JAKARTA - The company behind the creation of the "Bored Ape" NFT series, Yugas Labs, has raised around US$285 million worth of cryptocurrency by selling tokens representing the ground in a virtual world game that is reportedly under construction.
Last year, the US startup created the NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club, a blockchain-based token that represents 10,000 computer-generated cartoon monkeys.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – crypto assets that represent digital files such as images, videos, or items in online games – have now exploded in popularity. Bored Ape prices soared to hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
The Otherdeed NFT mint is sold out - we are awestruck at the demand shown tonight. Apes and Mutants, the opening of the 21-day claim period is being delayed until the price of gas drops to reasonable levels. We'll tweet when the claim opens. https://t.co/iRz64lklbv
— OthersideMeta (@OthersideMeta) May 1, 2022
They have become one of the most prominent NFT brands, with Apes being sold at top auction houses and owned by world celebrities including Paris Hilton and Madonna.
Now, Yuga Labs - which raised $450 million in March in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, - has set its sights on the "metaverse".
In an online sale on April 30, Yuga Labs sold NFTs called "Otherdeeds," which it said could be redeemed as virtual plots of land in a Bore Apes-themed online environment called "Otherside."
“Otherdeeds” can only be purchased using the project-related cryptocurrency, called ApeCoin, which was launched in March.
There are 55,000 Otherdeeds for sale, priced at 305 ApeCoins each, and the company wrote on Twitter that these coins have sold out.
This means the sale resulted in 16,775,000 ApeCoins, worth about $285 million as of Sunday, May 1 according to Reuters calculations based on the price of ApeCoins on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase at 1210 GMT.
The sale demonstrates the continued high demand for speculative and high-risk crypto assets associated with the online virtual world. NFTs are largely unregulated, and reports of fraud, counterfeiting, and market manipulation are still common.
While many people are still confused by the idea of paying with real money for land that doesn't physically exist, some virtual land NFTs have actually made millions of dollars.
Metaverse Otherside will be a multiplayer gaming environment, which is reportedly currently in development. Yuga Labs declined to say how many people were working to build Otherside or when it would launch.
The sale of Otherdeeds Yuga Labs comes shortly after the official Bored Ape Yacht Club Instagram account was hacked and a phishing link posted. This allows the scammer to steal the victim's NFT.
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