On June 19th, Christie’s Head of Digital Sales Noah Davis tweeted that he will leave his job at the famed auction house to manage Yuga Labs’ CryptoPunks NFTs. Starting in July, Davis will serve as the CryptoPunks’ “Brand Lead.”
After announcing his new role as the head of CryptoPunks, Davis said he would honor the OG NFT collection. Instead of rushing to use the Punks in “cringe TV shows” or putting them on “lunchboxes,” Noah Davis promises to prioritize preserving the legacy and identity of Larva Labs’ creation.
While Noah Davis didn’t rule out future innovations in the CryptoPunks ecosystem, he says they will always be carefully considered. As Davis put it, he will never introduce “rushed utility or thoughtless airdrops” once he takes the helm of the CryptoPunks.
As his first order of business, Davis wants to get personal with the Punks. Noah Davis invites anyone who holds a CryptoPunk NFT to visit him at the 2022 NFT.NYC festival to chat about the future of this project. If CryptoPunks holders can’t attend NFT.NYC, they could send Davis a message to schedule an interview.
Davis also said he would continue work on his NFT project HOWLERZ. However, Yuga Labs won’t take over the rights for HOWLERZ NFTs.
In a separate Twitter thread, Yuga Labs’ co-founder Gargamel (real name: Greg Solano) said he was excited to welcome Davis to the CryptoPunks community.
According to Gargamel, Yuga Labs and Davis share the same “vision” of the CryptoPunks as “fine art.” Gargamel also says Yuga Labs will roll out “new terms” that will give CryptoPunks holders “commercial rights” in the upcoming weeks.
In 2021, Noah Davis helped bring many high-profile NFT auctions to Christie’s. Notably, Davis was the lead organizer behind the record-breaking $69 million sale of Beeple’s “The First 5000 Days” NFT.
CryptoPunks Remain the Classic NFT Collection
The key selling point for CryptoPunks NFTs isn’t their utility. Even if Yuga Labs decides to add to the CryptoPunks ecosystem, the team recognizes these NFTs have a rich historical and cultural value. It appears Noah Davis and Yuga Labs will strive to maintain the CryptoPunks’ unique status rather than introduce dozens of new features.
However, that doesn’t mean there’ll be zero innovation in the CryptoPunks collection moving forward. After all, Yuga Labs included a CryptoPunk NFT in its ad for the Bored Ape-themed “Otherside” metaverse.
There’s no official word on how the CryptoPunks will integrate with Yuga Labs’ upcoming metaverse game. However, rumors of “Otherside” avatars and upcoming commercial rights have certainly generated hype for the CryptoPunks in 2022.
Currently, the floor price for one CryptoPunk NFT is 68.5 ETH (~ $77,700).