⚓️ sunsetting cryptopunks

gm. have you considered me being your +1 to ApeFest? here is why you should:

1. people have said I’m a “fun hang” (don’t ask who that is irrelevant).

2. I’m the safe pick (in that I won’t try to steal your seed phrase), and I know you Ape owners haven’t been the most diligent about keeping your tokens secure.

3. we can talk about NFTs. I know about a few of them (is BAKC still a thing?) and keep up with the latest and greatest news in the space. did I tell you I have a newsletter about them???

ALPHA ⚓️

while everyone was busy securing the tickets to ApeFest, Yuga killed a contract that contained the single best perk in the space.

that is, a private key that could mint an infinite number of new Bored Apes.

EmperorTomatoKetchup @TomatoBAYC

@Blockworks_ The contract owner has now been burned. While we’d been meaning to do this for a long time, we hadn't out of an abundance of caution. Felt comfortable doing it now. All done. In lay terms: The issue flagged in this article is now impossible.

you heard that right. not only could this have messed up the supply and rarity of NFT’s most valuable asset, but the community would have collectively lost their minds. imagine if even a single new Ape dropped. what would happen if it was thousands of new ones?

luckily, @0xfoobar rediscovered the vulnerability a few days ago. and apparently, despite promises from Yuga for months that the issue would be resolved, the private key was still out there floating around.

foobar @0xfoobar

There is a single private key out there that can mint an infinite number of new OG @BoredApeYC at any time. If the token contract owner (a personal wallet, not a multisig) gets hacked or phished, you might see thousands of new bored apes minted and dumped onto the market

the fact it hadn’t been used or executed…when a single Bored Ape is worth *checks chart* ~$160k…shows that the private key was in diamond hands. Yuga being so slow to burn the owner’s contract means they must have been pretty confident that it wouldn’t be used either.

but as 0xfoobar mentioned, all it would have taken is a single compromise to throw the entire NFT world into chaos. so Yuga burned it and with it, the access to infinite Bored Apes and money.

thank god for those who can read contracts. NFT Twitter may get flack for being toxic sometimes, but it’s amazing what sleuths and people who actually know what they are doing are able to find. tracking down vulnerabilities like this and bringing attention to them is essential to the NFT space.

and someone’s gotta do it, because I certainly don’t know how.

BETA ⚓️

it’s been almost 3 months since Yuga acquired Larvalabs, and with it CryptoPunks. since then, CryptoPunks owners have enjoyed the added benefits of…nothing. you lose, good day ser!

I suppose it’s cool though considering the CryptoPunks community itself is split on what they’d like to be in the Yugaverse (many were fine with LarvaLabs doing nothing with their IP in the first place FWIW).

however, when your project is acquired by the largest and most famous brand in the NFT space, you would expect to get some benefits or perks. instead, they got no Otherside land, no invites to ApeFest, and no $APE coin. at least they have their falling price floor!

in the tech and business world, there is a term ‘sunsetting’, which means you slowly transtion out a brand or product after acquisition. is this what Yuga is doing with CryptoPunks?

Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob

Does anyone know if @yugalabs has any interest in selling their Crypto Punk interest - or was their plan to just have them kind of grind down Punks value to give BAYC more of an advantage.

in retrospect, this was the obvious play. *nathan for you voice* the plan: acquire the only other NFT project in your stratosphere and effectively neuter them, thus eliminating your only competition and giving you a huge leg up on any new project that may rise up and challenge you.

Yuga, hilariously, also seems to be more excited with Meebits (a LarvaLabs secondary product for the metaverse) than CryptoPunks themselves. and while they did put a Punk in the Otherside trailer, we’ve seen nothing else to indicate they’re remotely interested in elevating that particular brand.

GordonGoner.eth @GordonGoner

Took my first week off in forever a little while back. Found myself writing out ideas for @MeebitsNFTs utility the entire time. Big things take time, but the whole team is really excited to start working on Meebits when the Otherside launch is through.

but to be fair, Yuga also doesn’t care about projects under their own roof. remember Bored Ape Kennel Club? yeah, neither does anyone else.

DELTA ⚓️

• a little partnership talk to send you out today. first, Zed Run (one of the first NFT crazes) has announced their new partnership with Budweiser (because of Clydesdales I guess?). perhaps the juice of this partnership will lead to a resurgance of the two brands. more likely, it’ll be left in the dust and hidden in my wallet.

Budweiser @budweiserusa

Budweiser is now the official beer of @zed_run

• and then there is Smilesss x Curry (Steph Curry that is). while I’m still yet to make money from a single sports-related NFT, I am excited about this one as Steph is maybe the biggest athlete (internationally that is) into NFTs. Lebron would never.

smilesss ::) @smilesss

He shoots, he scoresss 👌 Smilesss x Curry ::) 🏀 @StephenCurry30 @UnderArmour @UAbasketball @bball_headz Details coming soon ⏰