 2022 and its $982 million worth of sales before dipping to a low of $460 million in October 2022.

More recently, sales volume has been on a significant incline, with the launch of the trader-friendly marketplace Blur being a key contributor behind this.

Twitch streamer sells Dookey Dash key for 1,000 ETH

The man who won the Golden Key NFT for posting the highest score on the BAYC-affiliated Dookey Dash game has sold the token for 1,000 Ether (ETH), or roughly $1.63 million.

Twitch streamer Kyle Jackson, also known by his pseudonym Mongraal online, initially received the key on Feb. 16 after notching a hefty 928,522 points during the Dookey Dash competition hosted by Yuga Labs.

Wasting no time, Mongraal announced on Feb. 27 that he had agreed to sell the key to Adam Weitsman, BAYC NFT hodler and CEO of scrap metal shredding company Upstate Shredding.

The Golden Key is bound to unlock something special from Yuga Labs; however, the specific details have not yet been revealed.

Polygon pens another major partnership

Polygon Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Ethereum layer 2 scaling network Polygon, has partnered with South Korean multinational conglomerate Lotte Group to host the firm’s NFT projects.

According to a Feb. 27 announcement from Lotte’s marketing and NFT hub, Daehong Communications, the partnership will see Lotte’s avatar-based NFT project BellyGom ported over to Polygon from the Klaytn network.

The project will be rebranded as BellyGom season two, and the NFTs offer hodlers benefits relating to Lotte’s product and service lines, such as shopping discount coupons and hotel vouchers. New additional benefits have been teased moving forward, but details were sparse in the announcement.

Lotte has nearly 100 business units across areas such as fast food, candy manufacturing, electronics and hotels. As of September 2022, the firm is estimated to have around $15 billion in assets on its balance sheet.

Looking more broadly, the firm has outlined intentions to develop its Web3 initiatives in partnership with Polygon as Lotte looks to expand its NFTs to a global audience and develop “a new NFT business model rather than simply issuing NFTs.”

Related: Blur runs after OpenSea market share, but its success depends on upcoming governance proposals

The move adds to Polygon’s growing list of partnerships with major brands such as Startbucks, Adidas, Adobe and Prada.

Other Nifty News

According to a survey from metaverse platform, Metajuice, almost three out of four of the NFT collectors on its platform purchase NFTs for status, uniqueness and aesthetics.On the other hand, 13% percent of the survey participants said that they are buying NFTs to resell them in the future.

A group of well-known Japanese tech companies agreed on Feb. 27 to forward the creation of the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone. Along with creating the zone, the agreement focuses on building an open metaverse infrastructure called “Ryugukoku,” which will spark the next wave of metaverse development.

Nifty News: Yuga Labs jumps on Ordinals hype, Dookey Dash key sells for 1,000 ETH and more…

Google Trends data shows interest in NFTs has waned, even as trading volumes are surging, while Korean multinational giant Lotte has partnered with Polygon.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs has announced a new NFT collection on Bitcoin dubbed “TwelveFold.”

The move was announced via Twitter on Feb. 28, with Yuga Labs unveiling 300 tokenized computer generated artworks as part of the TwelveFold collection that will go up for auction later this week.

In an accompanying blog post, Yuga Labs explained the concept behind the collection is based on mathematics, time and the Bitcoin blockchain.

“TwelveFold is a base 12 art system localized around a 12×12 grid, a visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain,” the post reads, adding that:

“Satoshis are the smallest individually identifiable units of a Bitcoin. An inscribed satoshi can be located by tracking when that satoshi was minted in time via the Ordinal Theory protocol.”

“Inspired by this, our collection explores the relationship between time, mathematics, and variability,” it explained.

TwelveFold NFT: Yuga Labs

Yuga Labs cited the recent buzz around Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, as the reason why it chose to drop a collection on the network.

