A Christie’s Auction House Web3 expert leaves his post to become a brand lead for Yuga Labs’ CryptoPunks.
Noah Davis, a Christie’s specialist in Post-War and Contemporary Art and a primary factor in the auction house’s Web3 immersion, is leaving his post to move to Yuga Labs. According to a tweet from Davis himself, he is leaving his “current post in July to steward the CryptoPunks as Brand Lead.”
Davis would probably go down in Christie’s history as the executive who played a significant role in selling a digital collage backed by an NFT through the auction house. The work, called “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” was by Beeple, and it sold for $69 million after opening bids starting at $100.
The CryptoPunks Journey
It can be recalled that Yuga Labs, the creator of the highly-popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, surprised the entire NFT space in March when it acquired NFT powerhouses CryptoPunks and Meebits for an undisclosed amount. Yuga Labs acquired 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits in the deal. However, some are speculating the purchase amount was well worth over $100 million, factoring in the value of the NFTs Yuga Labs received.
The original creator of CryptoPunks, Larva Labs, has done very little to boost the project even with all the partnerships they tried to forge or events they attempted to host. With the profound success of BAYC, CryptoPunks NFT holders were hopeful it would rub off on the project. And while it might have taken a while before any movement with the CryptoPunks NFT project was evident, its holders can say it was worth the wait.
CryptoPunks X Yuga Labs X Noah Davis
With Davis stepping in as the project’s brand lead, better days are on the horizon for CryptoPunks holders and the NFT project. However, Davis clarified that the Punks would tread a different path from BAYC. What did that mean?
BAYC owners have used their rights for the project in almost anything you can think of—TV shows, bars, merchandise, and more. Nevertheless, Davis quickly put to rest any concerns that CryptoPunks would go down the same route.
“If you’re a Punk holder and you care about the legacy/future of the brand, I wanna talk one-on-one,” Davis said in his Twitter thread. “I’ll be at the Punks Brunch during NFT.NYC and will begin scheduling sit-downs immediately. Wherever Punks go, the community will help guide us.”
Davis’ announcement is a clear indication of the Punks’ potential resurgence back into the NFT space. Still, Davis assured holders of his “passion project,” the Howlerz NFT project, that he will continue to steer it while holding his new position at Yuga Labs, since it “still has a final chapter to be written.”
In a separate announcement thread, @CryptoGarga, one of the co-founders of BAYC, explained why there seems to be a hold-up on the CryptoPunks NFT project, particularly the turning over of the project’s commercial rights to rightful owners. He said the move was “too significant to rush, and too impactful for the NFT community at large to risk developing them in silo.”
He also said they see the CryptoPunks NFT project as the rest of the Punks community do—as fine art—and with Davis’ entry into the CryptoPunks world, @CryptoGarga believes they have found the best person to steward the project. He said Davis’ vision for the CryptoPunks NFT project and the Web 3, in general, aligns with their own. And among the first order of business is to turn the project’s commercial rights over to its owners in the coming weeks.
Get more news updates
Get more NFT news updates at Omnimint News. For more information on Omnimint, and details on how to join our community, please follow our Twitter, or subscribe to our Telegram channel for more updates, and please feel free to submit your article.