Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are entering 2022 on a high.
OpenSea—the largest peer-to-peer NFT cryptocurrency marketplace—trading volumes surged barely four days into the year, amid sales of two of the top NFT projects: “Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)” and “Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)”.
The surge in sales comes after rapper Eminem bought “Bored Ape Yacht Club” NFT over the weekend for an estimated $452,000. Comedian Dave Chappelle also purchased “Bored Ape Yacht Club” NFT for nearly $371,343.
Since the beginning of this year, OpenSea has generated about $700 million in trading volume—with Monday (hailed as their biggest day of the year) recording a whopping $255.8 million worth of trading volume within 24 hours.
BAYC and MAYC NFTs top the charts
According to DappRadar (a blockchain research platform), trading volumes for the two top NFT projects stood at nearly $82.3 million and $93.2 million, respectively.
In the past one week alone, Mutant Ape NFT prices soared to a record $160% while Bored Ape NFT prices jumped to about 60%.
That said, the cheapest MAYC NFT has now tripled in price, while the floor price for a BAYC NFT has jumped over to 46%.
For the record, the Bored Ape NFTs project comprises 10,000 unique non-fungible tokens—currently held in 6,000 wallet addresses. Recent data suggests approximately “105” Bored Ape NFTs are held in a single Ethereum address.
On the other hand, the Mutant Ape NFTs project consists of over 20,000 unique “mutant versions” of Bored Apes NFTs. All in all, both NFTs are online avatars. In the past seven days, Mutant Ape NFTs had over 2,000 traders.
Going beyond the NFT sales
NFT projects such as Cryptopunks, MAYC, and BAYC I’ve played a pivotal role in the growth of non-fungible tokens. Although these NFTs don’t have a lot in terms of use cases right now, brands are starting to notice them.
A case in point is BAYC partnering with Adidas (the footwear giant) for a marketing campaign. Adidas and Nike brands are likely to sell digital sportswear and shoes in the future Metaverse—and there’s no better way to do that than using NFTs.
By the way, Bored Ape NFTs made it on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. BAYC popularity is not only enviably massive but has also led to the making of numerous spin-offs and fakes.
For example, in December last year, OpenSea banned a project dubbed “Phunky Ape Yacht Club (PAYC)” for selling BAYC-like mirrored and identical NFTs.