“Stepping into the Ordinals Discord a month ago felt like getting a glimpse of the 2017-era Ethereum NFT ecosystem. It’s the type of energy and excitement we love at Yuga,” the firm stated.

Search down, trading up

According to Google Trend data, search interest for NFTs has fallen to levels not seen since early 2021 — before the NFT boom — suggesting interest could be waning for nonfungible tokens.

NFT trading volume data from February however, suggests otherwise.

Google Trends uses a metric of 0-100 to display interest in various keywords that people look up in its search engine. Between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25, the keyword “NFTs” scored a mere seven out of 100.

Such levels haven’t been seen since early-to-mid January 2021, while it has been a steep decline since the all-time high of 100 between Jan. 23 and Jan. 29, 2022.

“NFTs” search interest: Google Trends

NFT trading volume in February paints a different picture however.

According to data from CryptoSlam, there has been $997.14 million worth of global NFT sales for the month, following on from the $1 billion posted in January.

These levels bring the NFT market back to that of June 2022 and its $982 million worth of sales, before dipping to a low of $460 million in October 2022. 

More recently, sales volume has been on a significant incline, with the launch of the trader-friendly marketplace Blur being a key contributor behind this.

Twitch streamer sells Dookey Dash key for 1,000 ETH

The man who won the Golden Key NFT for posting the highest score on the BAYC-affiliated Dookey Dash game has sold the token for 1,000 Ether (ETH), or roughly $1.63 million.

Twitch streamer Kyle Jackson, also known by his pseudonym Mongraal online, initially received the key on Feb. 16 after notching a hefty 928,522 points during the Dookey Dash competition hosted by Yuga Labs.

Wasting no time, Mongraal announced on Feb. 27, that he had agreed to sell the key to Adam Weitsman, BAYC NFT hodler and CEO of scrap metal shredding company Upstate Shredding.

The Golden Key is bound to unlock something special from Yuga Labs, however, the specific details have not yet been revealed.

Polygon pens another major partnership

Polygon Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Ethereum-layer 2 scaling network Polygon, has partnered with South Korean multinational conglomerate Lotte Group to host the firm’s NFT projects.

According to a Feb. 27 announcement from Lotte’s marketing and NFT hub, Daehong Communications, the partnership will see Lotte’s avatar-based NFT project BellyGom ported over to Polygon from the Klatyn network.

The project will be rebranded as BellyGom season 2, and the NFTs offer hodlers benefits relating to Lotte’s product and service lines such as shopping discount coupons and hotel vouchers. New additionally benefits have been teased moving forward, but details were sparse in the announcement.

Lotte has nearly 100 different business units across areas such as fast food, candy manufacturing, electronics and hotels. As of September 2022, the firm is estimated to have around $15 billion worth of assets on its balance sheet.

Looking more broadly, the firm has outlined intentions to develop its Web3 initiatives in partnership with Polygon, as Lotte looks to expand its NFTs to a global audience and develop “a new NFT business model rather than simply issuing NFTs.”

Related: Blur runs after OpenSea market share, but its success depends on upcoming governance proposals

The move adds to Polygon’s growing list of partnerships with major brands such as Startbucks, Adidas, Adobe and Prada.

Other Nifty News

According to a survey from metaverse platform, Metajuice, almost three out of four of the NFT collectors on its platform purchase NFTs for status, uniqueness and aesthetics.On the other hand, 13% percent of the survey participants said that they are buying NFTs to resell them in the future.

A group of well-known Japanese tech companies agreed on Feb. 27 to forward the creation of the “Japan Metaverse Economic Zone. Along with creating the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone, the agreement focuses on building an open metaverse infrastructure called “Ryugukoku,” which will spark the next wave of metaverse development.

BAYC copycat files opposition to 10 Yuga Labs trademark applications

A Yuga Labs spokesperson has played down the significance of the opposition notice and suggested that the RR/BAYC co-founder is just trying to cause trouble.

One of the founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) copycat NFT collection RR/BAYC has filed an opposition notice against 10 trademark applications from Yuga Labs.

