While prices have risen dramatically in the past several months, they could crash at any moment. Most of the apes’ value comes from the exclusivity and media attention. It is probably not a good idea to put your life savings into an ape, but if you have the money available and are willing to risk it, an ape may be worth acquiring. This will bring attention to the project and could raise the floor price. There is also a digital board created by BAYC called “the bathroom.” The bathroom is a digital drawing board, where ape owners can draw anything they want. While this is not a huge perk, it is still a sign of exclusivity.
- Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton are also BAYC holders, discussing their Apes in a (cringey) Tonight Show segment.
- In addition to the social status, the community is another incentive to purchase a BAYC NFT.
- Everyone in the world can save a BAYC jpeg on their computer, but only one person can own the NFT.
The project quickly gained popularity and is one of the most popular NFT projects to date. The project combines aspects of community, exclusivity and social capital to create an enticing and prominent NFT project. Like everything else to do with NFTs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is contentious. Apes inspire jealousy among those who own and trade NFT art but confusion and suspicion among people who don’t. Their value is instrinsically tied to ether, the second biggest cryptocurrency. That means NFTs like BAYC are likely to lose their lustre if crypto collapses — something critics have prophesized for years.
A recent meetup in New York City saw a yacht party, media attention and a performance from fellow BAYC holder Lil Baby. Needless to say, the event was an extravagant flex on the crypto world. Users were given vouchers for the NFTs and did not get to see the art initially.
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Embark on your journey to financial freedom through this digital world. While she’s relatively new to the NFT space (as most people are) she’s loved diving in and providing great resources for beginners and intermediate traders. When you have successfully made a purchase through OpenSea, you will need to approve the transaction in MetaMask. Pay for the NFT and the gas fees in order to process the transaction.
- Much like Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are valuable because of their rarity and exclusivity.
- The premise of the BAKC was that every ape needed a companion and each member of the BAYC received a free Kennel club NFT.
- Bored Ape Yacht Club assets are rare NFTs that are available on the Ethereum blockchain.
- BAYC has over the past year become a bellwether for NFTs, just like bitcoin is for the crypto market at large.
The idea is that anyone can buy a Mona Lisa print for a few bucks, but only one person or institution can own the original. Everyone in the world can save a BAYC jpeg on their computer, but only one person can own the NFT. Each has different attributes, some rarer than others, that makes them unique. Other NFT collections that Yuga Labs started are Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)—a spinoff of BAYC—and Bored Ape Kennel Club.
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. In December 2021, the Bored Ape Yacht Club partnered with Animoca, a blockchain gaming firm, to launch a play-to-earn game using the BAYC NFT. Animoca has designed some popular play-to-earn games, such as The Sandbox, and is valued at more than $5 billion. Whether the Bored Ape collection is truly worth millions of dollars has been hotly debated. Some believe the high valuations are simply based on speculation.
Understanding BAYC
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. The advent of this second collection last August is when the Bored Ape brand really popped. Each NFT has traits which are ranked by rarity, making some more valuable than others.
These properties are displayed on OpenSea, the main platform where NFTs are traded. On any given NFT’s page, its properties will be listed as well as the percentage of NFTs in the collection that share the property. For instance out of 10,000 apes only 46 have solid gold fur, making these particularly valuable.
If you are a complete beginner we would recommend reading our How to Buy NFTs article. All information is accessed through a password, which can also have two-factor authentication. You can also attach a hardware wallet to your MetaMask to make your trades efficient and safe. Learning how to store your NFTs is just as important as learning how to buy a Bored Ape NFT.
The main argument for buying a Bored Ape is that there are only 10,000 of them, and the scarcity will keep increasing the price. If you buy one as an investment, you still need to find someone else willing to pay more than you did. You’re effectively relying on the greater fool theory, which is extremely risky.
Find the BAYC Collection on OpenSea
To do this, either search for the avatars in the search bar or use OpenSea’s filters in the left-hand sidebar. Metaverses are big, virtual spaces shared by hundreds or thousands of people at a time. They’ve existed for a long time, think 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.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club, which was launched in 2021, is similar to pieces of artwork sold physically. However, these pieces exist only digitally and are one of a kind because they live on the blockchain (which allows ownership). Bored Ape Yacht Club, popularly called BAYC, is a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. Metadata for NFTs is information about and descriptions of a token that the NFT creator supplies. When they launched, they were sold for 0.08 Ethereum (ETH -0.27%) each, worth about $190 at the time. A year later, they were selling for more than 100 ETH (over $300,000), and apes with rare traits were fetching millions.
Famous BAYC owners include billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, artists Post Malone and Justin Bieber, and NBA stars Steph Curry and Shaquille O’Neal. If you want to see the full list, make sure to check out our post on celebrities who own BAYC NFTs. The art for BAYC is cartoonish apes with pronounced features and outlandish characteristics. Some think the art is childish, while others say it belongs in the Louvre. Either way, the apes are a status symbol to many in the blockchain community. Out in the physical world, the Bored Apes are integrating themselves into fashion.
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The cheapest ape with gold fur goes for more than $2 million, while cheaper apes sell for around $300,000. While all BAYC NFTs are extremely expensive, some have rare features that make them even more expensive. But “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 be holders.
If the physical device is not present, the funds inside the wallet are locked. Hardware wallets are often regarded as the safest way to store crypto and NFTs. All four went exclusively by their pseudonyms until February, when BuzzFeed reported the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel. Gargamel is Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, and Gordon Goner is 35-year-old Wylie Aronow. 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.
Hackers stole about 30 Bored Ape tokens from owners who approved a transfer using a fake “mint” link. Outside of potential hacks, however, it is increasingly challenging to lose a Bored Ape NFT. The exclusivity that comes with the token’s perks makes Bored Ape Yacht Club much more valuable in price than many other NFTs.
How to Buy Bored Ape NFTs (Bored Ape Yacht Club)
Each is a headshot of an ape, but each NFT has defining characteristics that make it unique and define its rarity. Each ape’s clothes, background and eyes, among features, determine its overall rarity. This is a common practice among NFT projects, giving each holder a distinctly unique NFT. Without a doubt, 2021 was been the year of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Tens of billions of dollars have been transacted in the NFT space, and the number is increasing every day.
These savvy investors trade information within locked Discord groups, providing valuable (sometimes insanely valuable) tips to one another. The short answer is that they’re status symbols, and like all status symbols their value comes from perception and branding rather than utility. Just like a CEO may try to communicate business acumen with a Rolex or a luxury suit, people who trade NFTs display their success with a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Their argument is that NFTs are better status symbols than real-world items, since when used as profile pictures they can be seen by millions of people on Twitter and Instagram.
Bored Ape Yacht Club combines digital collectibles with a members-only online club. Each Bored Ape is a unique digital character generated using more than 170 possible traits, including the ape’s clothing, expression, headwear, and more. Much like Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are valuable because of their rarity and exclusivity. Only 10,000 are available and each acts as a golden ticket to additional club perks. The exclusive club feeling definitely drives the NFT sales of these digital assets. Now that you have such a valuable asset, you will want to store your non-fungible token on a hard wallet instead of relying on your browser-based wallet.