NFTs have become increasingly popular over the past year. Tens of billions of dollars are transacted in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, and many celebrities are beginning to enter the space. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) was 1 of the first major NFT projects and has gained exponential popularity. The project combines social capital, community and exclusivity to create an NFT project like no other.
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained
To grap what Bored Ape Yacht club is, you should first understand what NFTs are. NFT stands for non-fungible token. Fungible means that something can be replaced, so an NFT cannot be replaced. For example, gold, bitcoin and the U.S dollar are fungible, whereas trading cards, art, and intellectual property are non-fungible. Every NFT has a unique identifying address that is stored in a holder’s wallet. This identifying address allows users to prove that they have sole ownership of an NFT.
NFTs can represent anything that is digital, and work is being done for NFTs to verify ownership of real world items. Common use cases for NFTs today are digital collectibles and in-game items for video games. Users can prove that they have ownership of these things, as the unique identifier is stored in their wallet and on the blockchain. NFTs can be minted when bought directly from the creators, or they can be bought on a secondary market, such as OpenSea.
BAYC is an NFT collection. The NFTs are images of apes. There are over 170 unique traits that these apes can have with varying rarities. The creators combined these different traits to create 10,000 unique NFTs. No 2 apes are the same –– each has a unique set of traits. Some of the more notable traits are suits, laser eyes and gold fur. These traits contribute to the overall rarity of the ape. The rarer the ape, the more it will sell for.
Bored Apes look cartoonish, with exaggerated features. Many think the art looks amazing, while others see it as childish. Regardless, the cheapest Bored Ape one can buy today is over $200,000.
BAYC History
The BAYC collection was released on April 23, 2021. The initial release allowed users to purchase a random ape, but they did not get to see which ape until a week later. When the art became public and users saw their NFTs, the project quickly sold out.
The apes minted for 0.08 Ethereum (ETH), which was approximately $185 at the time. As of right now, the floor price, or lowest listed NFT, is selling for around 52 ETH, which is well over $200,000.
BAYC was created by Yuga Labs. The team behind Yuga Labs has remained anonymous, but they are engaged with the community.
Perks of Being In Bored Ape Yacht Club
Owning an ape gives access to a variety of exclusive spaces and events. In addition, the apes are seen as a status symbol.
BAYC has had several meetups around the world since its launch. A meetup in New York City included an actual yacht and celebrity appearances. The meetup drew over 700 ape holders to the event.
In addition to exclusive events, owning a Bored Ape is a digital flex. If you own an ape, you are among other owners such as Post Malone, Steph Curry, Jimmy Fallon and Lil Baby. Having an ape as a Twitter profile picture is the ultimate sign of wealth, chicness and exclusivity.
There is also a digital space hosted 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.
Where To Buy Bored Ape NFTs
As the BAYC mint is long behind us, the only place to purchase an ape is on the secondary market. This means that you buy NFTs directly from the owners. OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace and supported over $10 billion in volume in Q3 2021.
OpenSea uses ETH for purchases. To purchase an NFT on OpenSea, you will first have to buy ETH from an exchange. Some of the best places to do this are Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), Gemini, Voyager and eToro. Opening an account on these platforms is fairly easy, and you can purchase ETH within minutes.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club
After the instant success of BAYC, Yuga Labs created another NFT collection called Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC). The collection is very similar to BAYC with a few key differences.
BAYC holders had exclusive access to MAYC before the general public. They were given a serum that could be used to create a new MAYC NFT. These NFTs could either have the same traits as the Bored Ape held in their wallet or be an original Mutant Ape NFT. After the release to the BAYC holders, the developers held a public sale where users could purchase a random MAYC NFT. Overall, 20,000 mutants were released. The public sale price for MAYC was 3 ETH, or around $11,000.
The price floor for MAYC is much lower than BAYC but still high. At the time of writing, the floor for Mutant Apes is around 6.75 ETH or about $25,000.
- ERC-20 tokens
How To Store NFTs Safely
If you own an NFT, you most likely want to protect the precious asset and mitigate risks of it getting stolen. Keeping it in a software wallet is a solid option, but there are horror stories of people losing their NFTs through software wallet hacks.
Hardware wallets are the safest way to store NFTs. These wallets require a physical device to send crypto. Without the physical device, NFTs cannot be stolen via the internet.
Ledger is a hardware wallet that offers industry leading security. There are 2 models: the Nano S and Nano X. The Nano S provides basic features to guarantee safety. The Nano X guarantees safety but also adds several ease-of-use features such as bluetooth connectivity and a larger screen.
Bored Ape Yacht Club vs. CryptoPunks
Another major NFT project is CryptoPunks. These 8-bit NFTs were launched for free in June 2017, several years before BAYC. Now, they are much more expensive, with a floor price of 72.99 ETH, which equates to nearly $300,000.
While CryptoPunks are more expensive than BAYC, they do not offer the same level of community. They have not had meetups of the same size and stature as BAYC and do not offer much else besides the digital NFT.
About Caden Pok
Caden has been involved with crypto since 2018, when he began investing, trading, and mining tokens. He took part in undergraduate research studying cryptoeconomics at the University of Michigan, where he will graduate Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s in economics in 2025. He is experienced with DeFi technology and multiple blockchains, currently investing in Ethereum and Bitcoin.