Bored Ape Yacht Club is the most popular NFT collection this year. It has been in the headlines over the past few months in 2022, for good and bad. However, to those new to the world of NFTs, BAYC may seem like a confusing project.
Hence, here is a guide on everything you need to know about Yuga Labs’ BAYC.
What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club?
The Bored Ape Yacht Club, BAYC for short, is a collection of 10,000 NFTs. It is an edition collection, meaning that it is not 1/1, and is it generated by a computer program. Creators make a template and produce variations by mixing and matching specific traits. In BAYC’s case, the template is an image of an ape.
For BAYC, there are varying fur types, facial expressions, clothing, jewelry, and so on. Only 49 Bored Apes have a dagger in their mouth, 108 have cyborg-eyes, and 115 have a cross earring.
Bored Ape Yacht Club was created by Yuga Labs. The company was founded by four individuals. The lead artist behind BAYC’s original collection is a woman who goes by “Seneca” or “All Seeing Seneca.”
Why are BAYC NFTs so expensive?
The BAYC collection is like trading cards. There aren’t an infinite number of them, and the coding behind each NFT is 1/1, making it rare solely to its owner. Multiple celebrities bought in on the NFT collection, including Hip Hop legend Eminem and Late Night host Jimmy Fallon.
Additionally, an NFT’s utility can be things like access to future events, merchandise, or any number of other things. This exclusivity and cosign by celebrities boosted the popularity of BAYC early, hence making owning one so expensive.
You can compare the peak hype of BAYC to Pokémon cards, for example. For the right collectors, a card can go for thousands, even millions of USD. Most BAYC hover around the six-figure mark. Its floor price did drop in August to 66 ETH, equaling $84,876.00.
Albeit the high right, BAYC NFTs are not just a “flex” for holders. They are also an investment.
- Members have commercial usage rights to their apes. This means they can make and sell prints, T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.
- BAYC also released their own merch, which was exclusive to Bored Ape NFT owners.
- A new project called the Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) was launched, and the entire supply of NFTs was airdropped exclusively to Bored Ape owners. 1 Ape = 1 Dog. The floor of BAKC almost immediately surpassed 1 ETH (over $2,000) on the secondary sales market, adding extra profit to BAYC holders’ pockets.
- The Mutant Ape Yacht Club was also originally a member-exclusive NFT collection that opened up to the public after a waiting period.
- BAYC members have a say in where the project’s funds go. These community initiatives have donated millions to various charities.
- Recent roadmap updates have announced even more members-only utilities, including a scavenger hunt, BAYC project narrative updates, games, and more on the horizon.
All in all, BAYC is one of the most popular and controversial NFTs out there. While there are mixed reactions to the NFT realm, one cannot deny its growth and popularity.