Pauly0x Faces Asset Seizure as Yuga Labs Demands Crypto Payout

The company is asking a California court to hand over nearly $400,000 worth of crypto assets—Bitcoin BTC $93,419.48 , Ethereum ETH $1,790.88 , and PEPE PEPE $0.00000885 —held in four wallets linked to Cahen.

In 2022, Yuga Labs filed a lawsuit against Cahen and artist Ryder Ripps. The pair had launched an NFT collection called the "Ryder Ripps Bored Ape Yacht Club", which closely resembled Yuga’s original Bored Ape series.

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Ripps claimed his project was a parody meant to criticize the original collection, accusing it of including offensive hidden imagery. The court did not accept that argument and ruled in Yuga’s favor.

In October 2023, a judge awarded Yuga Labs $1.5 million in damages. The amount increased in February 2024, after attorney fees and interest were added, which brought the total to almost $9 million.

Since Cahen has not taken steps to delay or block enforcement, such as posting a bond, Yuga Labs has started trying to collect what it is owed. It has served legal notices to banks and crypto companies, including Binance $11.44B , Coinbase $2.97B , Gemini $265.52M , and several major US banks.

In a recent filing, the company told the court that Cahen “has made a mockery” of the ruling by ignoring orders and not paying anything so far.

On April 9, OpenSea’s legal team contacted the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to request clearer rules on how NFT marketplaces should be classified under current laws. What did they say? Read the full story.