Being investigated by the SEC? Why is Boring Ape, the NFT project with the highest market value, attracting so much attention?

On October 12, Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, faced an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into whether its NFT sales violated federal law.

The SEC is reviewing whether some of the Miami-based company’s “NFTs” are more akin to securities and should be subject to the same disclosure rules, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

Since the emergence of NFT, the public has never stopped discussing it.

As a virtual asset, NFT is often labeled as hype and bubble. Is NFT more like a security or a virtual currency? There are currently no clear regulations on this.

Judging from the recent news that Bored Ape will be investigated by the SEC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is evaluating and analyzing this NFT project, which may be beneficial to the future development of NFT.

Why is Bored Ape so popular?

Create a unique NFT "game"

Bored Ape is an NFT project launched by Yuga Labs, a US Web3 startup, in April 2021. At that time, the entire team had only 4 people. The Bored Ape ecosystem includes 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFT avatars. Owners of Bored Ape NFTs can obtain membership in the "Bored Ape Yacht Club" and enjoy membership benefits.

On the evening of April 22, 30 BoredApe NFTs were first minted.

The next day, the ownership of the remaining 9,970 digital monkeys was sold at a unit price of 0.08 Ether (approximately RMB 1,449), and the images of the bored apes in various shapes were gradually unveiled.

Users who purchase the Bored Ape not only own this NFT asset, but can also perform secondary creation and commercial operation on it. Each Bored Ape NTF has complete commercial use rights and can sell physical products printed with your exclusive Bored Ape NFT, such as books, T-shirts, comics and any other peripherals, and have the right to set the prices of these products.

With the emergence of Bored Ape, more and more 10,000 PFP-type NFTs have appeared, almost becoming a fixed template for the entire industry.

The world's largest NFT project by market value

According to media reports, the series was sold out in less than a week after it was officially launched. Even in July, the cheapest Bored Ape avatar cost $14,000.

According to NFTGo.io data, on April 27, 2022, about a year after the launch of the Bored Ape NFT, the floor price (i.e. the lowest market price) of the Bored Ape NFT reached 147 ETH (about 420,000 US dollars), a record high. Compared with the selling price of 0.08 ETH when it was first launched, the price has increased 1,837 times in just one year, ranking first in the world in terms of market value.

At that time, the price of a Bored Ape NFT ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions. When celebrities bought it, they not only acquired an asset, but also brought themselves a certain amount of popularity. It could be said that it was a sure win.

As of now, Bored Ape ranks second in global market value with a difference of 0.07.

Bored Ape's strong community consensus

Recently, CryptoJanswiss, a member of the Bored Ape community, announced that it will open the first "BAYC" themed cafe "The Bored Café" in Switzerland on December 11. The store is located near the Bern train station in Switzerland, and a promotional photo of BAYC#9426 has been hung on the window of the store.

Many people are still wondering how Bored Ape can move from NFT to reality?

Crazy overseas market

When the Bored Ape became popular, many celebrities such as famous NBA stars Stephen Curry and Shaquille O'Neal bought the Bored Ape NFT and posted them on social media. Since then, the price of the Bored Ape series NFT has soared.

In late December 2021, the famous rapper Eminem purchased the Bored Ape series NFT for about $452,000 worth of ETH. Interestingly, this "Bored Ape" looks a lot like him because they both wear the same type of hat.

On January 30, 2022, according to the address certified by OpenSea as JustinBieberNFT, the well-known pop music star Justin Bieber has bought "Bored Ape" BAYC #3001 for 500ETH (about 1.3 million US dollars).

On March 25, 2022, the famous singer Madonna announced on Twitter that she had obtained a BAYC Bored Ape NFT with the help of MoonPay, indicating that she had finally entered the metaverse. According to data from the NFT trading platform OpenSea, this Bored Ape collection numbered 4988 was auctioned by MoonPay on March 14 for 180 ether, equivalent to about US$560,000.

The hot domestic market

In addition to celebrities, domestic listed companies such as Li Ning, Greenland, and Beurer have also purchased shares of Bored Ape, and each of them is worth a lot of money.

