CryptoPunkers React to Copyright War

The initial traded amount of CryptoPunks was 10,000. They made it to the secondary market before users uncovered a critical smart contract exploit that made it possible for Punks’ buyers to revoke their Ether (ETH) post-purchase. Consequently, creator Larva Labs acknowledged the v1 collection and fixed the exploit. Moreover, it released the v2 Punks collection we have now. They’ve also transmitted mixed messages regarding the collection by selling off dozens of their own V1 Punks.

The battle over the copyright of the CryptoPunks v1 collection is warming up as the images recently gained in market value, with Larva Labs filing a DMCA take-down notice to OpenSea and members of the v1 community pounding back with their own. Larva Labs deliberately coded the smart contract to be irrevocable to complicate the matter. This means that it can not destroy one collection (v1) without eliminating the other (v2). The topic remains deeply contentious within both communities.

With the help of CryptoPunks v1’s community admin, @irishnftgal, Cointelegraph talked to Brittany Kaiser, co-founder of Own Your Data. In late January 2022, Brittany purchased a v1 CryptoPunk on OpenSea. She considered it an authentic piece of NFT history from Larva Labs as one of the first punks avatars.

Larva Labs Deliberate Profit Shocks

Brittany was stunned and bewildered when she discovered that Larva Labs sold nearly 40 CryptoPunks v1 on Opensea for 210 ETH. Its creators allegedly turned around. Instead, they deliberately disable the authenticity and traceability of the same CryptoPunks 1 collection. Brittany states that the founders have said publicly for years that these tokens are part of the original.

Brittany believes the best outcome for Larva Labs would be to take accountability and ownership of these blockchain assets that they put on the market. Moreover, she says that repeating the DCMA would be a good start, and a public apology would be even better.