The non-fungible token (NFT) space has been experiencing tremendous growth recently. While some argue that NFTs have nothing to offer, others have truly understood the technology behind NFTs. As a result, even major companies such as Facebook and Adidas have shown increasing interest in them.
In 2021, the cryptocurrency market experienced tremendous growth. Some NFTs sold for millions of dollars during that year. Among the most expensive are the CryptoPunks – the OGs of the NFT space. However, new collections are getting more attention than CryptoPunks recently.
As the NFT market gets bigger, so does the number of valuable NFT projects. One of these projects is the Bored Ape Yacht Club (also known as BAYC). This NFT collection joined the market in April 2021 and accumulated more than Ξ318,000 (Ξ stands for ETH) in trading volume by the end of the year. Just some time ago, the Bored Apes’ floor price/entry price flipped that of the CryptoPunks.
At the time of writing, the cheapest CryptoPunk is listed at a floor price of Ξ59.95 (~$200,128), while you can buy a Bored Ape for Ξ74.69 (~$258,000). Since the price of Ethereum changes constantly, we suggest you focus on the floor price in ETH.
What is a Bored Ape?
Currently, Bored Apes are the most famous NFT collection in the world. Although more than 95% of the global population does not know what an NFT is, the Bored Ape Yacht Club accumulated more than $1 billion in trading volume until today. This makes them the second most traded collection globally, with the CryptoPunks being the first.
In other words, a Bored Ape is an ERC-721 token on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike ERC-20 tokens, you cannot trade an ERC-721 for another ERC-721 token. This means that they are not fungible, hence the name non-fungible. Not all NFTs are ERC-721, however. We have NFT collections in the Ethereum network that follow other token standards, and we have NFTs on other blockchains. One example would be the CryptoPunks. This collection debuted before the ERC-721 standard existed, so they created the collection themselves.
Fun Fact: The ERC-721 token standard was inspired by the CryptoPunks collection.
Who Created Bored Apes?
The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection was created by Yuga Labs. However, nobody knows who is behind Yuga Labs. All we know is that the Bored Ape Yacht Club founders are: Gordon Goner, No Sass, Gargamel, and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Nevertheless, all of them are obviously pseudonyms.
As mentioned above, this collection made its debut in April 2021 and has been growing in value ever since. Celebrities such as Stephen Curry, Eminem, and Future have already bought at least 1 Bored Ape.
Takeaways
- The non-fungible token (NFT) market has skyrocketed in 2021. As a result, some NFTs sold for thousands of Ethereum.
- Most NFTs are based on the ERC-721 token standard, while this token standard was inspired by the CryptoPunks collection.
- This makes the CryptoPunks the real OGs of the NFT space.
- Until the 4th quarter of 2021, CryptoPunks had the highest floor price/entry price. However, a collection known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club flipped them over just some months ago.
- Several celebrities own at least one Bored Ape. Some of them are Jimmy Fallon, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Lil Baby.