The move marks another strange twist in the ongoing intellectual property dispute between BAYC creators Yuga Labs and RR/BAYC founders Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen.

Cahen filed the opposition notice to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on Feb. 9. The opposition status on all of the trademark filings currently read “pending” at the time of writing.

Yuga Labs’ trademark applications were mostly submitted in the latter half of 2021. They covered a bunch of BAYC logos, artwork and branding for potential use across digital products such as nonfungible token (NFT)-based art, trading cards and metaverse wearables.

The filings also list the potential for physical BAYC products, including clothing, jewelry, watches and keychains, along with entertainment services such as gaming, television and music.

Opposition example. Source: USPTO

Speaking with Bloomberg Law on Feb. 11, a Yuga Labs spokesperson played down the chances of Cahen’s opposition being successful and suggested that the move was just another attempt to cause trouble for the firm.

“The Trademark Office has preliminarily approved Yuga Labs’ trademark applications for registration, and we look forward to their full approval in due course,” they said, adding that:

“Jeremy Cahen’s filing is just another attempt to distract from the real issue at hand, his infringement of the Yuga intellectual property.”

In the notice, Cahen puts forward a lengthy list of “grounds for opposition” against Yuga Labs’ filings. In particular, Cahen claims that the company “abandoned any rights” to certain logo and artwork designs due to BAYC NFT sales granting “all rights” of the digital images to the owners.

He also claims that Yuga Labs is not the rightful owner of specific skull designs due to the firm supposedly handing over the rights to the ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) back in March 2022.

Additionally, Cahen argues that Yuga Labs failed to provide a “bona fide intent to lawfully use” the trademarks in its filings, as the NFTs should be registered and classified as securities under federal law.

Related: Nifty News: Find love in Paris Hilton’s metaverse, BTC CryptoPunks soar and more

BAYC creators Yuga Labs sued digital artists Ryder Ripps and Cahen back in June 2022 for using BAYC imagery in the RR/BAYC collection. The firm also alleged that the duo was intentionally “trolling Yuga Labs and scamming consumers” into purchasing their copycat NFTs.

The move from Cahen also comes just three days after Yuga Labs settled a separate lawsuit against RR/BAYC website and smart contract developer Thomas Lehman.

As part of the settlement, Lehman essentially agreed to a permanent injunction barring him from partaking in any “confusingly similar” BAYC-related projects. In a statement, Lehman also distanced himself from Ryder Ripp and Cahen.

FBI seizes $100K in NFTs from scammer following ZachXBT investigation

The seized property included a Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles NFT, 85.6 Ether and a flashy Audemars Piguet watch which ultimately helped ZachXBT identify the alleged scammer.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized 86.5 Ether (ETH) an two nonfungible tokens (NFTs) worth more than $100,000 from a reported phishing scammer.

The alleged scammer in question, Chase Senecal — known as Horror (HZ) online — was initially exposed via a lengthy investigation by independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT posted back in September 2022.

The FBI’s official notification on Feb. 3 outlined that Seneca’s property — including an Audemars Piguet royal oak watch worth $41,000 — was “seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law.”

The FBI’s notification did not detail much other information on the ordeal apart from noting that all of the property was seized on Oct. 24, 2022. The seized NFTs included Bored Ape Yacht Club#9658 and Doodle #3114, valued at $95,495 and $9,361 respectively, at the time of seizure.

The 86.5 ETH was valued at $116,433 at the time of seizure but is now worth $144,000.

It is unclear what the full scope of legal proceedings that have taken place against Senecal are at this stage. However, according to the FBI’s law enforcement bulletin, federal forfeiture is a law enforcement tool that enables the government to “remove—without compensation for the individual—ownership of property involved in a crime.”

“It may occur in a civil procedure, like a lawsuit against the item, or after the conviction of an individual in a criminal trial,” the FBI states.

