NFTs
In a tough year for NFTs, a group of ‘Made Mutants’ still believe in the future of Yuga Labs – DL News
- The value of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs has dropped by over 90%.
- Some die-hard Yuga spinoff collectors have big plans.
- There is talk of a Yuga hotel in Bangkok.
At a time when NFTs are dying, it takes commitment to stay true to collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
To join the Mutant Cartel, you need to do a little more — you need to take an oath, or more precisely, purchase an “oath NFT.”
The minimum price is 0.07 ETH, or $228, and holders will receive a seat at the Cartel table and Made Mutant status.
“They’ve doubled down on their commitment,” said Calum Morrison, co-founder of Novel Labs, which runs Mutant Cartel.
The obstinate
Don’t forget Morrison and his fellow Bored Ape fanatics that the value of the collection has fallen 94% to 9.28 ETH since its all-time high in May 2022.
It’s probably best not to mention that NFTs have been left behind in a bull market that has boosted Bitcoin by 60% this year.
NFT fanatics like Morrison and other Mutants still believe. He sees non-fungible tokens as ideal for world-building, and says the NFT space blends the best of being a member of a football fan club and writing fan fiction.
“You have to love being on the frontier of art and technology to operate in the NFT space,” he said.
Join the community to receive our latest stories and updates
Yuga Labs, the studio that owns BAYC and its spin-off collections, still has backing from venture capital and web3 heavyweights like a16z and Animoca Brands.
Members of the ApeCoin DAO, which is separate from Yuga Labs, are even voting on a proposal to create a Yuga-themed hotel in downtown Bangkok.
Hard reality
The plan, of course, may never come to fruition. And the harsh reality is that NFT collections like Yuga’s are struggling to recapture some of the magic dust that electrified Web3 a few years ago.
The days of high-profile endorsements from the likes of Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton seem far away. Yuga Labs’ promise to build a complex metaverse platform has yet to produce a working model.
A Bored Ape fan meeting last year seemed to sum up the industry’s woes when the stage lights at ApeFest in Hong Kong caused some attendees to have to medical treatment for eye pain.
Furthermore, the promise of royalties on secondary sales of NFTs has failed.
“Secondary royalties as a source of revenue for many creators and projects disappeared with the arrival of Blur,” Morrison said, referring to an NFT marketplace that rejected the practice.
“Companies had no financial reserves to survive. The sudden loss of royalty revenue devastated many in the space.”
Even so, fanatics are still working to profit from Yuga brands in the real world, but that’s not going so well either.
Lack of consensus
A Bored Ape-themed cafe in Hong Kong that sold burgers and Tether was shut down by police last year. It, like several other OTC cryptocurrency shops in Hong Kong, has been linked to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange JPEX.
It’s no surprise that there is a lack of consensus within ApeCoin DAO on the best ways to drive brand awareness.
Members regularly submit proposals seeking funding for various Ape-related ventures, but few garner sufficient support. One proposal requested $3.2 million to fund a comedy events company, Laughing Ape.
“WE ARE REALLY GOING TO BRING MASS ADOPTION TO NORMIES who will use $APE for their daily Laughing Ape purchases and perks,” the proposal stated.
Failed.
‘Why would the average hotel guest want to stay in a room that looks like an advertisement for Yuga’s NFT collections?’
– Matt Borchert, ApeCoin DAO
Another proposal aimed to promote Yuga Labs’ intellectual property through influencers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, aiming to “create awareness among normies and introduce them to Bored Ape Yacht Club as the best club in the world.”
This proposal also failed to gain sufficient support.
The authenticity of these proposals is sometimes questioned. Several DAO members have suggested that the hotel proposal may be a scam.
Despite the skepticism, many users still offer ideas for how Yuga could become mainstream. Some users envision community-owned brick-and-mortar clubhouses in major cities like New York, Miami, London, and Hong Kong.
You need to be realistic
But perhaps there is an irony in this: the holders are paying people to use their IP, not the other way around.
And yet there is a concern that people simply don’t want it. As one commentator noted on the Bangkok hotel proposal, the demand for monkey-themed items simply isn’t there.
“Why would the average hotel guest want to stay in a room that appears to be an advertisement for Yuga’s NFT collections, which the common public perception is that they are a scam?” wrote ApeCoin DAO member Matt Borchert.
“It’s tough out there and we need to be realistic.”
Callan Quinn is DL’ News Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong. Contact at Callan@dlnews.com.