The prices of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs were once comparable to that of Ferraris fresh off the assembly line. Nowadays the JPEGs cost as much as your average used car.
As digital assets boomed in 2021 and 2022, Bored Ape Yacht Club represented the potential of NFTs as an emerging asset class that combines community and art. In the crypto world, monkeys were hailed as digital status symbols that existed at the cutting edge of technology.
When the collection’s creator, Yuga Labs, revealed details about the upcoming Otherside game – which is still in development – the market for Bored Apes was frothy. Around that time, Apes reached a peak minimum price of 152 ETH, or $429,000, in April 2022.
Since then, the NFT market has faced persistent headwinds as enthusiasm fades and NFT trading volumes approach record lows. While the Apes can still be considered a blue chip when it comes to profile photos, their decline shows no signs of reversing anytime soon.
Compared to the collection’s aforementioned peak minimum price — also known as floor price — Ape prices are down about 93% to $27,600, according to Crypto Slam. In ETH terms, the minimum price of the collection has dropped by 91% from 128 ETH to 11 ETH.
Bought Ape #6762 for 10.78 ETH (25,863.38 USD) on Blur via MagicEden #BAYC #BoredApe https://t.co/9Fg2i3JdqF
Powered by @Aloha_Bots pic.twitter.com/ImcGaiixU5
— BAYC Salesbot 🤖️ (@BAYCsalesbot) September 4, 2024
The woes in the NFT space got worse last week when once-leading NFT marketplace OpenSea announced that it was launching a Wells noticesindicating that the Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing for a lawsuit. When it comes to OpenSea’s embrace of the Apes, the platform has facilitated approximately 2 million ETH in Ape volume.
The price of an Ape briefly trended upward after falling to a multi-year low last month. Amid a global market sell-off in August, the collection’s floor price dropped to $20,000. However, after rising to $39,000, it has fallen back to pre-crash levels.
Meanwhile, several companies that first jumped into the Ape space have changed directions. That includes Tally Labs, which once created an expansive universe and storyline surrounding Jenkins the Valet, a personified version of Bored monkey #1798.
My name is Blake Chasen, but most of you know me as Jenkins the Valet, the character I created over three years ago.
Most of you have heard a lot about Jenkins the Valet over the years, but you haven’t heard from me directly. I’m writing today because in this post I want…
— Jenkins The Valet 🍌 (@jenkinsthevalet) September 3, 2024
Tally Labs launched a project called The Writers Room, which allowed holders of an associated NFT project to dictate story elements. That led to the creation of an ape-centric novel written by Neil Strauss New York Times bestselling author.
In one blog post this week, Tally Labs CEO Blake Chasen wrote that the project would no longer devote resources to new or existing projects. One of Tally Labs’ main goals was to create a way for people to license their NFTs as IP for mainstream stories.
“I think there is a world where ETH NFTs come back, and the early role these projects played (and their vast lore) will make them attractive to new IP opportunities,” Chasen wrote. “But that is not the case today.”