MoMA Adds Eight CryptoPunks NFTs to Permanent Collection

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has added eight CryptoPunks non-fungible tokens to its permanent collection, according to a December 20 announcement from the Infinite Node Foundation.

The donated NFTs include Punk 4018, Punk 2786, Punk 5616, Punk 5160, Punk 3407, Punk 7178, Punk 74, and Punk 7899. The works were gifted by prominent collectors including SnowFro, Mara Calderon, Cozomo 'de' Medici, and others, with Larva Labs—the original creators of CryptoPunks—also contributing from their personal collection.

Launched in 2017, CryptoPunks comprises 10,000 pixelated profile pictures on the Ethereum blockchain and is recognized as one of the pioneering NFT collections. The intellectual property rights were transferred to Infinite Node Foundation earlier this year after Yuga Labs acquired the project from Larva Labs in 2021.

This acquisition continues MoMA's expansion into digital art, following previous NFT additions such as Refik Anadol's Unsupervised collection. The institution joins other major museums incorporating blockchain-based artworks into their permanent holdings.

Challenges remain around NFT preservation, particularly ensuring long-term blockchain stability and accessibility as the technology continues to evolve.