NFTs
Bored Apes and Other Yuga Ethereum NFTs Are Losing Value — Why?
Several NFT collections created by industry giant Yuga Labs have fallen to all-time low ETH valuations — at the same time as other NFT projects, including those acquired by the company, have surged in value on the wings of rising cryptocurrency prices.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), for example, a collection launched by Yuga in August 2021, has fallen to an all-time low price of 2.4 ETH, according to CoinGecko—meaning the cheapest NFT in the 20,000-piece PFP collection can be purchased for this price. It cost 3 ETH to mint a Mutant Ape when the collection debuted.
Similarly, Other action NFTs — virtual land deeds in Yuga’s monkey-themed metaverse game, Other side—have steadily fallen in ETH price over the past year, reaching its all-time low last week: 0.21 ETH. The collection has since marginally recovered for 0.23 ETH.
While the price of ETH has more than doubled in value over the past year, this remarkable gain has not offset the drop in prices of Yuga NFTs. It cost 305 Monkey coin to mint an Otherdeed when the collection released in May 2022, an amount that was then worth US$5,800; even taking into account ETH’s recent spectacular rise, Otherdeed’s minimum price of 0.23 ETH is equivalent to just US$929.
Yuga’s Featured NFT Collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has also seen a huge drop in recent months. Considering that once cost 152 ETH to buy even the cheapest BAYC NFT, the celebrity favorite Profile picture (PFP) the collection has since dropped to a rock bottom price of just 15.29 ETH in writing. The last time Bored Ape NFTs sold for 15 ETH was just a few months after the collection debuted in August 2021.
It’s true that 15 ETH is worth more than twice as much now as it was a year ago. But then again, the rising price of ETH can’t offset the rapid pace at which BAYC has been losing value. A year ago, the cheapest Bored Ape NFT was 72 ETH — an amount that, even back then, at the height of crypto winter, was worth about $108,000. That amount of money could almost buy two BAYC NFTs today (15.29 ETH, the project’s current minimum price, is worth about $61,600 at the time of writing).
Further reinforcing the point is the reality that not all NFT collections are currently suffering to the same degree as BAYC, MAYC, and Otherdeeds. CryptoPunks, for example — a blue-chip Ethereum NFT collection whose rights Yuga bought in early 2022—has nearly doubled in dollar value since December, CoinGecko. Last week, an NFT from the collection sold for a whopping sum US$ 16.03 million.
So why is Yuga’s Ape-verse suffering disproportionately in the recovering crypto and NFT market? Bored Ape projects aren’t the only Ethereum NFTs losing steam in recent weeks, as Bitcoin Ordinals seem to be attracting more attention, but they’re losing value faster than many other major projects in the space.
CryptoPunksCreated in 2017, they were the first PFP NFT collection to reach sky-high prices and achieve broader cultural significance. To that end, they represent a piece of crypto history and a type of value that has withstood multiple market cycles. They are the top-tier status symbol for many crypto fanatics.
When Bored Apes emerged in 2021, they attempted to create a new business model for NFTs: one focused on benefits, parties, exclusivityIt is access. The concept worked well—very good— during the 2021/2022 NFT boom.
But now that the ice of the last crypto winter is finally starting to melt, will Yuga’s monkey-themed metaverse continue to attract NFT holders? Or will the next bull run leave it behind. as rivals gain strength?
Edited by Andre Hayward