It’s time to move on from Bored Ape Yacht Club. It’s bad for nonfungible tokens (NFTs). It gives critics ammo and distracts from the technology, which is where the real value lies.
For those on the outside looking in, NFTs are nothing more than overpriced monkey JPEGs — or whichever choice of animated animal profile picture is in the firing line.
NFTs, of course, are much more than that.
But because of Bored Apes, and the countless imitations they’ve spawned, NFTs are getting a bad rep. “Bubble,” “money laundering” and “scams” are all terminology associated by critics with the new “Beanie Babies craze.”
It’s a disparaging distraction.
Related: Bored Ape Yacht Club is a huge mainstream hit, but is Wall Street ready for NFTs?
Yes, Bored Apes are still priced at more than $100,000 (a fifth of what they were worth at the market’s peak). But they’re tied to the tumult of cryptocurrency volatility and market sentiment, which has fallen along with the tumbling crypto market.
You also have Ape-backed borrowers on the verge of liquidation and 143 Apes already stolen, including Seth Green’s Bored Ape, which he was forced to pay to get back. And, of course, there are also the fans who slammed Eminem and Snoop Dogg when they performed as their Apes at the latest MTA Video Music Awards.
Bored Apes are the face of the NFT hype cycle. They might be the closest thing to the aforementioned Beanie Babies in the NFT space because of their status. But there’s a…
