LA Art Museum Becomes Latest CryptoPunk Owner in Surprise NFT Donation

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) received 22 NFT donations this week. The digital works were curated by an anonymous NFT collector who goes by the alias Cozomo de’ Medici.

A tweet by the donor read, “Announcing the first donation of on-chain art from a collector to a museum, and the largest digital fine art collection to enter a museum.”

The official release by the museum stated that the permanent collection includes 22 digital works created by 13 foreign artists. They hail from Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Portugal, and the United States.

Crypto Punk NFT Part of the Donation

, “With works spanning 2017 to 2022, the collection reflects a boom of artistic experimentation with web3 technologies like blockchain that have been budding since the 2010s.”

Cozomo de’ Medici stated that the donation would permanently inscribe the on-chain art movement in art history. He anticipates that it opens the door for museums worldwide to house the best digital works.

The donation also included CryptoPunk #3831. Recently, “Byte-perfect uploads” of the 10,000 CryptoPunknon-fungible tokens (NFTs) were added to the network.

As part of the Punks Legacy Project, Yuga Labs announced this week that CryptoPunk #110 would be added to the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou art museum in Paris. Last November, at Art Basel 2022, CryptoPunk #305 was also given to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.

The donor stated that,

“These works will now sit in one of the greatest art collections in human history, alongside physical works defining the last 6,000 years of artistic expression. Including works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Cassatt, Andy Warhol, Monet, and Georgia O’Keeffe.”

Snoop Dog Alleged to Be the Donor

Meanwhile, the industry alleges that the mysterious donor is the famous rapper Snoop Dogg. Notably, back in 2021, the rapper tweeted an acceptance of the rumor.

That said, the blockchain proponent recently acquired Death Row Records only to turn them into an NFT label. Snoop Dogg also launched his Bacc on Death Row album through the blockchain gaming platform Gala Games.

In August last year, rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem performed as Bored avatars at MTV Video Music Awards.