LONDON- The company behind the “Bored Ape” series of NFTs has raised around $285 million worth of cryptocurrency through selling tokens which represent land in a virtual world game.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, which are represented by a set of 10,000 computer-generated cartoon apes, were created by U.S. start-up Yuga Labs last year.
Bored Ape prices surged to hundreds of thousands of dollars each as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – crypto assets that represent digital files such as images, videos, or items in online games – grew in popularity.
Their Apes were sold at prestigious auction houses and were owned by celebrities including Paris Hilton and Madonna, making them one of the most prominent NFT brands.
In a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, Yuga Labs raised $450 million in March and will now focus on what it calls the “metaverse”.
Yuga Labs bought and sold NFTs called “Otherdeeds” in an online sale on April 30. These NFTs could be redeemed for plots of land in a future online environment centered around Bored Apes, called “Otherside.”
The “Otherdeeds” could only be purchased using the project’s associated cryptocurrency, called ApeCoin, which launched in March.
As stated on the company’s Twitter, all 55,000 Otherdeeds were sold out. They were priced 305 ApeCoin each.
Although the company said the ApeCoin would be locked up for one year, it was not clear how the funds would be distributed.
Speculative, high-risk crypto assets linked to online virtual worlds are in high demand, as evidenced by this sale. Reports of scams, fakes, and market manipulation are common among NFTs, which are largely unregulated.
Several NFTs that sell virtual land have already generated millions of dollars, while many others can’t comprehend paying real money for land that doesn’t exist.
The currently under development Otherside metaverse will be a multi-player gaming environment according to its website.
Yuga Labs’ sale of Otherdeeds follows the hacking of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Instagram account, where a phishing link was posted, allowing scammers to steal NFTs.
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