Gm DOers! 😎
Imagine you can time travel…
You go back to April 22, 2021, and mint a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) for $192 (0.08 ETH).
In just over a year, you’re a millionaire! 🤯
You’ve turned $192 into $1,144,644.
Your one BAYC has led you to receive 5 airdrops, which you skillfully sold at near-top prices along the way. 📈
Unfortunately, you can’t time travel. 😢
But if you could, here's how you could have become a millionaire from minting one BAYC.
Now this scenario is just hypothetical. In order to achieve this you are required to time the top, which is near impossible.
You also must predict the airdrop date of each collection in order to ensure you don’t sell your BAYC before collecting future airdrops. And you would have to resist the temptation to turn your BACC (Bored Ape Chemistry Club) into a MAYC (Mutant Ape Yacht Club).
Sounds like an impossible scenario, right? 🤷
Maybe not.
Would you believe me if I told you that 308 real people (wallets) have become millionaires from trading BAYC? Crazy right?
In today’s PRO report, we’re diving into Bored Ape Yacht Club:
How one NFT minted 308 millionaires?
Will it ever happen again?
And is BAYC a good investment?
If you're anything like me, you probably didn't snag a BAYC. And maybe, just maybe, you aren't lounging in the millionaire club yet…
But if you asked me the best way for you to become a millionaire I’d tell you to invest onchain.
But how Jay? And what do I buy?
Well, these are the exact questions we answer in our Web3 Investing Masterclass. We give you the playbook on how to build generational wealth. 💰
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There might not be another BAYC. But there are still many opportunities to capitalize on the opportunity of web3. 🚀
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BAYC Collection 🐵
For the purpose of this report, we will use “BAYC” to refer to all the assets in the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem. For reference, here’s the complete set.
How One NFT Minted 308 Millionaires 💰
Before jumping in, one quick note is that for the purposes of this report, we’ve converted everything from $ETH into USD on the day a trade was made.
The #1 BAYC trader has profited an incredible $293 million. 🤯
Over $221 million came from trading the original BAYC collection, and they even profited $4.3 million from BAKC (Bored Ape Kennel Club). 🐕
Unfortunately, we don’t know who this person is. Onchain they are simply known as 0x29469395eaf6f95920e59f858042f0e28d98a20b.
But one thing is clear. This person is a prolific trader. 🪄
They have traded 9,740 BAYC assets. This is the most amount of BAYC trades by a single wallet, and Yuga Labs has made over $7.5 million in royalties just from this one trader alone!!
This wallet is truly in a league of its own. When we put them on a chart with the other top 10 traders, it was like comparing Jeff Bezos’ bank account to mine. 😅
So we made a chart of the top 9 traders (without #1). Let's take a look at how they made their millions.
Most of these wallets made the majority of their profit from trading the original BAYC collection. To see the full list of all 308 BAYC millionaires, go here.
Two of these wallets (#2 and #7) made the majority of their profit from Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC). Respect to wallet #2 who made over $1 million each from Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) and Otherdeed.
Wallet #8 just traded BAYC. They didn’t even bother with the other collections.
Wallet #6 is either the luckiest or the smartest of the bunch, as they made $8.23 million from just 99 trades.
What’s even more impressive is a wallet that made an astonishing profit of $4.18 million from just 11 trades. This person was lucky that they minted several rare NFTs and then were skillful in trading them near the top.
It’s also worth noting that two of these wallets (#1 and #6) made over $5 million from trading Bored Ape Chemical Club (BACC).
BACC is unique because it’s the only NFT in the collection that uses the burn and reveal mechanism. A powerful mechanism that adds a layer of risk and opportunity.
When a holder decides to burn a BACC they might get a rare MAYC, or they might get one that’s trading at floor prices.
When BACC was initially airdropped in August 2021 the price was inline with MAYC.
The BACC supply took a nosedive when people began converting them into MAYC. From the original 10,000 BACC, now only 518 remain. 🧪
Because of this, BACC's price has generally been above MAYC. Only in the past couple of months has it occasionally matched MAYC due to fewer BACC trades.
Now you may think that many of these top BAYC traders got lucky and minted a lot of Apes.
There's some truth to that. In fact, the 10,000-strong BAYC collection was minted by a mere 981 wallets.
And guess what? It took BAYC a whole 10 days to sell all their mints! This was way before the NFT craze when everything sold out in a flash.
Pransky.eth has the record for most BAYC minted with an incredible 1228 BAYC! From these Apes, pranksy.eth has made a profit of $5.67 million.
He’s not even in the top 10 in profit. Not that I’d be complaining if I were him. Apparently, he gave hundreds of Apes to various friends in the early days before they were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. 🤑
Delving deeper into BAYC's minting data, most of the original minters aren't living the millionaire life today.
Out of the 981 original BAYC minters, 634 sold their NFTs averaging below $2.5k each. 😳
Only a select group of 20 managed to sell theirs, averaging over $150k.
But you know who I have respect for? 🫡
The 57 diamond handers. These wallets have never sold a BAYC. Certainly not the worst thing, as BAYC floor is still up over 300x from when they first minted.
Plus, their wallets are full of airdrops from the rest of the set.
They may not be millionaires. But even at today’s prices, these diamond handers have still turned their original mint into a healthy profit. 💰
Whenever I see this though I wonder how many of these people are diamond handers vs. how many lost their seed phrase and can’t access their precious Apes! 😬
We recently saw $59 million of airdropped $ARB tokens go unclaimed. And I’ll bet that’s mostly from lost wallets. A stark reminder that self-custody is not without risk. ⚠️
From all the 981 wallets that minted the original BAYC collection all were profitable except one. There is one sad and lonely wallet who lost $57.