While the FBI has not come out with an official tip of the hat to ZachXBT, the on-chain sleuth noted via Twitter on Feb. 3 that the property seizure did “come as a result” of his investigation.

“I look forward to hopefully seeing more phishing scammers suffer a similar fate in the future for harming so many people in this space,” ZachXBT wrote.

With the seizure of a Bored Ape NFT, people in the community have joked that the FBI will change its profile picture to Ape #9658.

Photoshopped FBI profile pic: @CryptoWithNick on Twitter

Notably, the flashy watch was one of the key identifiers that helped ZachXBT unmask Senecal’s identity and on-chain activity during the investigation.

Related: Logan Paul and CryptoZoo hit with lawsuit as investors take action

In a medium post from Sept. 2, 2022, ZachXBT explained that after seeing HZ brag about the new watch on social media, he asked “around a few mutual friends who sell watches” and eventually managed to get in contact with the person who sold that specific AP watch to Senecal.

Unfortunately for Senecal, the payment was said to have been made on the blockchain via the use of USD Coin (USDC).

“The address HZ used to pay the watch seller $47.5k was DIRECTLY funded by multiple addresses used to scam people with hacked Twitter accounts such as @deekaymotion, @Zeneca_33, @ezu_xyz, [and] @JRNYclub,” ZachXBT wrote.

This is not the first time ZachXBT’s research has played a key role in helping government authorities. In October 2022, France’s national cyber unit cited ZachXBT’s work in helping it catch and charge a group of alleged fraudsters suspected of stealing $2.5 million worth of NFTs via phishing scams.

Opinion: Should Bored Ape buyers be legally entitled to refunds?

It isn’t clear whether a 25-year-old European Union law means you should be allowed to get refunds on your NFTs.

Should people who purchase nonfungible tokens (NFT) be entitled to refunds if they decide they don’t like their digital pictures? Some Europeans are beginning to make that case under a 25-year-old law.

Unhappy buyers have claimed that their right to a refund is protected by a 1997 European Union law that requires any person or business engaged in “distance selling” — that is, buying and selling a product that is not done in person — to allow customers a 14-day grace period to return the product for a refund. But since digital goods are different, the law makes provision for the 14-day period to be waived if customers are made aware in advance.

While the interpretation of the law is going to inevitably play out in the courts, there are several important caveats to take into account, particularly given that the law was written before the ubiquity of digital goods and services. Simply put, the law was written before the emergence of the internet, let alone digital assets like NFTs, so it is much less applicable today.

Just as an example that it is not applicable to the current state of the NFT market, consider that “this Directive shall not apply to contracts” that are “concluded with telecommunications operators through the use of public payphones.” What differentiates contracts that are concluded through the use of public telephones versus through the blockchain? Nothing substantive other than the delivery mechanism, underscoring that the intent of the law was to prevent consumers from getting ripped off by sellers who were shipping physical goods that turned out to be different from what the consumer originally desired before seeing it in person.

Fundamentally, applying the directive to NFTs would pose grave consequences for patent and trademark law. Crucially, each NFT is, by definition, inherently unique, and any NFTs that get refunded and discarded inevitably imply the destruction of intangible capital. By contrast with the 1997 EU directive, shipped products are largely homogeneous, so a buyer who seeks a refund and returns it does not damage the product and prevent the seller from reselling it.

Furthermore, allowing for refunds would eliminate the very purpose of rarity in profile picture projects — potentially eliminating their value altogether. Consider the example of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The highest-value BAYC purchase was for $3.4 million spent on #8817 — which was minted for roughly $1,000 in April 2021. Its rarity is partially a product of its “gold fur,” a trait held by less than 1% of BAYC NFTs on the market.

Of course, if buyers can simply request a refund in the event that they do not like the NFTs they randomly receive during the minting process, it’s safe to say that such “1% NFTs” will become much more common, as buyers will simply keep seeking refunds until they obtain the NFTs they want. If you follow the logical consequences of that thinking, there will no longer be rare NFTs in any corner of the market.

