Yuga Labs won a court case against artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, accused of creating a counterfeit. They were ordered to either destroy their NFTs or hand them over to the company for deletion. However, according to the company, Ripps failed to comply with this requirement, claiming to have lost the private keys to the wallets containing the tokens.

Yuga Labs filed a court request for action against Ripps, one of the creators of the NFT collection RR/BAYC, alleging that he intentionally destroyed the keys to obstruct the process. The company sued the authors of the collection in June 2022, accusing them of copying their works, and won the case in April 2023.

In February 2024, the court ordered Ripps and Cahen to destroy all remaining NFTs or transfer them to Yuga Labs. According to court documents, Ripps reported the loss of keys on February 21, 2024, although it is assumed that he destroyed them in December 2023. The artist explained his actions as a desire to prevent any accidental use of NFTs recognized as copies.

Yuga Labs expressed the opinion that Ripps' actions cause additional damage to the company by violating the execution of the court decision. The company emphasized that the destruction of the keys does not mean the loss of ownership of the tokens, as they still belong to Ripps. It was also noted that access to the wallets can be restored if Ripps has copies of the private keys.

The defense of Ripps and Cahen filed an official response, asking to dismiss Yuga Labs' request. The lawyers argued that their clients fully complied with the court's order, except for the issue with the private keys, access to which was lost.