Tyga, Bored Apes and CryptoPunks: What the Feud Was About

CryptoPunks are a set of 10,000 pixel-art characters created by Larva Labs and launched on Ethereum in 2017. Each punk is a unique image generated from a set of traits such as hair, glasses, skin tone and accessories. Most are human-looking, but the set includes a small number of rarer types, including aliens, apes and zombies.

The collection matters for two reasons. It is one of the first widely traded NFT collections, and its code and ownership history are public on the Ethereum blockchain. That makes punks a common reference point whenever people talk about the start of NFT culture.

A punk is an NFT. Ownership is recorded on-chain, and the image is tied to that record. Owning a punk does not give you copyright over the artwork in the way a traditional license would, so read the terms that come with any purchase or license offer before assuming more rights than you have.

If you are new to the topic, it helps to separate three things: the collection itself, the people who hold it, and the market that prices it. Celebrity arguments usually mix all three, which is why they can look confusing from the outside.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 ape images released by Yuga Labs in 2021. It was built as a membership-style brand, with community events, merchandise and licensing ideas attached to the holder base. Its style is cartoon-like, and its visibility in pop culture grew quickly.

Yuga Labs is also the company that later acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits intellectual property from Larva Labs. That history is part of why punks and apes are often discussed together, even though they were created by different teams at different times.

The ape-versus-punk comparison is therefore partly about aesthetics, partly about history, and partly about status. Apes were easier for mainstream audiences to recognize, while punks had the advantage of being earlier and more closely associated with the first wave of NFT collecting.

If you want to verify these facts, check the official project pages and the Ethereum contract records for each collection. Those sources are more reliable than summaries that repeat claims without links to the underlying records.

Public disagreements between celebrities and NFT holders tend to follow a familiar pattern. A well-known person buys a collection, posts about it, and then compares it with another collection in a way that the other holders find dismissive. Fans and holders respond, the story is reported in entertainment and crypto media, and the argument fades after a few days.

Public reporting were unavailable while this guide was prepared, so it cannot confirm the specific wording, timing or context of any comment attributed to Tyga. It also cannot confirm whether any later remarks changed the picture. Treat secondhand summaries with caution, especially if they do not link to the original post.

What tends to make these disputes stick is the status signal attached to each collection. Holding an early, historically important item can feel like proof of taste to one group. Holding a more widely recognized item can feel like proof of cultural relevance to another. Neither signal says much about the underlying economics.

For readers, the useful takeaway is that a celebrity's preference is not a valuation method. It can shape attention for a while, but it does not replace checking trait rarity, sales history and the risks of holding any single NFT.

CryptoPunks have a reputation for early-adopter status. Larva Labs created the set in 2017, and the first 10,000 punks were made available to claim for free in the early period, which means many current holders acquired them at a time when the collection had almost no market. That origin story is one reason the collection is often cited in NFT history.

Historical importance is not the same as scarcity or demand, though. Some punks sell for very different amounts depending on traits, rarity and the buyer's interest at the time. Collectors also value the story of a particular punk, including its earlier owners, but that is subjective.

Several factors commonly affect how collectors view a punk:

• Trait rarity within the set, such as the small number of aliens, apes and zombies
• Completed sales history, not just listed asking prices
• Whether the item is part of a wider trend in the NFT market
• Liquidity, meaning how quickly a buyer could find a seller
• Costs such as gas fees and marketplace charges

None of these factors can guarantee a future price. The safest approach is to read the recent record, compare multiple sources and be clear about the risk of holding an illiquid digital asset.

Floor prices, recent sales and trait-based pricing change often, so this guide does not state any figures. To see current numbers, use the marketplace where a punk is listed and look at its activity history, not only the headline price. Dedicated CryptoPunks trading tools such as Punks Terminal allow trait-filtered bids, which can help you see what buyers are offering for specific characteristics.

