Bored Ape Yacht Club is a huge mainstream hit, but is Wall Street ready to accept NFT?

Within a few months of its launch in April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has become one of the main reasons Wall Street should take the emerging non-fungible token (NFT) market seriously, thanks to its recent sales Turnover exceeds 1 billion U.S. dollars.

Celebrity apes enter BAYC

For the uninitiated, BAYC is a collection of 10,000 anthropomorphic cartoons, dressed in fashionable clothes and dishonorable expressions. Each ape is actually an image file, which should be worthless in a sane world. Despite this, they managed to get amazing payments, sometimes from some of the most famous celebrities in the world.

For example, Jimmy Fallon, a popular TV host in the United States, bought the image of a bored ape wearing a striped T-shirt and a heart-shaped hue for nearly $220,000 in November last year. Just recently, the Oscar-winning rapper Eminem Paid nearly $462,000 for an ape That’s a bit like him.

At the same time, one of the rarest boring apes, with the characteristics of golden fur, 3.4 million USD In the online auction held by Sotheby’s in October, the record for another rare ape with laser eyes was broken, which was sold to Sandbox for $2.9 million a month ago.

But what is the selling point?

The BAYC series obtains its value from the NFT, which is the digital proof of ownership recorded on the public blockchain. Think about Bitcoin (Bitcoin), but each “coin” is indivisible and unique in some respects.

At the same time, most NFT projects, including BAYC, are settled through the Ethereum blockchain and are priced in their native token, Ether (Ethereum).

But rarity is not the only reason people pay millions of dollars for boring apes. In addition to having a unique avatar, people can also gain access to an exclusive membership club through tokens. This allows them to enter the core circle of the elite, Bring them status and more profitable opportunities.

Details of APE FEST 2021 released in BAYC Discord:https://t.co/KjYGPhYWCP

☠️⛵️ pic.twitter.com/jvY38qf6NK

-Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) October 1, 2021

Evan Luthra, CEO and founder of EL Group International and member of the exclusive club of BAYC, discussed the charm of elite associations. The 26-year-old angel investor described membership as something “very powerful for Wall Street people.”

“I think new celebrities join the club every day.”

The Bored Ape collection also enables their owners to access private message boards on Discord and gain privileged access to other NFTs.

Boring Ape Yacht Club “reserve price”

The Bored Ape collection also enables their owners to access private message boards on Discord and gain privileged access to other NFTs. Then, these NFTs have a certain resale value, which can be seen from their rising “reserve price”, which reflects the lowest possible bid for collectibles.

As of January 7, BAYC reserve price It is 68 ETH, or about $217,800, which is a 380% increase from the low point in mid-August.

According to Noelle Acheson, Head of Market Insights at Genesis Trading BAYC is more flexible In cooperation than Cryptopunk, This is one of the only high-profile NFT collection series before.

These collaborations include those inspired by BAYC Adidas gear, Contracted talent agency, potential Boring Ape Music Group, And others Related assets Lazy apes emerged around him.

“So the concept of reserve prices — which drives institutional investment in NFTs and their increasing use as loan collateral — no longer just depends on how much investors think others will pay in the future,” Acheson Explained and added:

“Floor prices and the appreciation potential of assets now also depend on other uses of NFT, not just display.”

Luthra agreed, adding that the continued involvement of celebrities and BAYC will further increase its recognition among retail and institutional investors. This may bring more demand for its NFT series, which in turn will push up its reserve price.

“Meta” factor

Jelmer Rotteveel, co-founder of the NFT series MoonwalkerFM, added a more bullish support to the core valuation of BAYC: continued hype Yuan, Changed its name from Facebook to support the meta-universe ambitions of the social media giant.

“With the emergence of Meta, we will enter a new way of communication and business,” he told Cointelegraph, adding that NFT will become an integral part of the Metaverse field, and users will support unique digital avatars, such as Bored Apes, Interact with each other digitally.

He added:

“I believe people will pay more attention to the development of BAYC and other NFT projects, as you can see in cryptocurrencies, they will step in one by one.”

Acheson pointed out that Facebook/Meta has pledged to invest approximately US$10 billion in the development of Metaverse, citing its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. statement They will study decentralized Metaverse applications.

“Whether we believe him or not-investors may consider entering before these funds flow,” she added.

Will Wall Street imitate NFT?

As mentioned above, BAYC’s net sales recently broke the $1 billion mark, which is almost 10% of Apple’s 2021 revenue. At the same time, the overall sales handled by the NFT department totaled 41 billion U.S. dollars, almost the same as in the world. The art sales of the year, Data from Chainalysis show

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer, Bitwise Asset Management, Accepted Many of their customers have been looking for exposure opportunities in the NFT field without having to cross over with their intimidating technology.

In response, bitwise roll out A special fund was established last month, which tracks its own Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Collection Index (a basket of top ten NFT collections weighted by market value), and buys and holds funds from BAYC, CryptoPunks and other NFT projects artwork.

related: The NFT world is gradually closing the gap between the niche and the mainstream

“Blue Chip NFT Index Fund” is only applicable to institutional investors who invest at least US$25,000 in this product.

Rebekah Keida, marketing director of XBTO, a New York-based investment management company, is optimistic about the prospect of incorporating blue chip NFT projects such as BAYC or CryptoPunks into Wall Street funds.

Keida said it will open the floodgates for qualified investors to invest thousands or even millions of dollars in these digital projects.

She told Cointelegraph: “The opportunities provided by increased capital flows enhance the legitimacy of top NFT projects while allowing investors to make diversified bets on cryptocurrencies.”

Luthra has shown confidence in the ability of asset management companies to follow Meta to enter the Metaverse field, which in turn will benefit NFT projects such as BAYC, and said:

“If Meta believes that the future lies in the meta universe, and this is where they invest their time and energy, then it is only logical for asset management companies to deploy their funds to the industry. As the space matures and more and more opportunities are available, I am I believe we will see more Metaverse-related funds emerge to take advantage of this opportunity.”

At the same time, Sami Chlagou, CEO of Cross the Ages Metaverse Games, likened Meta’s potential involvement in the NFT field to “a light in the minds of investors who are more behind in this concept. light”.

“Whether you think Meta’s decision is good or bad, the fact remains that when one of the largest social network groups is open to innovation and is known for changing our environment to talk about a topic, it opens the door and the desire to participate .”

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