Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Dominates NFT Sales With 35% Share.
According to a new report by DappRadar, Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, continued to dominate the NFT market, accounting for almost 35% of all NFT trading volume during the six month period from October 2022 to March 2023.
Yuga Labs acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT project IP from original creator Larva Labs in 2022, in addition to Bored Ape Yacht Club and its associated collection, including Mutant Ape Yacht Club and metaverse game land deed Otherside.
According to the report, projects created or owned by Yuga generated more than $2 billion in trading volume over the last two quarters combined, accounting for 34.6% of total market volume over that time period.
DappRadar credits the $4 billion startup for its support of its projects and associated community, speculating on possible reasons why people will continue to invest in projects through secondary sales.
“While some projects have ‘pulled the rug’ in their communities, neglected development or reneged on promises made to holders, or simply failed to live up to high expectations,” according to the report, “Yuga Labs has emerged as a leading example of a commitment to delivering value and nurturing communities. NFT holders.”
The NFT profile picture (PFP) market is led by Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has a base (or low end secondary market) price of 51.45 ETH ($99,000), followed by CryptoPunks at 49.49 ETH ($95,150).
The “blue chip” Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), set to launch in April 2021, is a collection of 10,000 profile pictures printed as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. It quickly gained traction, reaching a peak base price of 152 ETH (about $429,000 at the time) in April 2022, just before the launch of the Otherside plot.
According to the report, BAYC generated $504 million in NFT sales over the past two quarters, Mutant Apes brought in nearly $483 million, and Otherside land deed brought in more than $322 million.
In addition to the Ethereum network, Yuga Labs launched TwelveFold in February, a pool of 300 generative “NFTs” on the Bitcoin network that use Ordinals Inscriptions. The first auction resulted in sales of $16.5 million.
The popularity and value of NFT collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club have even spawned a cottage industry that borrows money against NFTs, which are now valued at $1 billion.
While Yuga Labs is best known for allowing NFT holders to create and even sell derivative projects and products, the company has also successfully defended its intellectual property (IP) in court.
Yuga Labs won “an important legal victory for Web3” last week when a federal judge upheld its decision against artist Ryder Ripps and his ally Jeremy Cahen. The pair have created RR/BAYC, a parody of the Yuga project, as a collection of copycats from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
“Investors and interested parties should pay attention to Yuga Labs’ approach, looking for projects with a track record of delivering on their promises and a team trained to ensure accountability,” continued DappRadar.
A BuzzFeed investigation uncovered the identities of two of the creators of the Bored Monkey Club nickname early last year. Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano have gradually become more public since then, and they discussed it on the gm Decrypt podcast last October.
“I kind of view us as a successful garage band,” explains Aronow. “We’re still trying to keep that authenticity, and to be honest, I’m a little protective of it.” We don’t do a lot of PR, we don’t do a lot of interviews, we’re pretty picky about it — just because it’s too rock star for me.
