Bored Ape’s rock bottom prices have doubled in a month as Yuga Labs CEO Michael Figge says blue-chip NFTs are oversold.
Bored Ape Yacht Club floor prices have doubled in the past month, from about 5 $ETH to more than 10 $ETH as traders return to speculative assets. ApeCoin, the ecosystem’s governance token, has also risen from less than $0.10 to around $0.16, alongside a sharp increase in trading volumes.
Michael Figge, CEO of Yuga Labs, told analysts that the rally reflects a real market correction. “The numbers clearly show that digital collectibles were oversold for a while,” Figge said.
What’s driving Bored Ape’s comeback?
The recovery comes as memecoins and other higher-risk assets outperform more defensive sectors like DeFi, signaling retail traders are returning after months of subdued activity.
Pudgy Penguins has also surged in recent weeks, and traders are speculating a long-rumored launch of OpenSea tokens will reignite broader market activity.
Figge acknowledged that speculation remains central. “It would be naive to say that financial speculation is not a major driver,” he said. “Whatever happens in this cycle will rhyme with the last, but it will never be exactly the same.”
Yuga Labs has now shifted its focus to community building, hosting more than 30 in-person gatherings worldwide in the past month. “A lot of what made Bored Ape work in the first place, the social layer, hasn’t really been maintained in recent years,” Figge said.
Market data and holder context
Figge responded to critics, noting that the number of unique holders has not doubled in addition to the prizes. “A cynic will say that prices have doubled and the number of unique holders has not doubled,” he said. “But that’s really just a recovery from a period when cases fell disproportionately.”
BAYC’s market cap was $251 million as of May 10, with the collection posting $13.42 million in sales over the past 30 days, according to CoinGecko data.
The revival also coincides with a broader reappraisal of digital art: pseudonymous $NFT Analyst “Van” argued in a recent essay that while the speculative mania collapsed after 2021, institutional interest in blockchain-based art has quietly continued at institutions like MoMA and Center Pompidou.