Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection
Launched by Yuga Labs on April 30, 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Each Bored Ape is a unique avatar and membership card to BAYC’s Yacht Club.
Using ETH’s ERC-721 non-fungible token standard and located on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, BAYC is one of the most popular NFT art collections. 101 Bored Ape sold for over $24 million at a recent auction at Sotheby’s. This means that each Bored Ape is priced at approximately $241,000.
What is Bored Ape Yacht Club?
The NFT art collection concept was revealed by CryptoPunks in 2017. This craze gained significant momentum in early 2021, and BAYC refers to one of the different NFT collections released since then.
Each Bored Ape is unique and has been programmatically created with 170 possible features such as beards, accessories, hats and clothes. Because every APE is created with a program, some features are considered rare and can increase the value of Bored Ape.
On May 5, Bored Ape Yacht Club launched the NFT20 liquidity pool, a permissionless NFT DEX that provides liquidity to NFT projects. Holders of Bored APE NFTs can deposit their NFTs and receive 95 in exchange for $BAYC20, the ERC-20 derivative of Bored Ape NFT.
This allows NFT holders to provide liquidity to the BAYC/ETH Uniswap pool. NFT holders can deposit $100 BAYC20 back into the liquidity pool to get any Bored Ape staked back into their wallet. Some, such as Elon Musk, have criticized this system for the possibility that NFT holders will receive a different Bored Ape than they deposited.
How Much Is a Bored Ape?
Yuga Labs initially sold each Bored Ape at 0.08 ETH, equivalent to about $220 to $300 in price and gas fees at the time of mintage. The Bored Ape team is proud that they do not use the bonding curve, as they consider the bonding curve, a protocol-based incentive system, to be a Ponzi system. Bonding curve is a model whose price automatically increases each time the asset is sold.
BAYC members are granted lifetime commercial property rights to their Bored Ape. NFT owners can thus do whatever they want with their Bored Ape. For example, many Bored Ape owners have produced products that showcase their NFTs and artistic variations such as:
Where Does BAYC’s Popularity Come From?
Like many other NFT art collections, BAYC has received attention from a significant number of individuals and this has increased its popularity. BAYC’s base price attracted attention from two prominent NFT collectors known as @Pranksy and @J1mmy.eth under the Twitter aliases.
The joint purchase of 250 Bored Ape on April 24 had a major impact on the acceleration of prices. This sparked a series of events among various people, including DJ 3LAU, who gifted two Bored Apes on the Discord server.
How Long Did It Take for Bored Apes to Expire?
Released on April 30, all 10,000 Bored Ape were sold out within one day. As of May 3, the price of Bored Ape has increased significantly, increasing by approximately 600% from its original price at $1,700.
Various NBA players are members of the BAYC, including Josh Hart of the New Orleans Pelicans, Tyrese Halliburton of the Sacramento Kings, LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets, and Stephen Curry, two-time MVP of the Golden State Warriors. Bored Ape, which Curry bought for 55 ETH ($180,000) in early September, increased demand for BAYC and with it the closing price at Sotheby’s auction.
BAYC sets it apart from some other NFT collections as Bored Ape ownership also offers membership in the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Club membership provides several exclusive benefits, such as access to a private Discord server and online public graffiti board “THE BATHROOM” where members can interact and leave notes. The Discord server also sees participation from notable members such as Stephen Curry, who posted his picture in late August.
BAYC has also conducted five one-time random APE airdrops to existing NFT holders and opened a specialty merchandise store selling limited-edition apparel. Another advantage in BAYC’s roadmap is what the team refers to as the Mystery Note. This Mysterious Note is the first clue in the treasure hunt, which will end with 5 ETH and a Bored Ape reward for BAYC members.
Two additional NFT art collections have been released by the BAYC team, the Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) and the Bored Ape Mutant Club (BAMC). The Yuga Labs team promises additional benefits that have yet to be announced in the future.
What is the Bored Ape Kennel Club?
The Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) was released on June 18, 2021. Similar to BAYC, BAKC is an NFT collection of 10,000 dog avatars that will be companions in every Bored Ape. These NFTs are available free of charge to all interested BAYC members. Just like Bored Ape owners, each dog avatar is programmatically created with its own unique features and background environment.
What is Bored Ape Mutant Club?
Bored Ape Mutant Club (BAMC) was released on August 28. The collection consists of 20,000 possible Mutant Apes created by current NFT owners, 10,000 of which were gifted with mutant serum. Each of these mutant sera comes in three forms that mutate the current Ape differently. The third serum mutation is kept secret until the remaining 10,000 Mutant Apes are sold. Each Bored Ape can only mutate once, so a market has arisen where owners try to trade in different forms of serum.
BAMC provided an opportunity to become Yacht Club members by purchasing Mutant Ape for 10.000 more people. If the original Bored Ape members sell their Mutant Ape, an additional 10,000 members will be able to obtain memberships. This is a lower category membership than the original BAYC membership. The development of special benefits for Mutant Ape-only members will come after Bored Apes, and some benefits may remain exclusive to full members only.
Who Is Behind Bored Ape Yacht Club?
The Yuga Labs team describes BAYC as “created by four friends trying to make some dumb monkeys, test our skills, and do something (nonsense).” Each founder is currently known only by the nicknames Gargamel, Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and No Sass. “STARCRAFT IS OBSERVED. Not much is known about these founders beyond the amusing statements they make about themselves, like Gargamel.
What is the Future of Bored Ape Yacht Club?
Much of BAYC’s value comes from the privilege of ownership and access to BAYC’s membership areas. Many Bored Ape owners have changed their Twitter avatar to Bored Ape and interact with each other as part of their private club. One crypto entrepreneur described Bored Ape ownership as a status symbol, like wearing a fancy wrist watch or a rare shoe.
Every NFT released by the BAYC team has the potential to create its own market. This is because their owners have been given additional value by the BAYC team. For example, owners of NFTs who have received a certain mutant serum may try swapping it for a different serum. Owners can also trade their pet dogs from the BAKC (although this will not provide any membership). The same will be true for Mutant Apes and any other new NFTs that BAYC will introduce or give to its members.
For these reasons, part of the value of each BAYC membership will depend on future developments by the BAYC team. NFT holders will also be given a say in how the project should be developed. This can add even more value to the project. This is especially true as there are many notable members among the members. It’s not every day that the average individual can hang out with Stephen Curry on Discord. As long as the BAYC team continues to develop new NFT assets or more member-exclusive benefits for their members, NFT holders will continue to receive benefits. This opens up potential opportunities for people who might want to become a member, even with the low-category membership that comes with Mutant Ape.
The privilege means that the price of their Bored Ape will rise as long as NFT holders continue to see an advantage in their membership. The limited supply of 10,000 Bored Ape adds additional value to this privilege.
Conclusion
In early 2021, interest in NFT art collections was waning until the launch of BAYC. BAYC has fueled the launch of new NFT art collections. The opportunities it offers set BAYC apart from other NFT art collections. As a luxury collector’s item and membership, BAYC has a great potential to attract attention.
It requires the Yuga Labs team to continue its current momentum by continuing to release new NFT assets or member-exclusive features. BAYC’s ability to rekindle the NFT craze has shown that the team can do more.
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