One of the biggest success stories in the NFT world is Bored Ape Yacht Club. The generative-profile pictures took the Internet by storm and raised the bar for everyone involved in the NFT collecting world. The value created by the company and community members is grossly underrated for its recent success. Many people assume it’s just hype around one project, and everyone is shilling on social media. But that is not what is happening with the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The project’s founders prioritized building a strong and active community that can give Ape holders a unique experience in the vast NFT landscape. Outside of CryptoPunks, no other community has amassed such a following from retail to top celebrities in such a short period of time.
So you might be wondering- what did BAYC do differently to now almost make every holder a freaking millionaire? This article will discuss the main reasons why BAYC stands out in a highly competitive and concentrated NFT marketplace.
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#1 The BAYC Community made all the difference
Most NFT projects focus on money first and the community at later stages, but that is not the route taken by the Bored Ape Yacht club. Gargamel, one of the founders, said, “That’s how you create an unsustainable pump and we’re trying to build this long-term.” The project is entirely dedicated to the owners of Apes, and the only aim is to create more value for them in terms of exclusive community members, online NFT status, and, obviously, lucrative financial returns.
Gorder, another founder of BAYC, recently said to The Verge, “ It’s pretty insane- we are now running a multimillion-dollar hedge fund with like 13,000 active users on Discord.” This makes perfect sense, even if taken literally. The community is the backbone of this project, and it has grown to new heights that no one ever imagined.
The Apes being a generative-profile picture, we see an insane amount of collaborations between different holders. When an owner changes their profile picture to an Ape, they automatically belong to a unique set of individuals in the NFT space. For example, on Twitter, people can instantly send a DM and connect with people having a Bored Ape as their profile picture.
The Bathroom
The Bored Ape community is undivided and special, mainly because of the virtual experiences created by the company. BAYC is the only digital collection that gave its private community members access to create collaborative art for the crypto sphere. This is one of many ways how the Bored Ape Club created one of the most communicative and responsive communities. This is one of many ways how the Bored Ape Club created one of the most communicative and responsive communities.
What it looks like now
#2 BAYC’s Detailed Roadmap is realistic and promising
Every project needs to have a detailed roadmap. This helps investors and traders get an overview of what the future looks like. In the case of BAYC, they set realistic expectations and promised all Ape holders what benefits they would be getting from the membership. The benefits included exclusive merch, a treasure hunt, Ape breeding, and many other ways to collaborate with Ape friends.
The rare traits of Apes are not the only exclusives offered to holders. They will also be getting a surprise drop to mint a canine companion for their ape. The Bored Ape Kennel Club adds more utility and value to the community- rather than just simply being a digital piece of art.
With the community actively participating, it opens up new opportunities for commercial usage as well. Even the company agreed to give full commercial rights to all dog owners and Ape owners. Although BAYC does not verify the projects created and developed by ape holders, they still add to the Ape universe and spread the word about the collection. This is one of the main reasons why the BAYC community grew so fast. They trust the roadmap and believe there is more innovation to be done.
#3 Billionaires, Social-Media Influencers, Athletes, Legendary artists- all of them Aped in
Be it NFTs or crypto tokens, they all need an external entity to break the barriers and moonshot in a limited time. With the Bored Ape Yacht Club, we had not one but multiple high-level entities showing huge support and love for the community as well as its future plans. From tech billionaires like Mark Cuban to social media influencers like Logan Paul, we have seen extraordinary buyers willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a Bored ape in their NFT collection.
Logan Paul is continuously supporting the NFT space while cashing big checks for every one of his collectables. He is a huge collector of WorldOfWomenNFT, BAYC, CryptoPunks, and ON1 Force. We can see more influencers buying, as everyone understands how much of a status symbol an NFT has become.
Speaking of influencers and entrepreneurs, Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the early visionaries of the NFT space, is extremely bullish on BAYC. He also actively participated in discord groups, discussing different opportunities he sees in the market. His youtube content on NFTs is on point and is a must-watch for newbies.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is also witnessing huge interest from NBA players and other professional athletes. Recently, we saw Steph Curry, one of the best shooters in NBA history, 2X MVP, and 3-time world champion, update his Twitter profile picture with a rare Ape. It is recorded he spent nearly $180,000 worth of ETH.
Another famous basketball star who joined the Ape club is Lamelo Ball. One of the finest rookies we have ever seen in the NBA is actively exploring and aggressively collecting NFTs from all top collections. He believes in BAYC’s future plans and things NFTs are the future.
The Bored Ape club experienced one of the biggest celebrity waves in the NFT world, setting floor prices higher and higher every day. With or without high-level individuals, BAYC would still thrive no matter what because- the community is the key driver here. The company is not only looking to add immense monetary value, but they want collectors to be recognized by providing special experiences limited to the club members.
In conclusion, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is definitely going to be around for a long time, given its community gets bigger and brings in more and more active participants. The main thing you should take away from this article is that- a strong community is what drives NFTs. If you want to explore and invest in NFTs, the first step would always be to check the artists’ background and how well the company has built its community.
Born and brought up in India, Karthikeya Gutta is a crypto journalist and freelance contributor for ItsBlockchain. He covers various aspects of the industry with in-depth analysis and research. His passion towards blockchain and crypto ecosystem is mainly because he believes it can really change the world and help millions of people.
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