Not Just JPEGs: How Bored Ape Yacht Club Built an NFT Empire?
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Not Just JPEGs: How Bored Ape Yacht Club Built an NFT Empire?
Dive deep into the world of Apes and use on-chain data to determine whether the hype is justified.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
By Martin Lee, Nansen
Translated by TechFlow Intern
In this article, we dive deep into the world of Apes to understand everything about them and assess whether the hype is justified through on-chain data.
Introduction
NFTs have taken over the world. Super-expensive pixelated cartoon characters, anime-themed art, and cartoon animals are increasingly becoming the go-to avatars for crypto investors. Among these, apes stand out as the most iconic theme.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has become the most expensive and influential NFT collection. Beyond boasting a total market cap exceeding 1.69 million ETH, the series has successfully attracted high-profile figures such as Stephen Curry, Steve Aoki, and Jimmy Fallon.
How did a collection of cartoon ape JPEG NFTs grow into a billion-dollar brand in just over a year? Is the ape theme genuinely powerful, or is it simply a trendy gimmick created by the community to gain traction?
Background Story
How Did It Start?
"Apes" carry strong cultural significance in cryptocurrency, typically describing blind investment in assets like stocks, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs. As retail interest in investing surged during the pandemic, so did the use of this terminology.
According to interviews with CoinDesk, founders Gordan Goner and Gargamel initially envisioned an exclusive bar accessible only to club members. Apes were chosen as the ideal members, giving birth to the concept of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
Apes officially launched on April 23, 2021, priced at 0.08 ETH (about $200). By today’s standards, minting was nearly free, yet it took a full week to sell out all 10,000 NFTs. There was no initial hype or buzz.
It wasn’t until a week later that Pranksy—one of the most profitable and prolific NFT collectors (though now outside the top 10 on Nansen's NFT profitability leaderboard)—began promoting the project. In the months that followed, BAYC surpassed even its most optimistic projections. At the time of writing, BAYC’s floor price stands at 100 ETH, approximately $240,000.
Evolution
BAYC served as the foundational ecosystem built by Yuga Labs over the past year—but it wasn't the whole story. Perhaps recognizing that ape NFTs alone might be too narrow, the team introduced a derivative collection—about two months after BAYC’s launch, they airdropped 10,000 Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs to BAYC holders.
Then, the third collection, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), launched in August 2021. This series totaled 20,000 NFTs—the sum of the first two collections. The team airdropped 10,000 serums to the 10,000 BAYC holders, allowing them to mutate their BAYC into a MAYC. The remaining 10,000 were sold publicly at a mint price of 3 ETH. The sale concluded in under an hour, raising $96 million for the team.
Most recently, the team launched their fourth collection: Otherside, virtual land parcels for the upcoming BAYC metaverse. The collection totals 200,000 NFTs, with 100,000 released on April 30, 2022, and the rest to be distributed to NFT holders who contribute to the development of Otherside. Similar to previous drops, current BAYC and MAYC holders received Otherside NFTs without additional cost. The public could purchase these NFTs for 305 APE Coins each.
This release sparked massive interest across the crypto space. The minting contract saw interaction from 112 smart contract addresses. Gas fees skyrocketed from the previous day’s 40–70 Gwei to a peak of 8.1K Gwei during minting. The gas spike caused outrage on Twitter, with many users criticizing the poor management of the sale and subpar quality of the deployed smart contracts. However, Vitalik Buterin himself later responded, stating that "contract optimization has minimal impact on gas costs."
A Global Attention-Grabbing Launch
In September 2021, renowned auction house Sotheby’s sold a collection totaling $26.2 million, including 101 Apes and 101 Kennels—over 30% above the upper estimate. Also in September, another prestigious auction house, Christie’s, held a BAYC NFT auction, selling four BAYCs for around $2.8 million in total. 
Both auction houses are leaders in fine art and luxury auctions. In the past, one might find works by Van Gogh, Raphael, or Da Vinci at these venues. The appearance of NFT collections like BAYC in traditional art auctions lends legitimacy to the NFT market.
Crowning the King
Since BAYC’s rise, competition between BAYC and CryptoPunks has simmered. Punks,凭借 their long history and strong community culture, were long considered the premier blue-chip NFT asset. Although BAYC’s floor price repeatedly surpassed that of CryptoPunks and eventually exceeded 100 ETH, CryptoPunks maintained their status as crypto elders and kings of the NFT realm.
But when Yuga Labs acquired the intellectual property rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs, the debate over which NFT held greater influence ended. While CryptoPunks retain their legacy and historical significance, today there is no doubt: the king of NFTs is BAYC.
