Bored Ape

Bored Ape Yacht Club, often colloquially called Bored Apes, Bored Ape or BAYC, is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection built on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection features profile pictures of cartoon apes that are procedurally generated by an algorithm.

The parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club is Yuga Labs. The project launched in April 2021. Owners of a Bored Ape NFT are granted access to a private online club, exclusive in-person events, and intellectual property rights for the image.

As of 2022, Yuga Labs is valued at US$4 billion. This is due in large part to the sales of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection totalling over US$1 billion. Various celebrities have purchased these non-fungible tokens, including Justin Bieber, Jimmy Fallon, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Neymar, Paris Hilton, Timbaland, and Steve Aoki.

Development and function

According to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) website, the NFT collection was created by four friends who "set out to make some dope apes, test heirskills, and try to build something (ridiculous)." Bored Ape NFTs, like other NFTs created and used for digital art purposes aim to provide its owners the "original" artwork. Bored Ape NFTs owners are considered in possession of "a unique unit of data recorded in a digital blockchain, which permanently records its provenance or sales history."

The collection exists on the Ethereum blockchain and contains 10,000 unique NFTs derived from 172 unique assets. The NFTs function dually as a membership card to Yacht Club. Membership to the club includes access to THE BATHROOM (stylized in all caps), a digital graffiti board where users commonly "draw dicks," according to the founder. The NFTs were originally sold for 0.08 ether each, around $190 at the time of their April 2021 launch and were sold out in 12 hours.

As BAYC "has made it clear that NFT holders have full commercialization rights to their ape," Bored Apes differ from other NFTs in that "whoever owns a Bored Ape can spin it into whatever film, music, TV, book, or media project they want."

Founders

Two of the founders of BAYC, going by the pseudonyms "Gargamel" and "Gordon Goner", describe themselves as "literary bros". The two told ''The New Yorker'' they initially bonded by arguing about the work of David Foster Wallace. In an interview with CoinDesk, "they evoked Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's idea of the unutterable to describe ored Apes" The two of them grew up together in Miami. The other two founders go by the pseudonyms "No Sass" and "Emperor Tomato Ketchup". The latter deriving his alias from the 1996 Stereolab album of the same name.

In February 2022, Gargamel and Gordon Goner's identities were revealed to be Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, respectively, by ''BuzzFeed News''. Upon this revelation, Nicole Muniz, the CEO of Yuga Labs confirmed ''BuzzFeed''s report. Solano and Aronow went to Twitter, commenting they were doxxed and uploaded images of themselves next to their Bored Ape profile pictures. Solano is a writer and editor, while No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup are programmers. Aronow, the son of boat tycoon Donald Aronow, has been documented as planning to attend an MFA program, before falling ill and becoming a cryptocurrency day trader.

Solano and Aronow brought in two friends of theirs, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, programmers who could handle the blockchain coding. The latter two were knowledgeable in computer science, having studied the field at the same university Solano attended; however, they "were not crypto-savvy," having both written their first lines of Solidity code, a language used for smart contracts, in February 2021.

Solano and Aronow came up with the concept of "a shared digital canvas: anyone who bought in could draw on it." They likened this canvas as being used similar to a bathroom at a dive bar; this idea stuck with the two, and they created a science-fiction storyline centered around it. In an interview with ''The New Yorker'', Aronow elaborated on the concept, which centered on early cryptocurrency investors all becoming billionaires:

Now they're just fucking bored. What do you do now that you're wealthy beyond your wildest dreams? You're going to hang out in a swamp club with a bunch of apes and get weird.

Aronow clarified that apes were chosen as a mascot for the NFT because of the cryptocurrency phrase ''aping in'', meaning to buy into a new currency or NFT with abandon, risking a significant amount of money.

All Seeing Seneca, or simply Seneca, an Asian-American artist is credited as the lead designer of the artwork featured in Bored Ape NFTs. Seneca clarified that she was not the sole illustrator of the artwork, but the "lead artist of the original collection" and that the ape's body is "exactly line-for-line" her drawing.