How? Pretty simple.
They sold it a week after minting on May 1, 2021 for $57 below their original mint.
But here’s the real kick in the pants. Just 5 months later, on October 6, this same NFT was sold for $302k. Ouch! 🤕
Thankfully, this person isn’t down as bad as Justin Bieber.
In January 2022, Bieber bought a BAYC for $1.29 million (500 ETH at the time). It wasn’t even a rare BAYC! It was just a regular floor BAYC. 🤦
Today, a floor BAYC is worth $40k. So if you’re down bad during this bear market, just remember Justin Bieber. 😅
Will it Ever Happen Again? 🤔
The question is on everyone’s mind. What’s the next BAYC? Will there be another NFT collection that mints hundreds of millionaires?
Honestly, I don’t think so.
Moonbirds tried and failed. Azuki tried and failed. Along with countless other collections that tried to recreate the BAYC playbook.
What’s the playbook? You continuously airdrop new collections to your initial holders while, at the same time, the price of these new collections increases.
Every other time a project has tried this, they’ve run into the same problem. Their price drops as the supply of NFTs in their collection increases.
Did someone say dilution? It’s exactly what the US Federal Reserve is doing to USD right now along with most major governments around the world, as they all continue to print money and increase the supply of their currencies.
But then how did BAYC do it?
They struck lightning in a bottle. ⚡
They were the poster boy for the NFT mania of 2021. During this time, there was crazy market fever for all NFTs.
We all got caught in the hype cycle and made the mistake of thinking that ALL NFTs were going to the moon.
Greed took over and people started paying ridiculous amounts for JPEGs which had no roadmap or business plan.
The same thing happened at the start of the internet in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. They called it the internet bubble, and oh boy, did it ever burst.
This happens at the start of every new tech. And we’re apparently not great at learning from history and past mistakes.
Regardless, every time there’s a new tech, everyone wants a piece and we all get caught up in the hype.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking an entire new industry (eg. internet, NFTs, blockchain, or AI) is going to the moon.
99% of businesses fail. This is true in all industries, including NFTs.
Is BAYC a Good Investment?
Straight up. I have no idea.
If anyone tells you otherwise, they are full of shit. 🤡
We’ve never seen an asset class like NFTs before so I have no idea how to predict their future value. Neither does anyone else.
After getting caught in the hype cycle of NFTs and losing a lot of money I shifted my web3 investment thesis to focus on the infrastructure layer of the large networked-based blockchains like $BTC, $ETH, $OP, and $IMX.
But if I were to try to evaluate a BAYC investment, here’s how I would think about it.
The biggest issue I have with NFTs as an investment, other than them being incredibly risky, is that there is no clear value accrual to you as a holder.
In a typical investment, you own shares/equity in a company. As such, when the company makes more profit your shares become more valuable.
And if you’re lucky enough to own shares in a company that sells, then you get bought out at a multiple several times the value of your shares. This is how VCs make millions. 🤑
The problem with NFTs is that you don’t own equity in the company (unless explicitly stated in the smart contract).
Therefore, if you invest in a BAYC, what are you investing in?
1. The IP of your Ape
The only way that I could be convinced to invest in a BAYC is if I had a plan to commercialize the IP. As a BAYC owner, you have full IP rights over the artwork of your Ape.
We’ve seen numerous BAYC owners commercialize their IP with everything from a short film, to soon to be released tv shows, a brewery, a comic book, and even a restaurant called Bored & Hungry.
BAYC is a global brand with partnerships with Gucci, Adidas, and BAPE.
If you believe that this IP will continue to grow and you have the skills to commercialize it, then purchasing an Ape right now for $40k could be a sound investment.
2. Community Membership 🎟️
Many people have told me that they purchased their Ape so they could get access to the community. Most of these people are builders in web3.
They have a startup, and they are looking to rub shoulders with other leaders and the crypto-rich.
Or these people just wanted access to the Ape events where you might bump into celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Steve Aoki, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, and dozens more who are Ape holders themselves.
Keep in mind that you don’t need a BAYC to access the community. You could just purchase a MAYC for $8k. If you value the community then $8k for lifetime membership might not be so crazy.
3. Ownership of Land and Characters in the Metaverse
One of Yuga Labs' main goals is to build a leading metaverse. A virtual space where we all hang out, play games, shop, and live our daily online lives.
If this comes to fruition, then certainly there would be value for those who own land in the metaverse. This is the idea behind Otherdeeds.
These are pieces of land that should accrue value when Yuga Labs launches Otherside. Kind of like owning real estate in the real world.
There’s also the possibility that certain characters/IP in the BAYC collections have utility and value in the metaverse.
But all this is very speculative and high risk. Personally, I will not be investing in land or character ownership in one metaverse.
Why? Because compared to NFTs, metaverses are in even earlier stages and carry greater risks.
Now, I don’t want to finish this report all doom and gloom. 😶🌫️
I still hold many of my original NFTs because I do believe that some of them will be worth much more than they are today.
When the next bull run comes, a lot of liquidity will flow into crypto, starting with the majors - BTC and ETH. Then it will flow down to the altcoins and eventually to NFTs.
When this happens, I believe that some NFTs (especially a few OG collections) will see a significant increase in their value.
But we’ve got a long way until then. So, in the meantime, I’ll be keeping it simple as I stack and stake my $ETH.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this bear market, it’s that $ETH is not worth risking over some JPEGs. So I won’t make that mistake again.
Thanks for reading. And remember, you're strong, you’re powerful, you’re alpha! ❤️
See you soon. ✌️
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jay Hamilton
Founder of Web3 Academy and Impact3
Find him on Twitter
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