Solana Based Monkey IP Now Acquired By Its Own DAO

Solana Monkey Business, one of the most valuable and notable Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) collections, has been acquired by MonkeDAO, an independent collective of SMB holders. The DAO announced its official acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) to the project after disputes with the creators and the collection’s most recent owner. MonkeDAO bought the SMB IP and all related keys, assets, and accounts from Solana NFT exchange Hadeswap for $2 million. MonkeDAO’s “independence day” highlights its ownership of the IP that members had built a collective around.

Solana Monkey Business is one of the first notable NFT projects on Solana, launched in June 2021 with a small Gen1 collection before dropping the 5,000 pixel profile pictures that have come to define the project. According to CryptoSlam, the Gen2 collection has yielded some $164 million worth of trading volume to date.

MonkeDAO took shape soon after the Gen2 launch, with members forming a community around the NFTs and pursuing collective measures like in-person events, a DAO-managed Solana network validator, and even investments in startups. However, a dispute grew between the DAO and the original pseudonymous creators of SMB, with MonkeDAO requesting a share of secondary market royalties to fund initiatives that it believed had given the project additional value. MonkeDAO said that the creators had promised a certain amount of funding, but only delivered a fraction of that.

In early 2022, MonkeDAO members considered “wrapping” their SMB NFTs as new tokens to direct royalties away from the creators and send those funds to the DAO treasury instead. Ultimately, however, the two sides came to an agreement over funding. In February 2023, Hadeswap announced that it had successfully purchased the SMB IP from the original creators, with plans to expand the IP and “bridge the gap on its shortcomings.” It’s unclear how much Hadeswap paid for the IP. Nom told Decrypt at the time that MonkeDAO had also been in the process of trying to buy the IP. MonkeDAO and Hadeswap appeared to be uneasy allies following the surprise deal, with DAO members pushing back against Hadeswap’s planned governance model.

https://t.co/2NdsL3VCqJ pic.twitter.com/Plknd6BHkR

— MonkeDAO🍌 (@MonkeDAO) April 20, 2023

MonkeDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), an exclusive online community with token-based membership. With its independence day announcement, MonkeDAO has gained full ownership of Solana Monkey Business, including the project’s IP, and all related keys, assets, and accounts. The DAO’s innovative approach to NFTs has seen members form a community around Solana Monkey Business, pursuing collective measures such as in-person events, a DAO-managed Solana network validator, and investments in startups.

SOL Big Brain, a pseudonymous NFT whale, said in a recent Twitter thread that he provided a $1 million bridge loan to MonkeDAO to initiate the agreed-upon purchase process with Hadeswap. Big Brain wrote that pseudonymous Hadeswap founder HGE did not want a dispute with MonkeDAO to “drag on for months” and opted instead to sell to the collective.

The acquisition of Solana Monkey Business by MonkeDAO highlights the DAO’s strong community support and innovative approach to NFTs, suggesting that the future of the project is bright under its new ownership. MonkeDAO aims to push better experiences and opportunities to its members, as well as expanding what it means to be a part of MonkeDAO. The community has shown that DAOs can effectively take control of intellectual property, creating value for all members in the process.