Bored Ape NFT: the internet’s unexpected MVP

If you’re not yet on board with NFTs, where have you been? Since around July 2021 (mid-pandemic, which might have something to do with the hype), the Bored Ape NFT and other, similar collections have been making the rounds on Twitter. You’ve probably seen these avatars without even realising and will do that ‘ohhhh’ thing to yourself as soon as you see it.

A quick debrief on NFTs: non-fungible tokens are unique ‘art’ pieces that are traded through Ethereum blockchain (a sentence that would have made no sense to anyone a few years ago). Non-fungible means they’re one-of-a-kind, so you will never trade for a duplicate of your NFT. They can be anything, really, but are usually digital art… like the Bored Ape, launched by Bored Ape Yacht Club in April 2021.

Where did Bored Ape NFT come from

Bored Ape Yacht Club developed 10,000 iterations of their trademark primate and sold them 200 dollars in Ethereum crypto. Owning a Bored Ape doubled up as membership to the Yacht Club, where owners could trade their avatars. What makes them unique? Well, some bored apes are dressed in costume as sailors or in bunny ears, some are smoking cigars, some have red stoner eyes, some have rainbow coloured fur… The list goes on – ten thousand times – but the point is, no two Bored Apes are the same.

Ownership of one of these coveted ape avatars will put you in the company of the likes of Justin Bieber, who recently purchased one for five times the going rate to add to his 619-piece NFT collection.

So why the hype?

Well, like anything that takes off on the internet, the second Bored Ape NFTs sold out, everyone wanted one. Within a day of their release, all 10,000 Bored Apes were sold. And up went the market price. Basically, when one Bored Ape is sold at a high price, the other 9,999 increase in value too (so owners should probably be thanking Bieber right now, rather than mocking him).

Similar to limited edition sneaker drops or Corteiz clothing collections, owning anything that exists in small quantities and is only available to a select few people will quickly become sought after. Exclusivity is worn like a status symbol. The only difference with the Bored Ape NFT is that it’s worn as your digital avatar, rather than hanging in your wardrobe.