On April 24, China Li-Ning posted on social media that it had launched the China Li-Ning Boring Ape Trendy Sports Club series of clothing, which is based on the image of Boring Ape Yacht Club No. 4102 and incorporates trendy elements such as pixel style and street style.

Data shows that the price of Bored Ape #4102 purchased by Li Ning on the NFT trading platform Open Sea was 120 ETH, equivalent to about 2.4 million yuan.

At the same time, China Li-Ning also launched the Boredom pop-up store offline from April 23 to May 4, and the manager of the pop-up store was none other than Boredom Ape #4102 purchased by China Li-Ning.

Not only sports companies, but also real estate company Greenland Group announced on its official public account on April 29 that it would launch an NFT image symbolizing Greenland Group's digital strategy - the Bored Ape numbered 8302.

According to the official introduction, the number 8302 means that 8 is homophonic to “ba” (ba), 30 represents the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Greenland Group, and 2 means that this is the starting point for Greenland’s second entrepreneurial venture.

Greenland Group stated that it will build Greenland G-World in the future, connect virtual and reality through VR and AR technology, and realize the interconnection of online and offline scenes.

The first health smart hardware stock, Beurer, followed closely, purchasing BAYC Bored Ape #1365 for 179 ETH on April 30, and making it the "118 Early Sleep Health Officer". At the same time, based on the insight of "Why not go to bed early if you are bored", it launched the "Bored Ape Health Club" to lead users to check in and go to bed early in various ways. The official said: The number 1365 has a special meaning for Beurer, and we hope that everyone can go to bed early every day for 365 days a year.

After August, the popularity of BAYC declined. According to AICoin Express data, in August this year, there were only 263 unique buyers of BAYC, the lowest in the past 16 months, a drop of more than 90% compared to the historical high (3550) in 2021; the decrease in independent buyers also led to a decline in sales, with the transaction volume in August being only US$58 million.

After the popularity subsided, the price also dropped, which gave many companies the opportunity to try it.

On August 1, Top Collection recently launched the Bored Ape series of digital collections BATC. As a secondary creation project based on the copyright of Bored Ape #5513, BATC is based on the "bored" tonality of BAYC, and extends the head of Bored Ape to create a full-body image.

On August 4, NetDragon Websoft Inc. ("NetDragon"), a well-known Internet company, announced to the outside world through its official website that it holds the "Bored Ape" with the serial number #6708. The official website also announced the image of the "Bored Ape" for the first time.

On September 1, the fashion metaverse platform ALTAVA announced a partnership with Elite Apes, the largest IP holder of BAYC, to launch the "BAGC (KR) (Bored Ape Golf Club Korea)" NFT.

BAGC(KR)NFT itself is a derivative product of 60 BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) IPs. In addition, there are plans to launch golf-themed products such as visors, clothing, sneakers, golf balls, golf clubs, etc. BAGC NFT owners can order these exclusive products for personal use or resale.

On October 20, Chaowan Island announced the launch of the second creation "Grassroots Creation of Bored Ape" with Bored Ape BAYC#4956 as the core element, with a total limited edition of 10,000 copies, and the first issue of 1,000 copies. At the same time, the "Bored Ape Grassroots Club" was established.

Recently, the Chinese classic online game "Magic World" created a unique "Bored Ape Magic World Club" based on the "Bored Ape BAYC#6708" purchased by NetDragon, so that all participating players can own their own Bored Ape.

Conclusion

The NFT myth created by Bored Ape has not been surpassed so far. The fact that it was able to break the circle so quickly is not only due to the right time and place, but also the planning and operation of the project party played a crucial role.

We have seen the value of NFT from the Boring Ape project. It is more of a consensus than a value. When everyone thinks that something is valuable, then it must be valuable.

Although the outside world thinks it is a bubble and hype, and although the price has dropped by 80% after many celebrities and companies bought it, it does not affect people rushing to buy it. After all, the business of spending money to buy popularity is a sure win. Because in an era where internal circulation is king, only by grasping the trend can you gain an advantage.

The story of Bored Ape continues. How will the NFT market develop in the future? Perhaps Bored Ape will provide the best example.