Solana Monkey Business (SMB), one of the earliest and most valuable NFT projects on Solana blockchain, has a new owner. Hadeswap—a Solana NFT marketplace—announced today that it has acquired the IP rights to the project.
Hadeswap, a unique type of marketplace that uses an automated market maker (AMM) and trading pools instead of traditional commodity listings, purchased the rights to Solana Monkey Business from its original creators and plans to further support the prominent project.
On a website announce the news, Hadeswap said it intends to “respect the legacy” of Solana Monkey Business while “bridging its shortcomings” and making the project more accessible to a wider audience. The platform also plans to integrate the project into its Hadeswap and HADES token ecosystem.
Launched in June 2021 as one of the first projects in the nascent Solana NFT space, Solana Monkey Business launched 205 initial pixels depicting a monkey in space. The larger Gen2 collection spanned over 5,000 NFT profile pictures (PFP)which have become popular with Solana collectors over the past year plus.
The Gen2 assets have a current floor price (or the price of the cheapest listed NFT) of around 283 SOL on the leading marketplace Magical Eden, or nearly $5,800. It is the second highest starting price for a large Solana NFT project with at least 1,000 pieces, after DeGods.
But according to data from CryptoSlam, SMB has generated more trading volume (in USD) than any other Solana project—about $159 million worth. In large part, that’s because it was popular when SOL was near its peak price of $260 in late 2021, as opposed to its current price level of around $20.
Despite the project’s continued prominence, the original SMB creators have faced significant backlash from NFT owners. Many of the NFT owners formed an unofficial online collective or DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) called MonkeDAO to promote the project and expand the ecosystem.
This time last year was MonkeDAO engaged in a public battle with the creators of the project over recognition and funding of DAO projects. Some members said they were considering “wrapping” their NFTs to turn them into new assets, thereby allowing them to remove the creators’ secondary sales royalties (which is how the original creators generate revenue) – and redirect those funds to DAO instead.
Ultimately, the two sides came to a truce, burying the fight without any rash measures, and Solana Monkey Business agreed to help finance the DAO effort. But now with Hadeswap taking over the project, it is unclear whether MonkeDAO will be an ally.
On its announcement website, Hadeswap said it is talking to MonkeDAO members and hopes to “[work] close with one of the most powerful and efficient DAOs Web3 has ever seen.” But i a tweet todayMonkeDAO said it first spoke with Hadeswap about the acquisition on Sunday and that there is no alliance in place yet.
“We have not formed a partnership agreement at this time, but MonkeDAO is open to dialogue with the HadesDAO team to find the best way forward for all interested parties,” it wrote. “HadesDAO’s acquisition of SMB does not change the SMB holder’s access to MonkeDAO, nor does it give HadesDAO access to MonkeDAO’s governance.”
MonkeDAO still plans to publish their own NFT collection “in the coming months,” which looks to build on the original Solana Monkey Business feel with an expanded set of PFP designs and character traits.
“The MonkDAO team is as surprised as you are with the Hadeswap SMB acquisition,” tweeted lawyer and MonkeDAO member Ariel Givner. “After months of discussions with the SMB developers, unfortunately it didn’t work out,” she added, suggesting that the DAO itself had also tried to acquire the project.
Hadeswap, which just launched last fall, said its own HadesDAO community will spearhead future development around the project. The Hadeswap platform was created by the pseudonymous NFT investor HGE, which is also behind the popular Solana NFT project ABC and the Ethereum-based OpenDAO and its associated SOS token.
Hadeswap does not require merchants to pay royalties to creators on sales, which could cut off further funding for MonkeDAO. Decrypt contacted Hadeswap for comment but did not receive an immediate response regarding the plans and terms of the deal.
The move is reminiscent of one that happened in Ethereum place just less than a year ago, when Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs bought the rights to CryptoPunks and Meebit’s IP from original creator Larva Labs. Yuga has since granted CryptoPunks owners more rights around their NFTs and developed initiatives around the influential project.
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