The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has acquired eight CryptoPunks and eight Chromie Squiggles for its permanent collection, donated by multiple collectors including ARTnews Top 200 Collector Ryan Zurrer and others. The works, both generative NFT projects on the Ethereum blockchain, were added through MoMA's Media and Performance department and will be displayed alongside new media art. CryptoPunks, launched by Larva Labs in 2017, are considered the first major NFT collection, while Chromie Squiggles were created by Erick Calderon (Snowfro) as the first project on ArtBlocks.
This acquisition marks one of the most significant institutional endorsements of on-chain art, signaling that crypto art has entered the canon of art history at a major museum level. Digital art adviser Georg Bak called it a legitimation of a key contemporary art movement, while curator Diane Drubay noted MoMA's support for decentralized culture. The move follows similar steps by the Centre Pompidou and aligns with a resurgence in blue-chip NFT trading, though the CryptoPunks market cap has declined from its peak. The acquisition underscores a broader institutional shift toward embracing digital and blockchain-based art forms.