Bored Ape Yacht Club Hit $1 Billion in Total Sales

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of coveted non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has now generated more than $1 billion in total sales.

The cumulative sales figure for the 10,000-piece collection now stands at roughly $1.03 billion, according to data site CryptoSlam.

BAYC reached a milestone in the first few days of the new year, with roughly $55 million in sales recorded since January 1.

Demand for the digital apes was especially strong among celebrities — many of them rappers — in the closing weeks of 2021. Martin Garrix, Post Malone, Diplo and DJ Khaled are just a few of the growing number of artists to have ‘aped in,’ as the saying goes in crypto.

Rapper Eminem joined the fray on January 3, splashing around $462,000 on a gold-jacketed specimen.

The buy-in from big-name celebrities has lent more credence to the idea that the primates have become a status symbol to rival flashy cars and watches. So to have in-depth pieces from the likes of Rolling Stone, the popular culture magazine.

MoonPay, the $3.4 billion crypto payments app, has also helped stoke enthusiasm for the NFTs by brokering sales to big-name celebrities — including many of those mentioned in this piece — through a new concierge service.

Still, the rise of BAYC has not been without controversy. The community has been ridiculed by some corners of the crypto market for not practicing smart security techniques, a failing that has resulted in the theft of some apes. On Monday, BAYC was forced to address accusations of racist origins in a Twitter spaces.