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New York’s Museum of Modern Art has added eight CryptoPunks and eight Chromie Squiggles to its permanent collection. The acquisition, which comes from donations from multiple collectors, is the latest acquisition by a major on-chain art museum and one of the medium’s most significant institutional recognitions to date.
CryptoPunk is a collection of 10,000 unique, algorithmically generated 24×24 pixel characters on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched by Larva Labs in 2017, they are considered both NFTs and works of art. Chromie Squiggles are also generative NFTs with 10,000 versions issued, each displaying a unique colorful squiggly line. Created by Erick Calderon (aka Snowfro), they are the first project on the digital art marketplace ArtBlocks and on the Ethereum blockchain.
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“The acquisition of Cryptopunks and Chromie Squiggles by the world’s most important modern and contemporary art institutions is a clear sign that the crypto art movement has entered the canon of art history at an institutional level,” said Georg Bak, digital art consultant and founder of Digital Art Mile. art news. “While digital art has existed in a niche market for decades, this acquisition [is] Giving legitimacy to one of the most interesting art movements of our time. “
Cypherpunk Widely considered the first major NFT collectible, it is also an iconic asset in the field of digital collectibles and art. “With CryptoPunks and Chromie Squiggles, MoMA is embracing more than just digital art; they are supporting digital culture that transcends technology and markets,” said Diane Drubay, curator and founder of We Are Museums and WAC Lab. art news. “This acquisition and the manner in which it was completed signal that MoMA recognizes and contributes to a decentralized culture based on social protocols. Following the path already taken by the Pompidou Center and many other cultural museums, it is now clear that these institutions have changed the way they operate and are ready to open themselves to new cultures.”
The 16 digital works enter the collection through MoMA’s Media and Performance Department and will soon be on display alongside new media art, including experimental technology. The collector who donated to Cryptopunk is art news Top 200 collectors Ryan Zurrer, Mara and Erick Calderon, Rhydon and Caroline Lee and Cozomo de’ Medici.
SquiggleDAO, VonMises14, gmoneyNFT, jdh and several other anonymous collectors donated Chromie Squiggles, according to 1OF1, a Swiss digital art collection company that helped coordinate the two donations.
MoMA’s acquisition follows Yuga Labs’ sale of CryptoPunks intellectual property to the nonprofit Infinite Node Foundation seven months ago. Soon after, the Infinite Node Foundation launched a museum partnership program for the collection. (Yuga Labs purchased the CryptoPunks IP from Larva Labs in 2022.)
The timing of the donation to MoMA coincides with a resurgence of interest in blue-chip NFTs. In late July, CryptoPunks recorded its highest weekly trading volume since March 2024, with more than $24.6 million traded, The Block reported. According to CoinGecko, the total market capitalization of the series is currently around $763 million after peaking at nearly $2.5 billion earlier this year.
