In January 2022, when the world was still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and coping with rolling lockdowns, non-fungible tokens were all the rage.
The blockchain-based assets, which more often than not took the form of cartoon pictures of silly-looking avatars like “CryptoPunks” to “Pudgy Penguins,” were selling like hot cakes. Even big shot celebrities were lining up to secure NFTs belonging to once-popular collections, like Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club.
In the midst of the craze, pop sensation Justin Bieber shelled out a hefty $1.3 million for a Bored Ape, an enormous sum of money for the rights to an image of a particularly glum-looking ape that appears to be on the verge of tears for some unknown reason.
Unsurprisingly, the questionable splurge turned out to be a hilariously bad investment. As Benzinga reports, the ape is now worth a measly $12,000, meaning that it’s lost over 99 percent of its value over the last three and change years.
The controversial crypto market has been going through an “NFT winter” following a brutal and extended crash. Collectors have gotten a hefty reality check. Who could’ve seen that coming?
Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, has been holding on to dear life. The company has gone through several rounds of layoffs since the trend’s heyday, with Yuga Labs cofounder Greg Solano admitting in April 2024 that the company had “lost its way.”
In one particularly bizarre incident, partiers at a Bored Ape Yacht Club event in Hong Kong were alarmed after their eyes started burning, which later turned out to be caused by the event’s excessive use of UV light.
The company has also had to deal with a class action lawsuit that accused it of using celebrity endorsements to sell an unregistered security. The Securities Exchange Commission started an investigation into Yuga Labs in 2022, which concluded in March of last year, two months into Trump’s second term. The regulator’s takeaway was that NFTs weren’t securities after all. However, being let off the hook by regulators hasn’t exactly improved the situation, as more and more collectors are abandoning their NFTs.
Despite waning demand, Yuga Labs isn’t ready to call it quits. Earlier this year, the company announced it was looking to open an IRL Bored Ape clubhouse in Miami, featuring NFT galleries, event spaces, and “exclusive content” only members can explore.
But whether it can ever reignite the enormous amount of enthusiasm the trend once drew remains unclear at best.
While Bieber remains the proud owner of Bored Ape Yacht Club #3001, others are looking to cut their losses.
