For a brief, shining moment on Sunday morning, CryptoPunk’s Bored Ape Yacht Club flipped, the floor price of the veteran NFT collection topping that of the celebrity-coveted primates for the first time since March, according to the NFT Price Floor.
Image: NFT Price Floor
As with last momentary flip, Bored Apes quickly regained the top spot, which they’ve actually held all year. Still, CryptoPunks have been shutting down Bored Ape Yacht Club since June, and if the trend continues, CryptoPunks could soon regain the lead – and keep it.
CryptoPunks was created by Canadian software developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson of Larva Labs in June 2017. The collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain is widely credited with sparking the NFT craze, and inspired the ERC-721- the standard as well as prominent collections that followed – including the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which launched in April 2021.
The monkeys quickly caught the attention of celebrities, making ownership an A-List status symbol. By the end of the year, the bottom price of a BAYC NFT reversed that of CryptoPunks, holding the crown for almost all of 2022. And Bored Apes prices hit an all-time high in April, with a bottom price of $429,000, as creator Yuga Labs prepared to launch its Otherside metaverse.
Even in the midst of the cold of the subsequent crypto winter, Madonna declared that she has been “hell” to buy one.
Image: NFT Price Floor
The much-publicized rivalry is largely symbolic, of course, as Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs bought the rights to CryptoPunks in March and now owns both collections.
Furthermore, this latest flip is not a result of rising CryptoPunks values. The crypto bear market brought it all together. Both Apes and Punks have actually lost value over the past 30 days, per NFT Price Floor. Apes simply lose value faster, falling 28% versus 16% for punks, measured in USD.
In fact, Ape’s floor price fell 33% in the last week alone – hitting an 8-month low yesterday – compared to 24% for Punks.
Nevertheless, CryptoPunks have gained some momentum. In June, Yuga Labs hired Noah Davis away from Christie’s to oversee the collection, and earlier this month they officially handed over commercial rights to CryptoPunks holders. Furthermore, the crypto crash prompted some investors to pick up more established “blue chip” NFTs such as CryptoPunks.
CryptoPunks saw a solid floor price jump in late June, while Bored Apes only held steady. Over the past few weeks, the gap has closed, leading to this morning’s brief flip.
Image: NFT Price Floor
It is likely that the two giant NFT collections will continue to trade places at the top of the charts in the coming weeks. But some members of crypto-Twitter suggest that Bored Ape Yacht Club peaked with the Otherside launch in April, while the future of CryptoPunks may now have more upside given their history and the recent handover of intellectual property rights.
Been saying it for a while, but it’s only a matter of time before the Punks turn the Apes again.
Overtime, I predict that the gap between the 2 will only widen. Apes are dope, but it’s impossible to compete with Punks in the long run.
Punks are forever. The ultimate grail for collectors. 🍷🤌
— Renegademaster.eth 🫡 (@renegademasterr) 20 August 2022
With this week’s record low Bored Ape price, some analysts point to potential for forced liquidations of BAYC NFTs that were purchased with loans from BenDAO. As many as 72 Bored Apes could be auctioned in a short time window, putting more downward pressure on prices.
However, it may not be the economic indicator that some have been waiting for.
When punks turn monkeys again, the bull market officially restarts
