Larva Labs vs V1 Punks: the battle continues

V1 punks continue to stir up controversy in the NFT community.

The first version of the famous NFT collection, discarded by Larva Labs because of a bug, was discovered by a group of crypto archaeologists, who then created a smart contract allowing to “wrap” the flawed NFTs and put them back on the market.

Larva Labs are not happy. New V1 punks diluting the 10’000 supply of (v2) cryptopunks could potentially bring down their value, not to mention the enthusiastic community that is being formed around it – and without Larva Labs.

V1 proponents, on the other hand, point at the immutability of the blockchain and the decentralized nature of the NFTs, which don’t need an approval from the issuing company to exist.

⚔️ As the blockchain is immutable indeed, the battle naturally moved to the marketplaces where one can buy a V1 punk.

➡️OpenSea had already banned V1 punks once, at the very beginning, when they were replaced by the V2 cryptopunks.

➡️It re-listed them when V1 punks made a comeback in their wrapped form.

➡️This week OpenSea has once again delisted V1 punks, following a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice from Larva Labs saying that they have the copyrights to the original images and asking to remove the access to V1 punks.

V1 punks reacted by sending a counter notification arguing that the “disputed material” is non-infringing (the group now accepts donations for a possible legal battle).

?‍?‍? However, most important V1 Punks step was not in the legal domain, it was in the symbolic one: the group has renounced the ownership of the smart contract powering the trades on the v1punks website, highlighting their commitment to a truly decentralized community.

Together with the growing discontent of Larva Labs and their legal action, considered pathetic and so not in the spirit of Web3, V1 Punks are now scoring additional points within the community.

The controversy has also played into the hands of LooksRare ?, OpenSea’s most remarkable contender, which is now listing V1 Punks.

NFT space is still very young, and the issues like the V1 Punks are shaping its future. This is to follow.