How did a bored ape take over the NFT market [Art Market User Manual]
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NFT art 'Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)' issued by U.S. blockchain startup Yuga Labs. In addition to its value as an artistic creation, it is recognized for its high value as an asset with a limited edition of 10,000 worldwide, membership, and open licensing of intellectual property (IP). /Photo courtesy of Yuga Labs
[Art Market User Manual-20] 'Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).' This project, which is called a game changer in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, started in April of last year with NFT art issued with a picture of a monkey by Yuga Labs, a small blockchain startup in Delaware, USA.
The bored ape is able to do anything after making a lot of money with cryptocurrency, but he is rather bored with life. Yuga Labs published 10,000 bored ape pictures as BAYC NFT by drawing a ape with a bored expression as if it had lost its focus with digital graffiti work. It is a kind of series work.
A customized generation algorithm of 170 different characteristics, including background color, hat, eyes, and clothing, gives the monkey a rarity, so each character has its own unique characteristics. The higher the rarity, the higher the price is traded.
What is unique is that Yuga Labs granted BAYC NFT holders(owners) membership to participate in community activities and provided special benefits. In particular, it allowed the user to freely utilize the intellectual property rights(IP) of the specific BAYC NFT that he/she purchased. In other words, it means that you can use the pictures of BAYC NFT that you own for commercial purposes, regardless of the rights of the original author.
The reaction was explosive. For example, 'Bored & Hungry', a hamburger restaurant that started business in Long Beach, California, USA, used the NFT owned by the holder of BAYC NFT for branding and marketing. At Board & Hungry, you can pay for your food in APE Coin (APE). Holders are given free upgrades to set menus, and NFT community terminology is used for the menu name. Thanks to that, it has become a community space favored by BAYC NFT holders.
In general, IP requires the consent of the original author and royalties must be paid, but BAYC is an 'open licensing' that allows each holder to use the IP for a desired direction and purpose for a secondary creation, which is evaluated as having broken the concept of existing intellectual property rights. If the right to use is not restricted, the value is not reduced due to scarcity, but rather, the BAYC project is expanding into various fields, and the brand value is also increasing.
As 10,000 limited edition membership and IP use rights were added to the picture, celebrities and global brands jumped in to become BAYC NFT holders. It has emerged as the most popular collectible and investment object in the NFT trading market.
In fact, many famous celebrities such as rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem, singers Madonna, and Justin Bieber certify that they are holders of only 10,000 BAYC NFTs worldwide and participate in various community activities through social networking services(SNS), as if consuming limited edition luxury goods. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, also joined the holder certification procession by changing his Twitter profile picture to BAYC NFT. Adidas also became a BAYC NFT holder and released collaboration products.
A collaboration NFT product that Adidas introduced earlier this year as a BAYC NFT holder. Wearing costumes designed by Adidas to a bored ape, issued 30,000 limited edition NFTs and sold them at 0.2 ETH (Ethereum) per piece. Adidas provided the actual product of the collaboration clothing for free to this NFT holder. /Photo courtesy of Adidas
BAYC NFTs were sold for 0.08 ETH (Ethereum) each when they were first traded, or $220 USD at the time. Since then, the price per unit has risen more than 1,200 times, and the asset value has reached the bottom of 152 ETH in 11 months, making Yuga Labs a unicorn company with a corporate value of exactly 5 trillion won. The most expensive BAYC NFT to date is 'Bored Ape #8817' sold at Sotheby's auction in October last year. At the time, this NFT was sold for $4.3 million (418 ETH).
Meanwhile, based on this success, Yuga Labs has also started to expand its business with Metaverse. It is 'Otherdeed' NFT, a virtual land in the metaverse space. According to Reuters, as of the 1st of last month, all of AtherDid's were sold, recording a total sales of $285 million. Other Deed is an NFT that can be exchanged for virtual land in the metaverse game 'Otherside' being developed by Yuga Labs.
Otherdeed is sold only to BAYC holders. As it is possible to participate only with APE, Yuga Labs' own virtual currency, the value of Ape Coin also recorded an upward trend.
[Reporter Song Kyung Eun]
