Keeping up to date with the latest NFT releases has become a real challenge. For every successful project, there are many more than don't make it. The once-successful formulas are now commonplace, but some still do manage to capture investors' imaginations. Bored Ape Yacht Club has seen massive popularity with the NFT ecosystem. But what exactly has it done to achieve its success? While the format is familiar, they've still managed to push boundaries in the NFT world.
What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club?
Developed by Yuga Labs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 profile pictures minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. An NFT, or non-fungible token, acts like a deed of ownership for a digital item, allowing buyers to prove that they own the one-and-only version of that image. In this case, buyers own an illustration of a disinterested-looking ape with randomly-generated traits and accessories. No two images are exactly alike.
What’s so special about them?
As the name suggests, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is billed as an exclusive society or social organization, and owning one of the coveted NFTs unlocks that membership. It earns users access to an exclusive Discord server, for example, where fellow owners—including celebrities—hang out and chat. And Apes tend to flock together on social media, where the increasingly familiar avatars have united a digital brotherhood of sorts.
Perhaps more importantly, owning a Bored Ape NFT earns you access to additional NFT collectibles, which can then be resold for potentially considerable amounts of cash. Yuga Labs first offered free Bored Ape Kennel Club dog NFTs to Bored Ape owners, and then later released free “mutant serum” NFTs that generated a Mutant Ape Yacht Club image. It’s almost like paying a one-time fee for an ongoing subscription plan for NFTs and perks.
How do Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs work?
Each Ape avatar is an ERC-721 NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. Each token is non-fungible, meaning that it is unique and not equally interchangeable with any other cryptocurrency or token.
An Ape is made up of seven possible traits:
1. Background
2. Clothes
3. Earring
4. Eyes
5. Fur
6. Hat
7. Mouth
Each attribute has a variety of different looks and styles. For example, you can see below that an Ape can have solid gold, trippy, and noise fur, among others. Each look is limited to a certain number, so some are statistically rarer.
What is Mutant Ape Yacht Club?
MAYC is a collection of Apes similar to the original BAYC but with a zombie-like, mutant theme. Holders of the original 10,000 BAYC NFTs were airdropped a mutant serum vial of a random tier: M1, M2, and M3.
These were given out randomly to wallets holding the NFTs. If M1 or M2 mutant serum were given to an ape, they could create a new mutant Ape that shares some traits with its original form. M3 serum vials, on the other hand, could create a brand new mutant Ape unrelated to the original, giving it a chance to be even rarer.
Yuga Labs claims that MAYC is the "final tier of membership" for Ape holders. From now, the team will focus on adding more utility and benefits to BAYC members.
What is the Bored Ape Kennel Club?
Bored Ape Kennel Club is another NFT collection from Yuga Labs distributed exclusively to Ape holders. Wallets containing an Ape were able to mint a Club Dog NFT with various attributes and rarities. These dogs were free to claim apart from the gas fee. Any secondary sales had a 2.5% royalty fee for a limited time which was donated to animal charities.
What is the Mutant Arcade?
Part of the attractiveness of BAYC is the story and atmosphere that comes with the NFTs. While CryptoPunks only has its NFTs, BAYC has created a thematic universe. One example of this was the small Mutant Ape Arcade released along with the MAYC collection.
What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club Bathroom?
The Bathroom is another member benefit where Ape holders can paint one pixel every fifteen minutes on a virtual bathroom wallet. The bathroom doesn’t offer anything else other than a community drawing board. However, just like the other club benefits, it helps keep collectors interested in the project and its universe.
Where can I buy a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT?
BAYC and its other collections have become relatively expensive due to their popularity. They are only available on the secondary market as there are no more mint slots available. If you have the funds, you can purchase them on OpenSea and Rarible.
To purchase an Ape, you'll need to make sure your wallet has enough ether (ETH) to pay the cost and transaction fees. You'll also need to use a wallet that can connect to DApps, like Metamask.
Closing thoughts
Bored Ape Yacht Club has successfully taken a popular NFT model and found new ways to innovate. By combining ethical charity donations, upgrades, and other membership bonuses, Yuga Labs has added excitement to the familiar CryptoPunks format. Just like the rest of the NFT community, there's a new upcoming focus on utility for NFTs rather than just collectability.
