Non-homogeneous tokens (NFT) continue to break the circle in the mainstream media, the most famous of which are Punk, BAYC and other veteran blue-chip projects. Projects such as BAYC are no longer exclusive to insiders. Some big names in Hollywood, many first-line stars, football stars, and large companies will proudly show off their BAYC, which undoubtedly promotes the popularity and price of BAYC NFT.
The success of the "Bored Ape Yacht Club" NFT series has led to its subsequent sections, such as Land, Metaverse, ApeCoin, etc., forming an extremely large Web3 ecosystem.
Rise of the Apes
Yuga Labs is a Web3 marketing company with BAYC as its brainchild, an exclusive collection of 10,000 programmatically generated NFTs with different combinations of 170 different characteristics.
"BAYC" will go on sale on April 23, 2021, each priced at 0.08 ether (ETH), which was worth about $190 at the time. BAYC didn't get a lot of attention at first, until one day on May 1, well-known collector Pranksy paid attention to the project and announced that he had purchased more than 250 apes. From the moment he tweeted, BAYC saw a surge in sales, users, and transactions. After only 117 minutes, BAYC sold out.
Holding BAYC's NFT is also equivalent to holding a membership card of the BAYC ecosystem and obtaining exclusive benefits for members. Needless to say, it's popular, with Hollywood A-listers and NBA's best players all shelling out big bucks to own BAYC NFTs.
The price of the NFT skyrocketed as big-name celebrities like Justin Bieber, Eminem, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Post Malone got their own avatars of Bored Ape. The cheapest Bored Ape currently listed on OpenSea sells for about 145 ETH, which is close to 270W RMB.
Following the successful launch of BAYC and the sale of all 10,000 NFTs, Yuga Labs created the "Mutant Ape Yacht Club" and "Bored Ape Kennel Club" and conducted airdrops to BAYC holders.
Ape Coin
As BAYC quickly gained traction and evolved into the exclusive membership ecosystem it is today, Yuga Labs turned its attention to creating a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) to serve as the backbone of the burgeoning community.
As the base layer of ApeCoin DAO, Ape Foundation is responsible for the daily management and project management within the ecosystem. The Ecological Fund pays the fees of the Ape Foundation according to the instructions of the DAO and acts as the infrastructure for ApeCoin holders to participate in the governance process.
ApeCoin (APE) is an ERC-20 Token for governance and transactions within the Ape ecosystem. Holders can participate in ApeCoin DAO, trade with other participants, and obtain exclusive ecological services, game activities and items.
Yuga Labs has limited the supply of ApeCoin to 1 billion, and these tokens are gradually unlocked within a 48-month window. 150 million Toekn will be airdropped directly to BAYC and MAYC holders at the time of release, and a total of 470 million Token will be used as DAO's treasury and ecosystem resources. 117.5 million pieces will be unlocked initially, and 7.3 million pieces will be unlocked every month within four years.
Yuga Labs received a total of 150 million Tokens. These Tokens have a 12-month lock-up period, and 410W are unlocked every month for a period of three years. Of their total assets, 6 percent will be donated to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation, founded by primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall.
Another 140 million Tokens were allocated to early contributors, and the four founders of Yuga Labs and BAYC received a total of 80 million Tokens. These also have a 12-month lock-up period, and 220W will be unlocked each month for a period of 36 months.
Five days after the release of Ape Coin, Yuga Labs announced that it has completed a financing of 450 million US dollars at a valuation of 4 billion, which is a great benefit to ApeCoin and the industry.
BAYC business model
Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) has managed to create the most iconic and recognizable brand in the NFT community. The team does this by combining art, entertainment and social capital. In addition, the team has also adopted the business model of De-Collab (decentralized collaboration model), and has been committed to bringing practicality to community members and holders.
According to Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz, BAYC is an experiment built on three fundamental ideas: identity, ownership, and utility.
De-Collab vs Ce-Collab
In the centralized collaboration model (Ce-Collab), the intellectual property (IP) owner is the center, and the IP owner owns the rights and strictly controls the use of the IP. This model gives IP owners greater control over product quality and consistency, and coordinates development against a larger strategic vision. However, this licensing-based model limits potential derivative work on IP in terms of flexibility, speed to market, and cost.
identity
identity
Here we analyze identity from three directions - status, sense of belonging and culture. As the world continues to move into the digital space, digital identities are becoming increasingly important. It allows people to express their worldview, beliefs and connect with a community that shares the same values. Online identities provide people with a fairer footing against others. In the online world, individuals have no assigned social status, origin, age, gender, appearance, or other characteristics irrelevant to personal identity. This allows users to get rid of the "burden" and easily create an atmosphere club full of personal thoughts.
status
Many Chinese stars, including NBA player LaMelo ball, NBA chairman Daryl Morey, DJ duo Bassjackers, DJ 3lau, Chen Bolin, Wu Vanhao, and Shawn Yue, all own or have owned BAYC. BAYC is already a status. People who own BAYC will definitely be called "big guys" on social media. Whether they own or have the ability to own BAYC seems to have become a standard for identifying financial resources in the industry—after all, no one will be impulsive enough to exchange all their assets. To become BAYC, those who own it must have other investment allocations.
Like luxury cars and watches, BAYC has become a status symbol.
sense of belonging
The rapid development of BAYC is inseparable from the role of the community. Since the BAYC project was released in April, it has rapidly grown into a huge community in a short period of time. For players holding BAYC, this is not only a collectible, but also a club.
BYAC represents the Internet culture of crypto/blockchain enthusiasts who believe in the field and see many applications of the technology in industries such as art, music, gaming and entertainment. This belief makes people willing to join a community that shares the same values and beliefs.
culture
culture
The background of BAYC's story comes from the voice of many NFT collectors: investors in the digital field have realized their dream of wealth freedom in NFT. BAYC completed its first sale in the form of FL, that is, the price of each ape is 0.08ETH. This provides a lower entry cost, allowing all users to stand on the same starting line, and there is no need to worry about the absolute advantage of investment institutions or giant whales. This fair and just approach has attracted many investors.
future
future
Today, brands are capturing the minds of a small number of people, building a product system with high loyalty, and finally promoting products through influencers in various fields.
However, is this a marketing model with a new look and an old core, or can it become a future that changes user engagement and experience.
Only time will give us the answer.
But through BAYC, what we can confirm is that as the NFT collectibles community continues to mature, players are becoming more and more interested in practical items. What they hope to get is not just a digital artwork, but a The larger world of identity and community belonging.
