Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Dominates NFT Sales With 35% Share

By Jason Nelson

Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, continues to dominate the NFT market—and accounts for a nearly 35% share of all NFT trading volume over the six-month period from October 2022 through March 2023, according to a new report by DappRadar.

In addition to the Bored Ape Yacht Club and its associated collections, including the Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Otherside metaverse game land deeds, Yuga Labs also acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT project IP from original creator Larva Labs in 2022.

Yuga’s created or owned projects collectively generated more than $2 billion worth of trading volume over the last two quarters combined, according to the report, representing 34.6% of total market volume during that span.

DappRadar praised the $4 billion startup for supporting its projects and associated communities, suggesting potential reasons why people would continue to buy into the projects via secondary sales.

“While some projects have ‘rug-pulled’ their communities, abandoning development or reneging on promises made to holders, or simply failing to live up to high expectations,” the report reads, “Yuga Labs has emerged as a leading example of commitment to providing value and nurturing its NFT holder community.”

The Bored Ape Yacht Club leads the NFT profile picture (PFP) market with a floor (or low-end secondary market) price of 51.45 ETH, or about $99,000, followed by CryptoPunks at 49.49 ETH ($95,150).

Launched in April 2021, the “blue chip” Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a collection of 10,000 profile pictures minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It quickly gained popularity, reaching a peak floor price of 152 ETH (about $429,000 then) in April 2022, ahead of the launch of Otherside land plots.

According to the report, BAYC yielded $504 million worth of NFT sales over the past two quarters, the Mutant Apes nearly matched that tally at nearly $483 million, and Otherside land deeds yielded over $322 million worth of trades.

Not content with the Ethereum network, in February, Yuga Labs also launched TwelveFold, a collection of 300 generative “NFTs” on the Bitcoin network using Ordinals Inscription. The initial auction yielded some $16.5 million in sales.

The popularity and value of NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club has even launched a cottage industry of borrowing money against NFTs—a now $1 billion space.

While Yuga Labs is known for allowing holders of its NFTs to create and even sell derivative projects and products, the company has also defended its intellectual property (IP) in court.

Last week, Yuga Labs won what the company called a “landmark legal victory for Web3” when a federal judge ruled in its favor against artist Ryder Ripps and ally Jeremy Cahen. The pair had launched a copycat collection of the Bored Ape Yacht Club called RR/BAYC that they called a parody of Yuga’s project.

“Investors and enthusiasts should take note of Yuga Labs’ approach, seeking out projects with a track record of fulfilling their promises and a doxed team to ensure accountability,” DappRadar added.

Early last year, the identity of two of the pseudonymous creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club was revealed in a BuzzFeed investigation. The duo, Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, have gradually become more public since then, and appeared on Decrypt's gm podcast last October to discuss.

“I kind of view us as a garage band that made it,” Aronow said. “We’re still just trying to keep that authenticity, and frankly, I’m a little precious about it. We don’t do a lot of PR, we don’t do a ton of interviews, we’re pretty selective about that—just because, to me, that’s just a little bit too rock star.”

Editor's note: This article was updated after publication to clarify the timeframe in which market data was measured.

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