The reality is that the law around digital assets has not kept up with the technology, so there is naturally a temptation to rely on outdated, irrelevant regulatory guidance, for better or worse. But if we keep pressing on and companies innovate and serve consumers in good faith, we can converge to a new equilibrium that generates value on all sides of the equation.

Christos Makridis is the chief operating officer and co-founder of Living Opera, a Web3 multimedia startup anchored in classical music, and a research affiliate at Columbia Business School and Stanford University. He also holds doctorate degrees in economics and management science and engineering from Stanford University.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Yuga Labs co-founder to take leave of absence due to health reasons

Aronow said he would still contribute as a board member and strategic adviser. However, his priority will be getting the best medical treatment he can to recover fully.

Nonfungible token (NFT) entrepreneur Wylie Aronow of Yuga Labs — the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks — will be taking a leave of absence from the office to prioritize his health following a congestive heart failure diagnosis.

In a Jan. 28 tweet to his 144,900 followers, Aronow said the tough decision to step away came on the back of the heart failure diagnosis after experiencing a myriad of symptoms over the last few months.

The NFT entrepreneur explained that while his “mild” symptoms still enable him to live a “mostly normal life,” his condition has rapidly accelerated to the point where he had no other option but to deprioritize his work.

The Yuga Labs co-founder didn’t set a date on when he hopes to recover and return to his duties.

However, Aranow confirmed that he will be sticking around as a board member and strategic advisor.

This isn’t the first medical diagnosis that has kept Aranow out of work.

Aranow revealed that he dealt with a chronic illness in his twenties which held him back from progressing in his career. When he finally recovered and co-founded Yuga Labs, there was no looking back:

“When I recovered and we started Yuga, I didn’t want to waste a second chance at life. I pushed myself way past my limits. I worked 12 hours a day, nearly every day. I should have taken the advice from everyone around me and sought balance.”

“My goals now are to get the best medical treatment I can and heal,” he added.

Related: BuzzFeed backlash after ‘doxxing’ of Bored Ape Yacht Club founders

Aronow also expressed his excitement to soon work alongside the firm’s new CEO, Daniel Alegre, the former president and chief operating officer of Activision Blizzard.

While Aronow did not provide any details on what he would be doing as a strategic adviser, Aronow recently announced on Nov. 8, 2022, that he would propose a new model for NFT creator royalties.

Aronow co-founded Yuga Labs alongside Greg Solano in February 2021.

Among the most notable NFTs developed by the company are CryptoPunks, BAYC, MeeBits and Othersidemeta.

Bluechip NFT project Moonbirds signs with Hollywood talent agents UTA

PROOF Co-founder Kevin Rose announced the deal via Twitter on Jan. 6, noting that the aim is to get the Moonbirds brand recognized on a global scale and not just in the Web3 space.

The NFT-focused company was founded by early-stage Facebook and Twitter investor Kevin Rose, and designer Justin Mezzell in February 2022. The company also has the Proof Collective and Oddities NFT collections in its catalog.

Announcing the move via Twitter on Jan. 6, Rose suggested that the goal of the deal is to get the Moonbirds brand known on a “global” mainstream scale, as opposed to just being recognized as a big hitter in the Web3 space.

“What does UTA bring to the table? They are 1,400 people strong, with divisions in film, television, music, video games, sports, books, branding and licensing, speaking, marketing, fine arts, broadcast, and more,” he said.

PROOF, the company behind the top-tier NFT project Moonbirds, has signed a representation deal with major Hollywood talent agents United Talent Agency (UTA).

Explaining the move a bit further, Rose noted that UTA will work on PROOF’s behalf to help “vet, broker, and execute partnerships and expansion opportunities across a variety of fields.”

The Ethereum-based Moonbirds project launched in April 2022 and consists of 10,000 8-bit owl-themed avatar NFTs. To date, it has generated roughly $619.5 million worth of secondary sales according to data from CryptoSlam.

