Yuga Labs directs royalties to bankrupt FTX US

Yuga Labs, the firm behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and other popular $NFT collections, has been directing ‘royalties’ to a deposit address associated with FTX US, according to Blockchain Intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence.

Arkham highlights the fact that Yuga Labs has sent over $250,000 worth of value over the last two months to 0xAAe7aC476b117bcCAfE2f05F582906be44bc8FF1, an address that Arkham, as well as blockchain intelligence firm Breadcrumbs, associated with FTX US.

FTX US was plunged into bankruptcy in November 2022 due to its role in the crimes of Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators.

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These ‘royalty’ payments, also known as ‘creator payouts,’ represent a portion of sales of $NFT collections that sellers have decided to send back to the creator. These payments were central to a battle between various $NFT marketplaces and $NFT collections, with Yuga Labs initially limiting trading of its $NFT collections to marketplaces that forced this payment to be made.

More recently, they have stepped away from this decision and made it so that this payment is optional.

It’s not clear how these ongoing deposits will affect Yuga Labs’ claim in the FTX bankruptcy process.

Protos has reached out to Yuga Labs for comment on this issue and will update if we hear back.