At the end of Monday, the popular non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, the OpenSea platform once again delisted the CryptoPunks V1 collection, which originated along with the iconic CryptoPunks V2 collection due to a smart contract bug. This was presumably due to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice sent by CryptoPunks V2 developers Larva Labs to OpenSea. Since the company is also the creator of the CryptoPunks V1 collection, this move seemed odd to some.
LL forced @opensea to remove the V1 Punks collection due to the DMCA removal. We respond through a counter notice from our attorney in due course. We look forward to further updates. In the meantime, trade using https://t.co/KjPg88vDqE or @LooksRareNFT pic.twitter.com/1qmgdQrR7l — V1 Punks (@v1punks) February 7, 2022
For years, OpenSea banned the collection of CryptoPunks V1 as users shunned their authenticity. However, its recent listing on competing NFT platforms such as LookRare has resulted in increased visibility and forced OpenSea to lift its first ban. At press time, the total trading volume of the CryptoPunks V1 Packed Collection has exceeded 315.44 ETH ($974,000) and is still running.
But the battle over the authenticity of the NFT collection seems to be heating up. In an announcement posted on the official Discord of CryptoPunks V1, developer Velinova.eth claims that they have spoken to a “high-ranking US intellectual property attorney” who claims that they “can legally continue to trade these CryptoPunks.” In the meantime, the community is preparing counter notification of the removal of OpenSea. On top of that, its NFT holders decided to rename the collection to “CryptoPunks V1 313 WPV1”, partly to reflect the wrapped nature of the NFT to fix the aforementioned bug.
CryptoPunks V1 Community Announcement | Source: Discord
The question of the authenticity of CryptoPunks could have serious financial implications. With a total trading volume of 824,947.17 ETH ($2.55 billion), CryptoPunks V2 is the most popular NFT collection in the world. However, part of the high demand for the collection is due to its scarcity, with a fixed stock of 10,000 punks. If 10,000 more images from CrptoPunks V1 are legitimized, it could potentially weaken the brand, causing the price of NFT to drop rapidly.
