NFT Developer Bored Ape Yacht Club Accused Of Fraud

JAKARTA – The popular NFT developer Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs, was recently forced to face the possibility of a class action lawsuit from a group of people. They accused Yuga Labs of fraud in its marketing.

For information, this class action lawsuit is filed by an individual or simultaneously to represent a group of people who have the same legal interest.

Hence, Yuga Labs had to deal with this problem during the crypto market downturn that rocked the crypto industry in recent months.

A group of individuals complained that a number of the company's products including ApeCoin and NFT BAYC were misleadingly promoted by celebrities. Thus, the price of Yuga Labs' products has increased drastically and is considered unreasonable.

As a result, some traders suffered heavy losses after the token value fell. They sought justice, and they even turned to US-based law firm Scott+Scott, which tried to launch a legal battle against Yuga Labs.

“After selling millions of dollars of fraudulently promoted NFT, Yuga Labs launched ApeCoin to attract further investors,” said a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, quoted from CryptoPotato.

As is well known, Bored Ape Yacht Club's native token, ApeCoin (APE), has skyrocketed to an all-time high after one month of its public launch. As a result, at the end of April, APE broke the price of 27 US dollars per APE. Along with the decline in the crypto market, the APE token is currently trading at USD 6 per token.

“If you experience a loss in connection with your purchase of Yuga Labs tokens or NFT between April 2022 and June 2022, you are advised to contact Scott+Scott to learn more about your legal rights,” said the company Scott+Scott.

In early 2022, Yuga Labs managed to raise funding of US$450 million (around Rp. 6.7 trillion). The funds are used for the development of the NFT metaverse. A number of venture capital (VC) firms have invested in Yuga Labs, including Silicon Valley-based Andreessen Horowitz. This injection of funds pushed the company's valuation to 4 billion US dollars.

The following months, the company's NFT trading volume declined significantly. That was reflected in Otherdeed's NFT trading volume which plunged more than 95%. For your information, Otherdeed is a collection of NFTs used to claim virtual land in Yuga Labs' Otherside metaverse.

In addition, the popular NFT developed by Yuga Labs, BAYC, also experienced a decrease in transactions compared to last year. The interest of investors decreased significantly, but it rose again after Eminem and Snoop Dogg promoted BAYC in the video clip of their song. The two top rappers are two of the many celebrities who are willing to spend thousands of dollars to buy the NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.