An NFT project is a collection of non-fungible tokens released by one team under one brand. Each token is a unique onchain record of ownership, and the project usually adds a use for it, such as a game, an art series, a club or a virtual world. In 2022 the projects that mattered most were Axie Infinity, CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Art Blocks, NBA Top Shot, CloneX, Meebits, Azuki and Decentraland. Several have since changed owner, lost most of their value or shut down. The latest change on this list is from 13 May 2025, when Yuga Labs sold the CryptoPunks intellectual property to a nonprofit, the Infinite Node Foundation.
What makes a token "non-fungible"
Most Ethereum NFT projects use ERC-721, a token standard created on 24 January 2018. The standard exists because a fungible-token standard "is insufficient for tracking NFTs because each asset is distinct (non-fungible) whereas each of a quantity of tokens is identical (fungible)". ERC-721 gives each token its own ID and defines how ownership is tracked and transferred, both by owners and by approved third-party operators.
A project is more than the standard. It sets the supply, the artwork or game logic, the mint price and how the token is sold, and what rights holders get. Those decisions, much more than the technology, explain why the projects below did so differently after 2022.
The forerunner: CryptoKitties (2017)
CryptoKitties launched publicly on 28 November 2017. Axiom Zen built it, and Dapper Labs was later spun off from Axiom Zen. Within days it was causing heavy congestion on Ethereum. Quartz reported that unprocessed Ethereum transactions rose about six-fold after the release, and that by early December the game's contract was the busiest address on the network, with almost 12% of all transactions. This was the first clear sign that demand for NFTs could stress a blockchain, and the 2022 projects ran into the same problem.
What happened to the 2022 NFT class
Step through the dated events from 2022 to the latest change to see which projects changed owner, settled or shut down.
- 12 January 2022Azuki launchesdone
Chiru Labs sold 10,000 anime-style avatars by Dutch auction starting at 1 ETH; secondary reports say about 8,700 sold publicly in three to four minutes.
- 11 March 2022Yuga Labs buys CryptoPunks and Meebits IPdone
Yuga Labs bought both brands' intellectual property from Larva Labs for an undisclosed amount and gave holders commercial rights.
- 23 March 2022Ronin bridge draineddone
An attacker took 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC from the bridge behind Axie Infinity by controlling five of nine validator keys; the theft was found only on 29 March.
- 30 April 2022Otherside land saledone
Yuga sold 55,000 Otherdeeds for 305 ApeCoin each, valued at about $285 million by Reuters and nearer $320 million by DappRadar, as Ethereum fees spiked.
- 3 June 2024NBA Top Shot lawsuit settleddone
Dapper Labs settled Friel v. Dapper Labs for $4 million and said the settlement did not concede that Moments are securities.
- 21 August 2024Chromie Squiggle goes to a museumdone
Art Blocks founder Erick Calderon gave Chromie Squiggle #9999 to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
- 2 December 2024RTFKT announces wind-downdone
The Nike-owned studio behind CloneX said it would wind down by January 2025, with reports citing falling NFT prices.
- 23 January 2025ANIME token launchesdone
The Animecoin Foundation launched ANIME, tied to the Azuki ecosystem, on Ethereum and Arbitrum with a total supply of 10 billion.
- 13 May 2025CryptoPunks IP sold to a nonprofitdone
Yuga sold the CryptoPunks IP to the Infinite Node Foundation without disclosed terms; the deal did not include Meebits.
This lists only the dated events in the article: it does not show current floor prices, trading volumes or any 2026 status for Otherside, and it does not cover every project's full history.
The 10 projects
1. Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity was the leading play-to-earn game, in which players own, battle and breed NFT creatures. It runs on Ronin, a sidechain built by its developer, Sky Mavis. On 23 March 2022 an attacker took 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC from the Ronin bridge, worth around $600 million at the time. Reported values range from about $590 million to $625 million. The theft was found only on 29 March, when a user could not withdraw 5,000 ETH. It did not exploit a smart-contract bug. The bridge needed five of nine validator signatures, and the attacker got control of five keys: Sky Mavis's four validators and one run by Axie DAO.
Lesson: A game's NFTs are only as safe as the infrastructure that moves them.
2. CryptoPunks
CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 pixel-art characters made by Larva Labs. The "$532 million sale" in many 2022 lists was not real. On 28 October 2021, CryptoPunk #9998 "sold" for 124,457 ETH, but the buyer and seller were the same person. They used a flash loan, mostly 87,000 ETH from a lending protocol, and repaid it in the same transaction. Larva Labs said someone had "bought this punk from themself with borrowed money".
Ownership of the brand has changed twice. On 11 March 2022 Yuga Labs bought the CryptoPunks and Meebits intellectual property from Larva Labs for an undisclosed amount and gave holders commercial rights. On 13 May 2025 Yuga sold the CryptoPunks IP to the Infinite Node Foundation (NODE), a nonprofit focused on preserving digital art, again without disclosed terms. NODE's advisory board includes Larva Labs co-founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson.
3. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
Yuga Labs launched BAYC in April 2021: 10,000 generated cartoon apes on Ethereum. In 2022 it was the main profile-picture brand. It led to Otherside, a planned NFT-based virtual world. On 30 April 2022 Yuga sold 55,000 Otherside land deeds ("Otherdeeds") for 305 ApeCoin each. Reuters valued the sale at about $285 million, and DappRadar put it nearer $320 million. Ethereum fees spiked during the sale. DappRadar reported average fees near $500 on 1 May 2022 and estimated that Otherdeed transactions burned more than 55,800 ETH. After restructuring in late 2023, Yuga's CEO said the company would focus on building Otherside. We found no verified 2026 update on Otherside.
4. Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)
MAYC was planned as up to 20,000 apes. On 28 August 2021, 10,000 were sold in a Dutch auction that started at 3 ETH, and Decrypt reported about $96 million in sales in one hour. The other half came from "serums" airdropped to BAYC holders, which turned an existing ape into a mutant. The serum model became a common way for a project to reward existing holders while bringing in new buyers.
5. Art Blocks
Art Blocks is a platform for generative art minted on Ethereum. It launched in November 2020 with Chromie Squiggles by founder Erick Calderon ("Snowfro") as Project #0. The collector's mint transaction creates the seed, and the platform's onchain script uses it to produce the artwork, so the buyer does not know the result until it is minted. On 21 August 2024 Calderon gave Chromie Squiggle #9999 to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Calderon also sits on the advisory board of the foundation that now holds the CryptoPunks IP.
6. NBA Top Shot
Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot sells "Moments", which are licensed highlight clips issued as NFTs on Flow, a blockchain Dapper originally developed. A 2021 class action, Friel v. Dapper Labs, claimed Moments were unregistered securities. A 2023 ruling let the case go ahead, partly because Top Shot ran on Dapper's own chain and partly because of company statements suggesting the collectibles would rise in value. Dapper settled for $4 million, reported on 3 June 2024, and said the settlement did not concede that Moments are securities.
7. CloneX
CloneX was a collection of 3D avatars made by RTFKT with artist Takashi Murakami. Nike bought RTFKT in 2021. On 2 December 2024 RTFKT announced it would wind down by January 2025. Reports cited falling NFT prices. One source says CloneX, which hit a floor price of about $63,000 in 2022, was trading below $1,000 at the time of the announcement. That figure comes from secondary reporting and was not checked against market data.
Lesson: Big-brand backing does not guarantee a project survives.
8. Meebits
Larva Labs released Meebits on 3 May 2021: 20,000 generative 3D voxel avatars. Each came with a T-pose file for use in games and virtual worlds that support humanoid avatars. Holders of CryptoPunks and Autoglyphs could claim Meebits for free, and the rest were sold publicly. Reports of the sale differ, at roughly $75 million to $79.5 million over about 6.5 to 8 hours. Yuga Labs acquired the Meebits IP with CryptoPunks in March 2022. The May 2025 NODE deal covered CryptoPunks only.
9. Azuki
Chiru Labs, based in Los Angeles, launched Azuki on 12 January 2022: 10,000 anime-style avatars sold by Dutch auction starting at 1 ETH. Reports say about 8,700 sold publicly in three to four minutes for over $29 million, followed by a private sale of about $2 million. These figures come from secondary sources. On 23 January 2025 the Animecoin Foundation launched ANIME, a token on Ethereum and Arbitrum tied to the Azuki ecosystem, with a total supply of 10 billion.
10. Decentraland
Decentraland is a virtual world on Ethereum. It opened to the public in February 2020 after a closed beta in 2019. Its map is divided into 90,601 LAND parcels, each an ERC-721 token. MANA, an ERC-20 token, was burned to acquire LAND. Along with The Sandbox, it was one of the two best-known "metaverse" land projects in 2022.
What the 2022 class tells you
- Rights matter more than the art. CryptoPunks changed hands twice largely over who controls the IP and what holders may do with their tokens.
- Infrastructure risk is real. The largest loss tied to these projects was a bridge key compromise (Ronin, 2022), not a bad NFT contract.
- Headline prices can be fake. The $532 million CryptoPunk "sale" was a flash-loan self-trade. Check whether a record sale was arm's-length before trusting it.
- Legal status is still contested. The Top Shot case settled without a ruling on whether NFTs can be securities.
- Corporate owners can walk away. RTFKT closed three years after Nike bought it.
Limitations: most project details here come from contemporaneous news reports (The Block, Decrypt, DappRadar, Reuters via syndication), not audited onchain data, and current floor prices and volumes are not included.
