The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquires CryptoPunks: Digital art knocks on the doors of mainstream art temples.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York announced that it will incorporate 8 CryptoPunks NFTs into its permanent collection. This news was confirmed by the official CryptoPunks Twitter on December 20, 2025.

This batch of digital artworks has officially landed on the online collection page of this world-class modern art museum.

01 Historic Acceptance

A total of 8 CryptoPunks have been collected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, numbered 4018, 2786, 5616, 5160, 3407, 7178, 74, and 7899. They were not purchased by the museum but generously donated by several private collectors.

In the traditional art world, whether a work can enter permanent collections of museums at the level of MoMA is one of the highest measures of its status in art history.

Previously, the high point of CryptoPunks may have been at the auction house. For example, CryptoPunk #7523 曾在苏富比拍卖行以高达 1,180 万美元的价格成交，创下该系列的拍卖记录。更早之前，金融支付巨头 Visa 也曾购入 CryptoPunk #7610, serving as a symbolic move for the company's foray into the NFT space.

From the sky-high prices at commercial auctions, to the asset allocation of multinational companies, and now to the academic recognition by top art institutions, CryptoPunks has completed a “triple jump” in identity.

02 The Rise of CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks did not become famous overnight. It was created by the software development company Larva Labs in June 2017 and consists of 10,000 algorithmically generated 24x24 pixel art avatars, widely regarded as the pioneers of profile picture NFTs, sparking the spectacular trend of PFP NFTs that followed.

Each Punk has a different combination of features, such as hats, sunglasses, pipes, etc., among which some rare features (such as alien and zombie types) make the value of certain Punks particularly high.

Its market performance is like a roller coaster. During the frenzy in August 2021, driven by events such as the Visa acquisition, the series had a single-day sales volume that surpassed $86 million. Subsequently, the market experienced severe fluctuations, with trading volumes swinging dramatically between peaks and troughs.

According to CryptoSlam data, the historical total sales of CryptoPunks have exceeded $2.67 billion, firmly securing the top spot in NFT historical project sales, and its cultural symbolic value far surpasses mere trading figures.

03 Official Certification of Artistic Value

The recent acquisition by the Museum of Modern Art in New York is nothing less than an official statement to the global art community: blockchain-based digital art is an undeniable new chapter in the lineage of modern art.

This decision is based on the precise alignment of NFT technology characteristics with the pain points of traditional art collection. The immutable and permanently traceable ownership records on the blockchain fundamentally solve the problems of authenticity verification and orderly circulation that have plagued the traditional art market for centuries.

The current NFT market is overall in a periodic cooling period. According to Nansen data, the total market value of NFTs has fallen by about 66% from its peak. The floor price of CryptoPunks has also seen a significant adjustment compared to the historical peak in 2021.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has chosen to collect at this time, clearly looking beyond short-term market fluctuations. It values the historical significance of CryptoPunks as a starting point of a cultural movement, as well as the revolutionary impact of blockchain technology on the production, ownership, and circulation of art.

04 The impact on the digital art market

The recognition from the Museum of Modern Art in New York is a powerful catalyst. It provides unprecedented value endorsement and legitimacy source for the entire NFT space, especially for top blue-chip projects.

This marks the evolution of the valuation system for digital art, shifting from a purely “community consensus” and “financial price” approach to a multidimensional standard that combines “art historical significance” and “institutional recognition.”

This is a milestone event for the entire crypto art ecosystem. It opens a window to a broader mainstream audience, allowing people to understand and access digital art through an authoritative and trustworthy institution.

This event is also likely to trigger the “museum effect,” prompting other top art institutions around the world to reassess and follow up on the collection of digital artworks, thereby bringing in a new wave of institutional funding and attention.

05 A New Perspective for Collectors and Investors

For collectors and investors, the actions of the Museum of Modern Art in New York provide a new dimension of value judgment.

The artistic value is beginning to be deeply tied to financial value. Works that enter the permanent collections of mainstream art institutions have their cultural scarcity permanently fixed, which establishes a solid moat for their long-term value, potentially weakening their liquidity in the secondary market, but greatly enhancing their status as “heirloom collectibles”.

The narrative of blue-chip NFTs is changing. The market's focus is gradually shifting from “how expensive can small images sell for” to “what kind of era story does it tell” and “what position does it occupy in the river of culture.” The story of CryptoPunks is an early epic about the origins of crypto culture, community beliefs, and digital ownership.

Future Prospects

As of December 22, tokens related to the NFT and metaverse concepts showed fluctuations on the Gate exchange. The floor price of the entire CryptoPunks series rebounded to around $96,900.

In the exhibition hall of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a screen may soon appear next to the walls that once displayed classic paintings, continuously showcasing these eight 24x24 pixel avatars. Their value is no longer merely reflected in the transaction records of blockchain explorers, but is also etched into the narrative of modern art history.