BAYC co-founder Gargamel stated that "Thomas Dagley, Migwashere, and a couple who chose to remain anonymous" handled traits and environments. Seneca did however, "develop some of the major traits, like the grinning mouth, the popping eyes, and the beanie." Gargamel stated he was "struck" by the expressiveness of Seneca's characters and that "for the apes, we arrived at exactly the mood we were after: existential boredom." Although unable to share specifics, Seneca did state her financial compensation was not ideal, but that she was "grateful for the experience" and stated that "not of ton of people know that I did these drawings, which is terrible for an artist."

Post-launch

After Bored Ape NFTs became popular, Yuga Labs hired artists, social media managers, Discord community managers, and a CFO. In response to the popularity surrounding Bored Ape, Aronow stated that BAYC was aiming to be a "Web3 lifestyle company." The company released secondary assets like Bored Ape Kennel Club, Mutant Serum, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club, which has increased BAYC's worth, brought more users into the ecosystem and rewarded previous holders and investors.

On March 11, 2022, it was announced that Yuga Labs acquired all of the CryptoPunks and Meebits intellectual property for an undisclosed sum. Yuga Labs stated they were granting complete commercial rights to CryptoPunks owners.

On March 16, 2022, ApeCoin DAO launched its own token separate from Yuga Labs known as "ApeCoin" ($APE), which was used to build tokenomics for their products.

On April 25, 2022, the official Instagram account of the company was hacked and a phishing link was posted on it. As a result, four Bored Ape NFTs, along with ten more from related collections by Yuga Labs, were stolen with a total estimated worth of approximately $3 million. $1 million worth of funds were transferred into the hacker's account.

On April 30, 2022, Yuga Labs launched its metaverse ''Otherside'', as a collaboration with Animoca Brands. Bored Ape NFTs feature in the music video for Eminem and Snoop Dogg's song "From the D 2 the LBC".

In October 2022, it was reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating Yuga Labs amid concerns that their NFTs are unregistered security offerings.

Reception

Popularity and celebrity collectors

Bored Apes have been documented by the media as one of the more prominent NFTs. In December 2021, the Bored Ape Yacht Club overtook CryptoPunks as the highest-priced NFTs. Bored Apes, along with other character-based NFTs, would become "a status symbol for owners who regularly use their animated creatures as avatars on social media." Many Bored Ape NFT owners admitted to purchasing their Apes due to the potential marketing and branding projects that can be launched through owning the intellectual property of a Bored Ape NFT. In November 2021, ''Rolling Stone'' released Bored Ape magazine covers as an NFT magazine. Universal Music Group has signed a band composed of three Bored Apes and one Mutant Ape.

On January 4, 2022, ''Markets Insider'' wrote that "since its inception, the collection has amassed around 11,000 unique owners, according to CryptoSlam. On average, an ape has sold for 84 ether or roughly $344,000 as of publishing." Companies were also noted to purchase Bored Ape NFTs; Adidas bought one in September 2021. Many online media publications wrote about celebrities collecting Bored Apes in late 2021 and early 2022; Eminem, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaquille O'Neal, Neymar, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, Post Malone, Stephen Curry, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, and Serena Williams are among various celebrities noted to have purchased Bored Apes. In some cases of celebrities owning Bored Ape NFTs, such as with Justin Bieber, it has been reported that the actual purchase of the NFT may not have been made by the celebrity themselves.

Bored Ape Yacht Club holds hosted events in New York, California, Hong Kong, and the UK for its owners. In November 2021, the company held a yacht party and a performance featuring Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari, and The Strokes as part of an entertainment weekend in New York.

Many of the celebrities who endorsed the Bored Ape NFT were among the more than 40 defendants named in a class-action lawsuit filed on December 8, 2022 by John T. Jasnoch of Scott+Scott, on behalf of plaintiffs Adonis Real and Adam Titcher "alleging they hoodwinked fans into buying Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and other Yuga Labs products."

