Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs dominates NFT sales with 35% share

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

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

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

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

“While some projects have ‘fooled’ their communities, abandoned development or reneged on promises made to their holders, or simply failed to live up to high expectations,” the report states, “Yuga Labs has emerged as a leading example of commitment to providing value and nurturing the NFT holder community.”

Bored Ape Yacht Club leads the NFT Profile Picture (PFP) market with a floor price (or secondary market low) of 51.45 ETH, or around $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 became popular, reaching a peak floor price of 152 ETH (about $429,000 then) in April 2022, before the launch of Otherside plots.

According to the report, BAYC generated $504 million worth of NFT sales over the past two quarters, Mutant Apes nearly matched this amount at nearly $483 million, and Otherside tokens generated $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 first auction brought in about $16.5 million in sales.

The popularity and value of NFT gatherings such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club has even spawned a cottage industry of lending against NFTs – a spot now worth $1 billion.

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 favor of artist Ryder Ripps and ally Jeremy Cahen. The pair had launched a copycat collection of Bored Ape Yacht Club called RR/BAYC which 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 delivering on their promises and a tough team to ensure accountability,” added DappRadar.

Early last year, the identities of two of the pseudonymous creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club were revealed in a BuzzFeed investigation. The duo, Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, have gradually become more public since then, appearing on Decrypthis gm podcast last October to discuss.

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

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to clarify the time frame in which market data was measured.