Bored Ape Yacht Club; What you should know

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are currently one of the world's most popular digital collections.

Celebrities like Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Eminem, Serena Williams, and Justin Bieber, all have at least one of the ten thousand Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.

Aside from celebs gravitating towards it. Bored Ape Yacht Club is gradually becoming an off-chain brand. Adidas collaborated with BAYC on its first NFT project, a BAYC mobile game was released in January, and a BAYC monkey graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine last year.

What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

Gargamel, Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and No Sass. Yuga Labs' four pseudonymous co-founders created the Bored Ape project. 

Until February 2022, when BuzzFeed revealed the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel, all four went by their pseudonyms. Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, plays Gargamel, and Wylie Aronow, 35, plays Gordon Goner.

Both of them then used Twitter to share photos of themselves with their Bored Apes. After that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Sass both revealed their true identities as well.

The collection is hosted on IPFS and runs on the Ethereum blockchain as ERC-721 tokens.

By market capitalization, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is the largest NFT avatar.

The BAYC collection has 10,000 unique NFTs that were produced using an algorithm from over 172 potential qualities that determine the uniqueness of each ape.

Laser eyes on 69 apes, blue beams on 49 apes, solid gold fur on 46 apes, and the bored unshaven pizza mouth, of which only 26 instances exist, are among the most sought-after traits

The NFT is more valued the more rare characteristics an ape image exhibits. According to data collected as of March 2022, the total value of BAYC trade on the OpenSea marketplace was over 466,000 ETH (US$1.4 billion).

Apart from their extensive use as profile photographs on social media, the BAYC series is notable for its versatility. The NFTs denote membership in the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a digital club with exclusive access and benefits for its members.

Membership, for instance, grants access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board available only to MetaMask wallets containing Bored Apes. As the BAYC roadmap evolves, members will receive new perks.

In order to keep owners engaged, the Bored Ape Yacht Club has taken some commendable steps. First, it established the Bored Ape Kennel Club, which allows owners to adopt a dog NFT with characteristics similar to those of the Bored Apes.

In August, another surprise arrived: digital vials of mutant serum. Users could produce a Mutant Ape NFT by mixing their Bored Ape with the serum. NFTs from the Kennel Club and Mutant Ape sell for a lot of money.

What makes BAYC Valuable?

Exclusive admission to the Yacht Club, a members-only retail store, and an exclusive Discord server are all included in the BAYC collection. Additional NFTs, such as a free Bored Ape Kennel Club, are available to BAYC holders.

BAYC golfers received a free mutant serum from Yuga Labs, which resulted in a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT for Bored Ape owners. The ApeCoin cryptocurrency was recently airdropped to MAYC and BAYC owners. Having a BAYC is similar to having a continuous subscription to new NFTs and assets.

An additional feature is its attraction to the general public. On social media, BAYC holders have been constantly exhibiting their NFTs as profile images.

A strategist at NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam revealed that the BAYC collection is unique because of its popularity. "This is what makes BAYC so strong," he said.

“They capture a moment in time where NFTs were starting to become relevant in a mainstream way, and owning one is owning a piece of that moment” he added.

Another reason these NFTs are so valued is because their high cost of ownership makes them status symbols. NFTs became assets to represent socioeconomic position as the global Covid-19 pandemic pushed digital usage.

Petscher feels the collection's attraction to some of the world's wealthiest artists and athletes will help them extend their celebrity identities.

He said, “some careers require a person to be relevant, so what better way to do that than owning the most well-known NFT in the world”. He added “BAYC is cool, and everyone wants the cool thing”

Where and how to buy a Bored Ape NFT

The public could purchase Bored Ape NFTs for 0.08 ETH during an inaugural sale in April 2021, which saw the entire collection sold out in less than 12 hours.

The BAYC collection, which has a high floor price, can be browsed by users. On NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, the photographs are available for sale.

Those who desire to buy the Bored Ape will require an Ethereum wallet, such as MetaMask. Potential buyers have the option of purchasing at auctions or via fixed-price listings on NFT markets.

The future of Bored Ape Yacht Club

Most people believe BAYC will eventually outgrow the blockchain. BAYC announced in December that it would work with Animoca Brands on a play-to-earn game. The "Mysterious Note," which leads to a treasure hunt for 5 ETH and a Bored Ape NFT, is another point of interest.

The members-only BAYC x MAYC mobile game was published in January, kicking off a competition that will last for ten days in which the top 1,000 players will get BAYC items.

The competition generated a lot of interest in BAYC and Ape Fest 2022, which is a four-day event in Manhattan that begins on June 20 and is exclusively for BAYC members.

Recently, the event was rescheduled to coincide with NFT.NYC, this is an NFT event projected to attract over 5,500 people.

Following announcements like the Otherside metaverse and game project, the ApeCoin governance token was launched.

Yehudah Petscher said, “The project itself will then be turned over to the community, and it will be the responsibility of the holders to shape the future of the BAYC. Perhaps this is where the celebrity holders will really pay off for the brand”

Large corporations are also beginning to use Bored Ape NFTs. Adidas paid 46 ETH (US$156,000) for BAYC #8774 in September.

What people are doing with their apes, on the other hand, is more unique. The complete commercial rights that come with owning a Bored Ape NFT are being used in some innovative ways by holders.

With NFTs gaining more attention, the BAYC NFTs seem to be here for the long run, with many more innovations still to come, taking giant strides all the way.