So you may be wondering what makes Bored Ape Yacht Club valuable? The short answer to you is that they’re status symbols, and like all status symbols, their value comes from perception and branding rather than utility. BAYC often colloquially called Bored Ape, is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection built on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection features profile pictures of cartoon apes that are procedurally generated by an algorithm.
Just like you as a CEO may try to communicate with businessmen with a Rolex watch, fancy car, or a luxury suite, people who trade NFTs display their success with a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT.
Some people may argue that NFTs are better status symbols than real-world items since when people used them as profile pictures, millions can see them of people on Twitter and Instagram.
Holding the NFT can give you access to an exclusive Discord server with some celebrity owners and free perks like an invite to yatch party, concerts and meetups across New York, California, Hong Kong and the UK.
And this is the story of BAYC…
In April 2021, Yuga labs launched BAYC and a project consisting of 10,000 ape-themed NFTs with different traits and unique characteristics.
At the time, Yuga Labs consisted of four people, all of whom went by pseudonyms. There’s Gordon Goner and Gargamel, who are the two co-founders, and two friends who helped on the development side, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup.
All four went exclusively by their pseudonyms until February 2022, when they decided to doxx themselves to the public.
The identity of Gargamel is Greg Solano, he has been featured on a few websites as an editor and book critic and has been a student of University of Virginia.
Interestingly, he has also co-authored a book about World of Warcraft with one of the game’s designers.
Wylie Aronow, as call as ‘Gordon Goner’, he is a 35 year old from Miami who lived in Chicago for a while.
Both went on to post pictures of themselves on Twitter alongside their Bored Apes. Following that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Sass both “doxxed” themselves that is, revealed their identity by doing the same.
What makes this NFT collection so successful is it’s a mix of four things: Influencer or celebrity involvement, mainstream potential, a utility for members and community appeal.
The first and second are obvious. When famous people own an NFT, it makes others want to own one too. When celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Snoop Dog, Dj Steven Aoki, Justin Bieber and many more big-name celebrities bought into Bored Ape, it caused a run on sales and hype — and hype is what the NFT market is all about.
People buying into BAYC today, at a steep price of over $100,000 are likely to believe that the brand could one day attract Netflix shows, popular games and Hollywood movies are the goals.
Thirdly, utility. Most NFT projects claim to offer a utility of some sort, which means it does something other than act as a profile picture. That can be access to play-to-earn games or the option to stake an NFT in exchange for an associated cryptocurrency.
Bored Ape Yacht Club has done a few things to keep owners interested. First, it created the Bored Ape Kennel Club, offering owners the opportunity to “adopt” a dog NFT with traits that mimic those of the Bored Apes.
Another freebie came in August 2021: Digital vials of mutant serum. Owners could mix their Bored Ape with the serum to create a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT.
The event of this second collection launched when the Bored Ape brand really popped. Seen as doing innovative things with NFT technology, and coinciding with a huge amount of money entering the space that month, Bored Ape Yacht Club started to be seen as the premiere NFT brand.
Both Kennel Club and Mutant Ape NFTs now sell for a lot. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection in particular has blown up, with the floor price rising from around $11,500 (4 ether) in November to 40 ether ($116,000) now. (Remember, these were free to BAYC holders.)
Last but not least is the community that’s built around a collection. NFTs double as membership cards to holder groups. The more valuable people find belonging to that community, the less they’ll want to sell their NFT.
Bored Ape Yacht Club has organized meetups in New York and California, and there have been Bored Ape get-togethers in Hong Kong and the UK, too.
In November 2021 a weekend of festivities for owners was held in New York, featuring the actual yacht and concert that featured appearances from Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari and The Strokes.
In June 2022, They have Ape Fest is a four-day event that is taking place at Pier 17 in New York City. The feature performances from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Lil Baby… Oh and Amy Schumer too
The “community value” also extends to financial self-interest. The higher the floor price on a collection, the more crypto-rich traders you can expect to beholders.
These savvy investors trade information within locked Discord groups, providing valuable (sometimes insanely valuable) tips to one another. So sell your BAYC NFT and you’ll no longer be sharing the perk benefit.
The acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits
On March 11, 2022, Yuga Labs expanded its NFT ecosystem further by acquiring CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs.
It will interest you to note that both collections are two of BAYC’s most prominent competitors in terms of value and following. And so, it is safe to say that this move cements Yuga Labs’ position at the top player in NFT market.
With this deal, Yuga Labs now owns all IP rights, brands and copyright of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections along with 1,711 Meebits NFTs and 423 CryptoPunks.
As last the apecoin
What is Apecoin?
Yuga Labs has introduced ApeCoin (APE), an ERC-20 token, as a utility and governance token that would further democratize the BAYC ecosystem and allow members to access services within and outside the ecosystem.
To implement full decentralization, ApeCoin was launched by ApeCoin DAO, an entity made up of council members that would execute the decisions of the community.
According to the project’s bio on twitter
ApeCoin is a “governance and utility token used to empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3.”
Yuga Labs hopes that ApeCoin can become the anchor for the BAYC economy and governance system.
Holders can not only use the token to vote on policy changes but also use it to purchase items both in the digital realm and real world.
The votes and decisions of the BAYC community will be administered by the board of ApeCoin DAO, which will also act as the committee members of Ape Foundation, another organization that will handle day-to-day operations. More specifically, the board consists of high-profile individuals. Like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian; Amy Wu, head of crypto exchange FTX’s venture arm and more.
Looking at the structure that powers ApeCoin, it is clear that Yuga Labs has removed itself from the operations of ApeCoin DAO for legal reasons. However, this has not stopped the team from allocating or receiving a share of the total supply of ApeCoin.
Interestingly, 160 million APE has been allocated to Yuga Labs, of which 10 million APE will go to charity. Another 80 million APE goes to the founders of BAYC and Yuga Labs. Also, 140 million APE was allocated to “launch contributors,” which will most likely include Yuga Labs’ investors and partners.
So what’s next for the future of BAYC?
Yuga Labs has big plans for its Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, plans that are both on- and offchain. (That is, both on the blockchain and in the real world.)
All Bored Ape holders have airdropped just over 10,000 Ape Coins at launch, worth around $100,000 at the time. (The value has since doubled.) Ape Coin will be the primary currency in Otherside, the metaverse Yuga Labs is building.
Metaverses are big, virtual spaces shared by hundreds or thousands of people at a time. They’ve existed for a long time, like Second Life or even Fortnite.
Blockchain-integrated metaverses are different only in the sense that the land, building and items within the world are owned by users as NFTs.
Yuga Labs will hold the first auction for land in Otherside. Expect people to drop millions on plots of land.
Finally, Yuga Labs is working with Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange in the US, on a trilogy of films. (Yes, Coinbase has a media production wing that can apparently create films.) The first will debut at NFT.NYC in June, and will coincide with the launch of Coinbase’s long-hyped NFT marketplace.
Out in the physical world, the Bored Apes are integrating themselves into fashion. Adidas launched its first NFT project, Into The Metaverse, in collaboration with several NFT brands, Bored Ape Yacht Club chief among them. Collaborations between Adidas and BAYC on both virtual and physical clothing are coming soon.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club brand has popped up in other industries too. Literally, in the case of food: A pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles was recently turned into a permanent burger spot.
In January, a mobile game, Apes vs. Mutants, launched on both the App Store and Google’s Play Store. (Reviews have been unkind.) Another mobile game is in production, scheduled for Q2.
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