Yuga Labs acquires Tokenproof tech team to boost NFT R&D

Yuga Labs has expanded its NFT infrastructure by acquiring the tech team of Tokenproof, a Web3 tokenisation service.

The acquisition was announced on Dec. 3 by Tokenproof founder and CEO Fonz O, who confirmed that Yuga Labs had obtained both Tokenproof’s technology and a portion of its team.

Tokenproof is known for creating an infrastructure to verify NFT ownership in the physical world.

The company has been working closely with Yuga Labs since 2022 to advance this goal.

“Together with Tokenproof, we tackled a bunch of thorny problems, so that your monkey jpeg could safely and efficiently get you into a festival across the world,” Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano remarked on the partnership.

Following the acquisition, Tokenproof’s tech team will join Yuga Labs' research and development division, known as The Workshop.

This division was launched in August 2024 after Yuga Labs underwent a restructuring that included layoffs.

The main focus of the RD division is the execution of Otherside, a metaverse project aimed at creating a gamified and interoperable virtual world.

"More accessible and more fun," Solano also noted, are the company’s current innovations designed to make cryptocurrency tokens and NFTs.

The acquisition has received positive feedback from the community, with developers highlighting Tokenproof’s significant role in adding real-world utility to Yuga Labs' NFTs.

The company’s Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection has long been a staple in the NFT market.

This strategic move comes amid fluctuating NFT market conditions.

NFT sales reached $562 million in November, marking a six-month high, but uncertainties persist, with platforms like Kraken winding down their NFT marketplaces.