Artistic merits and criticism

The Bored Ape NFTs have attracted a considerable amount of negative reception, with many detractors of BAYC having opined that the NFTs have had a negative impact on artists. Nevertheless, the Bored Ape design has been positively received; Samantha Hissong of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that "Bored Ape art isn't as valuable as it is because it's visually pleasing, even though it is. It's valuable because it also serves as a digital identity." Emma Roth of ''The Verge'' wrote that the apes were "very interesting-looking and sometimes fashionable." Cited by ''Intelligencer'' in January 2022, Roman Kräussl, an art-finance professor at the University of Luxembourg and Stanford University's Hoover Institution, stated that NFT works like Bored Apes (in addition to CryptoPunks and Cool Cats) had already become iconic.

Writing for '' The Cut'', Claire Lampen commented, "I find the monkey mostly unremarkable, generically familiar, and not very much to my liking if not wholly offensive," and added that " elebritiesreally want us to enjoy this monkey, clap for this monkey, know what this monkey is. They can't make me. I won't let them." Jonathan Jones of ''The Guardian'' was critical of the Bored Apes NFTs' impact on digital art. Jones opined that the NFT "should put an end to any romanticism about NFT art. It puts the consumer experience first and has absolutely nothing to do with empowering artists. It's all about the collector's ego." He also wrote that "The attitude says it all. Bored, emptied out, wrecked, and proud of it. That's how the NFT art investors all feel, apparently. And so they should. NFTs are not good for art. They are not liberating for artists."

A ''Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'' segment featuring Fallon and Paris Hilton showing off their Bored Apes was mocked by users on Twitter. ''Wired'' described the segment as having the "stiff, cheery cadence of a bad infomercial", and wrote that the clip going viral was "fueled by people making fun of how off-putting it was". Writing for the publication, Kate Knibbs wrote negatively of Bored Apes, and contrasted it to ''Comedian'', a 2019 artwork by Maurizio Cattelan of a banana duct taped to a wall, where the buyer received instructions for recreating the artwork rather than an actual banana:

The Bored Ape Yacht Club, in contrast, is a grimmer kind of gimmick, one that parodies nothing. It uses certificates of authenticity, too, but with a crucial difference in intent. The certificate points back to a commodity, not an idea. It doesn't mock or even question the art world; instead it simply cashes in on it. The project's sense of humor is akin to a decal of Calvin from ''Calvin & Hobbes'' taking a piss. The crudeness is the point. Each ape is a misprized thing, bought and sold constantly.

Copycat projects

In late 2021, the popularity of Bored Apes spurred copycat NFT projects. PHAYC and Phunky Ape Yacht Club were two such projects centered around the same idea of selling NFTs of mirrored but otherwise identical images of Bored Ape NFTs. The OpenSea NFT marketplace banned both projects in December 2021. In February 2022, Bored Wukong was accused of copycat NFT avatars.

Ryder Ripps lawsuit

In June 2022, Yuga Labs launched a lawsuit against Ryder Ripps on the grounds of him selling NFTs that infringe on the company's copyright. Although Yuga Labs filed this lawsuit in a US court, they did not seek copyright protection in the US and algorithmically generated images like BAYC are not subject to US copyright protection.

Ripps is accused of false advertising and trademark infringement, with Yuga Labs requesting financial reimbursement and saying Ripps was executing a "calculated, intentional, and willful" plan to damage the reputation of the project. Ripps made a statement saying that the buyers of his NFTs were informed that they were not related to the BAYC project and that his NFTs were a satirical response to those of Yuga Labs. On August 15, 2022, he tried to file an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was denied.

See also

* Bored & Hungry
* CryptoKitties
* CryptoPunks
* Rare Pepe
* List of most expensive non-fungible tokens

References

Further reading

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*{{cite web, last=Ongweso Jr, first=Edward, url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3v3ny/all-my-apes-gone-nft-theft-victims-beg-for-centralized-saviors, title='All My Apes Gone': NFT Theft Victims Beg for Centralized Saviors, work=Vice, date=January 6, 2022, accessdate=February 9, 2022

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