The flagship of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has been struggling to stay afloat in recent months. The collection is posting rock-bottom prices, and this is accompanied by a sharp fall in the Apecoin (APE), which has reached an all-time low. What’s going on with the yacht club monkeys
The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s APE reaches an all-time low
The bear market has set in, and with it a loss of enthusiasm for pfp collections of NFTs, i.e. profile images. And the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which enjoyed stratospheric growth in 2021 and 2022, is no exception. Proof of this is provided by its Apecoin, which saw its share price hit an all-time low.
The Apecoin price hit $1.7 yesterday, after many months of decline. Since the beginning of 2023, Apecoin has lost -72% of its value :
The price of APE has been falling since the beginning of 2023
Today, APE represents a market capitalization of just $666 million, whereas it had exceeded $2 billion several times.
BAYC collection less in demand
This fall is part of a general downturn for the NFT markets, whose collections have seen their floor prices plummet. For BAYC, the floor price is estimated at 29 ETH ($55,000 at the current rate). In 2022, however, this floor price reached 146 ETH at its peak. At today’s price, this would correspond to over $271,400.
All this is part of an overall decline in the NFT market. In June, sales of non-fungible tokens totalled $1 billion… Compared with $12.6 billion last January. Just like crypto-currencies, NFTs are taking the brunt of the bear market.
But will this ultimately consolidate the “big” collections? That’s the opinion of Chainalysis analyst Ethan McMahon, who confirmed the trend to our Guardian colleagues:
“Periods like this inevitably lead to consolidation within the affected markets, and for NFTs we’ll certainly see a slowdown in terms of collections, as well as the type of NFTs that will come to the fore. “
Bear market periods are indeed often periods of sorting. Shitcoins and flimsy projects are evicted… as are the less important collections of NFTs. The strength of the Bored Ape Yacht Club is currently being tested
