The Bored Ape - Explained
If you have been surfing the internet for a while, you might notice a bunch of cool Apes being discussed a lot. To understand the reason behind these Bored Apes getting a lot of attention, you have to know what an NFT is.
WHAT IS AN NFT?
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. It is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different.
NFTs are traded on an Ethereum Blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. Pioneered by CryptoPunks in 2017, NFT collections are a little like Pokemon cards. You have a set amount — usually between 5,000 and 10,000 — which all have the same template, but each has different attributes that make them unique.
NFTs are a big business, with about $25 billion being spent on them in 2021. But despite all that money flying about, nonfungible tokens have yet to enter the mainstream culture. Bored Apes are the cornerstone of an elite movement called, you guessed it, the Bored Apes Yacht Club.
WHAT IS BORED APE YACHT CLUB?
Developed by Yuga Labs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a series of NFT profile pictures depicting disinterested-looking apes with randomly generated traits. Bored Ape NFTs have now generated more than $750 million worth of trading volume, including subsequent variant sets, per data from CryptoSlam.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) styled as Apes created on the Ethereum blockchain. It takes inspiration from NFT projects like CryptoPunks, where each NFT looks totally unique and individual. Each Ape has a different rarity depending on what the Ape is wearing, doing, and its background.
WHY ARE THEY SO VALUABLE?
So with a ton of NFTs in the market, what makes the ones from BAYC so special? An Ape is made up of seven possible traits:
- Background
- Clothes
- Earring
- Eyes
- Fur
- Hat
For example, one of the rarest NFTs in the collection, Bored Ape #7495, has a dagger in its mouth, a feature that only 48 other apes have, according to the NFT marketplace OpenSea. Moreover, the backing from celebrities has added a lot more value to their coveted title. Some owners include the like:
- The Tonight Show Host Jimmy Fallon
- Billionaire investor Mark Cuban
- NBA champions Stephen Curry & Shaquille O’Neal
- Rappers Post Malone & Lil Baby
- DJ Marshmello
- Music producers Timbaland & The Chainsmokers
- Social influencers Logan Paul & KSI
The idea of having a club also came from their vision of a congregation place for bored billionaires, who after ‘aping in’ went on to talk numbers and make memes.
This is exactly what comes as a “benefit” of owning a Bored Yacht Ape Club NFT. Bored ape owners, including celebrities, become members and get special privileges such as access to an exclusive Discord server and ‘The Bathroom’, a digital area acting as a collaborative graffiti board.
Club members are also rewarded with free NFTs from the same stables, which can be resold. So, it is like a gated online community of ape owners with special rights. You can even call them members of an exclusive art appreciation society.
BUT THERE’S MORE TO THE BORED APE!
Yuga Labs has big plans for its Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, plans that are both on- and off-chain. Start with more blockchain stuff.
In the March of 2022, Yuga Labs released Ape Coin, its own cryptocurrency. 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.
WHERE TO BUY BORED APE YACHT CLUB NFTs?
If you’re ready to ape into a Bored Ape NFT, it’s going to cost you. Right now, the floor (lowest cost) for a BAYC NFT is 25 ETH (~$80,000) on OpenSea. Simply visit the project page for each to view the entire collection. But remember the trade-off is done in Ethereum, so you need an Ethereum wallet such as MetaMask.
If you’re not keen to spend a fortune on an ape, you can become part owner of one via fractional Bored Ape ownership. The best platform for fractional NFT ownership at the moment is Fractional, where several Bored Ape YC NFTs are held in vaults.
CONCLUSION
Bored Ape Yacht Club has successfully taken a popular NFT model and found new ways to innovate. By combining ethical charity donations, upgrades, and other membership bonuses. Just like the rest of the NFT community, there’s a new upcoming focus on utility for NFTs rather than just collectability.