That figure makes Moonbirds the eleventh highest-selling collection on the NFT market, with its nearest competitors being twelfth-placed Doodles at $553 million and tenth-placed CloneX at $794.9 million.

Top 12 selling NFT projects of all time: CryptoSlam

Despite the supposedly bullish UTA announcement, Moonbirds’ 24-hour sales volume has dropped a hefty 57.86%, with $442,747 worth of Moonbirds NFT changing hands during that time frame. Over a seven-day time frame however, trading volumes are still up by 63.74%.

The move from Moonbirds follows other big names in the NFT space to seek out Hollywood deals.

Related: Logan Paul threatens to sue Coffeezilla over CryptoZoo ‘scam’ allegations

CryptoPunks founders Larva Labs were the first ones to pave the way back in September 2021, signing a deal with UTA to represent the firm’s IP across TV, film, video games, licensing and publishing.

The next month Yuga Labs — which now owns CryptoPunks — followed suit by signing up with UTA to push the Bored Ape Yacht Club IP into movies, TV, music and gaming. While the most recent occurrence before PROOF was the deal between UTA competitors WME and NFT start-up Boss Beauties.

NFT influencer falls victim to cyberattack, loses $300K+ CryptoPunks

They appear to have authorized a malicious DApp to transfer their tokens, leading the assets to be drained immediately.

Nonfungible token (NFT) influencer CryptoNovo announced on Jan. 4 that he fell victim to a cyberattack and lost two CryptoPunks. He wrote on Twitter, “I just got hacked!!! Are you kidding me!?!” and included a screenshot from OpenSea showing two CryptoPunks being transferred to another address.

The two CryptoPunks were immediately sold by the attacker, one for 70 Ether (ETH) (worth $88,434 at the time of publication) and the other for 199 ETH (worth $251,404). This implies that CryptoNovo lost over $300,000 worth of CryptoPunks in the attack.

CryptoPunk #4608 was allegedly transferred to the attacker’s wallet, moved to another wallet, and then sold for 199 ETH. Source: OpenSea

Numerous other nonfungible tokens were apparently also taken from the influencer, including Meebits, CloneX, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.

CryptoNovo’s iconic green-beanie-wearing Punk, #3706, appears to have been saved from the attack, although the owner also appears to have sold the item. While the previously mentioned NFTs went to a known phishing address, CryptoPunk #3706 was sent to a completely different address and sold for 75 ETH (worth $94,751). This address has also received items from Thenovoverse.eth, an ENS domain that has itself received items from CryptoNovo’s official wallet address in the past. These facts may imply that the sale of this particular item was done by the owner rather than an attacker.

CryptoPunk #3706. Source: OpenSea

CryptoNovo has over 18,000 Twitter followers and is known for wearing masks that make him look like the green-beanie-wearing CryptoPunk he first purchased in 2020.

A photo of CryptoNovo, whose true identity is unknown.

Although CryptoNovo claimed the attack was a “hack,” Twitter user Proper pointed out that the more likely cause was phishing. Just after the green-beanie CryptoPunk was transferred to a safe address, CryptoNovo made several token authorizations to an unknown smart contract. It is this contract that subsequently used the “transferFrom” function on various NFTs to move them from the influencer’s wallet. This implies that someone may have tricked him into authorizing a malicious DApp to move his tokens.

Related: Magic Eden NFT service hacked, shows porn instead of correct images

Someone also appears to be impersonating CryptoNovo on Discord. Nine hours after the attack occurred, he posted an image of a Discord account that claims to be him, but which he says is a fake account.

CryptoPunks was one of the first “generative digital art” NFT collections, or collections of art objects generated by an algorithm. It was released in June 2017, and its individual units were given away to anyone who could pay the gas fees to mint them. Today, CryptoPunks sell for an average price of over $100,000.

The collection has inspired thousands of other generative NFT collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Meebits and others.