When you check a price, look for these details:

• The date and price of completed sales, not only active listings
• The number of sales in the last few months, as a rough measure of activity
• Whether the item has an unusual trait combination that may explain a premium
• Fees, including marketplace fees and network costs on Ethereum

Be careful with listings that look far above the rest of the collection. A single high asking price does not prove that buyers will pay it. Similarly, a low listing can reflect a seller who wants a quick exit.

If you are comparing punks with other collections, check the same data for each one on the same day. Prices move, and comparing an old screenshot with a current listing can lead to wrong conclusions.

Scams are common around high-profile NFT collections. The most frequent problems include fake marketplace sites, phishing messages that ask you to connect a wallet, and offers that require you to sign a transaction you do not understand. Defensive habits protect you in all of these cases.

Start with these basics:

1. Type the marketplace address yourself or open a bookmark you created earlier.
2. Never share your seed phrase or recovery phrase with anyone, including people who claim to be support staff.
3. Read what a wallet is asking you to sign. Approving a token spend or a broad permission can give a contract access to your assets.
4. Confirm the contract address on a block explorer before you interact with it.
5. Use a hardware wallet or a separate wallet for high-value holdings if you can.

If you receive an unexpected offer for a punk, pause before responding. Legitimate sellers do not usually need you to move funds to a new site or sign a message to prove identity. Review the transaction details carefully, and if something feels rushed, stop.

If you think you have already approved a suspicious contract, revoke the permission using a reputable wallet tool and move any remaining assets to a new wallet that you control.

Comparing collections is easier when you put the basic facts side by side. The table below uses stable details from the collections' public records. It does not include prices, because those change frequently.

Collection	Creator	Launch year	Supply	Chain
CryptoPunks	Larva Labs	2017	10,000	Ethereum
Bored Ape Yacht Club	Yuga Labs	2021	10,000	Ethereum
Hashmasks	Not stated here	Not stated here	16,384	Ethereum
Redacted Remilio Babies	Remilia	Not stated here	10,000	Ethereum

The table shows why the punk-versus-ape debate is not only about art. Launch timing, creator structure and community design all differ. Supply size is also only one part of scarcity, since rarity depends on the traits within a collection.

For other PFP collections, check the official project page and the contract on a block explorer before relying on any summary. If a detail is not listed in a primary source, do not assume it.

Note that this guide is a general comparison, not advice about which collection to hold.

Owning an NFT is a form of risk exposure. Its value depends on what another buyer will pay, and many collections have fallen far from their peaks. Even a historically important item can be hard to sell at a fair price during a slow market.

Before buying or selling, consider these questions:

• Can you afford to lose the full amount you spend?
• How long might it take to find a buyer at a price you accept?
• Are you comfortable with the fees on each transaction?
• Have you recorded the purchase and sale for tax purposes?
• Do you understand the terms of any license attached to the artwork?

NFT rules, tax treatment and consumer protections vary by country and sometimes by state or province. Check the rules that apply to you before trading, and consider speaking with a qualified tax professional if the amounts are significant.

Speculation can be fun to follow, but it should not be your only plan for financial security. Treat any NFT purchase as a decision you would be willing to see lose value.

A useful way to follow the Tyga-CryptoPunks story is to focus on verifiable sources. Start with the original posts or interviews, then check whether reputable outlets reported them accurately. Look at the dates, and note whether the comments refer to a specific collection, a specific holding or a general opinion.

For the current state of CryptoPunks, check these places:

• The official CryptoPunks project information and its published history
• Ethereum block explorers, which show ownership and transfer records
• Well-known marketplaces, which show sales activity and listings
• Industry news archives, to see whether a dispute was later clarified

Do not rely on a single headline or a social media thread. Many summaries repeat each other without adding new evidence. When a claim matters to your decisions, trace it back to the earliest source you can find.

The evergreen lesson from this episode is that public opinions about NFTs change quickly, while on-chain records and project documentation are more stable. Build your understanding from those records, and treat celebrity commentary as context rather than a guide to value.