Bored Ape Yacht Club ('BAYC') has teamed up with Sotheby's for a two-lot sale of their Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens ('NFT's'), a range of computer-generated monkey and dog themed avatars. The sale was held from September 2 to September 9 and included the 101 'Bored Ape Yacht Club' NFT's as well as 101'Bored Ape Kennel Club' NFT's.
The Kennel Club NFTs, marketed as pets to the apes, sold for USD$1,835,000 while the apes climbed to an eye-watering USD$24,393,000. The buyer will not only receive six 'mutant serums' to generate new ape NFT's but will also take control of their intellectual property, according to the very brief terms of sale on BAYC’s website.
Purchasing gives the owner promised access to exclusive club benefits and offerings. As we've mentioned, NFT's are digitally unique, one of a kind tokens that are not-to-be repeated. The collectable tokens have become a means by which artists and musicians can sell their work while ensuring the digital security offered by blockchain technology.
Sotheby's has been at the forefront of digital currency exchanges and NFT's, having auctioned the first ever created NFT earlier this year.
Projects like BAYC have grown in popularity this year along with NFTs generally. The computer generated apes showcase distinct features programmed from over 170 possible traits with some being more sought after than others; earlier this week one NFT sold for 740 Ether (USD $2.9 million).
Yung Labs, the developers of the BAYC NFT's, recently sold 10,000 Mutant Apes in a single hour (for around 3 Ethereum each) and airdropped a further 10,000 vials of
'mutant serums'. The M1, M2 and Mega mutant serums allow owners to generate new apes by exposing their original work to a vial. This comes after the company sold 10,000 original ape NFT's in April for around USD$200 each.
Many large businesses have sought to ride the NFT wave through offerings or even buying NFT's themselves. The secondary market for BAYC NFT's has increased dramatically since the original drop and shows no signs of slowing down.