Deep Dive On-Chain
To better understand the BAYC universe, we must dive deeper into Nansen’s on-chain data to evaluate whether the BAYC collection is truly as successful as claimed.
Overview
Here is a general overview of the NFT series:
1. Over 528,000 ETH in secondary sales (using wash transaction filters), less than 567K ETH (as of April 27)
2. Highest single-day trading volume: 15,415 ETH
3. L30D average daily trading volume: ~1,800 ETH
4. Approximately 6.2K holders
5. 257 holders have continuously held since minting
Yuga Labs receives a 2.5% royalty on secondary sales, having collected approximately 14,100 ETH (around $33.8 million) in royalties to date.
Holding Distribution
As noted, there are over 6,200 holders. The collection initially took a week to reach 200 unique addresses, but from May to July, the number grew parabolically to over 4,400 unique addresses. About 80% of NFTs have been held for at least 60 days, and roughly 63% for at least 90 days. This suggests that on average, 63% of NFTs were purchased at 93 ETH or less. BAYC’s floor price peaked at 150 ETH in late April before falling back to around 100 ETH. The average participant entered the club relatively early and remains at break-even or slightly profitable, despite the broader market downturn.
How Sticky Is the Floor Price?
In addition to monitoring wallets with substantial profits, we examine the proportion of wallets holding only one BAYC and the balance of diamond-handed wallets to assess the sustainability of the current floor price.
A high percentage of BAYC wallets hold only one Bored Ape. At 81%, this ratio exceeds similar sets in the Nansen Blue Chip-10 index, such as CloneX (71%), Azuki (76%), and CryptoPunks (72%). This makes holders less likely to sell, as it’s their sole BAYC. Thus, it creates a more resilient floor price. Additionally, there aren’t many “whale” holders capable of dumping their NFTs to crash prices.
Moreover, currently, 5.2K BAYCs remain unlisted among existing holder wallets. While slightly down from the near-6,000 all-time high, this figure is one of the few collections gradually rising.
We can also monitor chart changes to understand holder psychology.
Only 6.5% of BAYCs are listed on the market, with 0.10% priced within 15% above or below the floor. Most BAYCs are listed between 180–360 ETH. This indicates that most holders aren’t considering selling, while a small fraction hopes to sell far above the current floor price.
Will Smart Money Buy BAYC at This Level?
Prices are high—seemingly only degens would buy NFTs at all-time highs. It’s hard to imagine smart money entering BAYC at these levels for profit, let alone bold bets.
Analyzing trends among smart money holders reveals two key observations:
1. The number of Smart NFT Early Buyers and Smart NFT Traders is gradually declining.
2. The number of Smart NFT Holders and Smart NFT Accumulators is steadily increasing.
Overall, early adopters are gradually reducing positions. As prices rose, traders took profits and exited. Early adopters may have realized life-changing gains. One top wallet on the BAYC profit leaderboard—a Smart NFT Early Adopter—earned 1,404 ETH in profit, a return of 41,326%.
Traders tend to increase activity as prices rise, but struggle to stay put as BAYC pushes new highs. Meanwhile, smart money addresses favoring long-term holding continue to grow—indicating optimism about the collection’s long-term prospects.
According to individual transaction dashboards, smart money continues to buy over the past 30 days. Some are even purchasing significantly above the 12-hour simple moving average price.
The Future of BAYC
BAYC is poised to become a highly influential brand—culturally comparable to Supreme, with social signaling power akin to luxury fashion brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. As its ecosystem expands, so does BAYC’s impact and significance. The launch of ApeCoin, ApeCoin DAO, and virtual land NFTs further solidifies its position in the Web3 world. Collaborations with streetwear giants like Adidas and an upcoming BAYC film trilogy will help spread BAYC into mainstream culture.
With holders granted full commercial rights and control over their NFTs, we may soon see individuals rise to fame simply by owning a BAYC. Brands and filmmakers may feature eye-catching or uniquely featured BAYCs in advertisements or movies.
Between these mainstream media milestones and the upcoming “Otherside” virtual world, Bored Ape Yacht Club is building a culturally significant NFT collection.
Conclusion
BAYC has evolved from a simple JPEG NFT into a broader ecosystem growing in cultural influence comparable to brands like Supreme. Its rapid ascent is unprecedented and unmatched by mainstream fashion brands or other crypto projects.
While BAYC’s achievements thus far are impressive, this may only mark the beginning of a much larger universe it is set to create. Holder activity shows both degens and smart money share a similarly optimistic outlook on BAYC’s future. The team’s dream of apes ruling the world may not be far-fetched—BAYC could very well become the dominant force in the metaverse.
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