Meta Digest

Yuga Labs’ founders support creators royalties in blog post

Josh Barter Josh Barter on March 20, 2023

Image source: The Cryptonomist

Yuga Labs’ founders, the folks behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, are slamming marketplaces for rejecting creator royalties.

The founders defended the creators of NFT in a case that led to markets rejecting them.

The Yuga Labs’ founders suggested a community-driven “allowlist” model that would allow creators to designate marketplaces that handle secondary sales of their works.

Royalty

NFT market leader OpenSea made the rounds over the weekend, saying it could follow the current trend of dropping license fees for NFT creators.

The trend includes the lack of copyright enforcement on secondary sales.

As a result, many creators oppose their choices.

In turn, the Yuga Labs’ founders also joined their cause.

Founders Wylie “Gordon Goner” Aronow, Greg “Garga” Solano, Kerem “Tomato” Atalay, and 10KTF CTO Randy “Melonpan” Chang recently posted an article.

The post states that the founders of Yuga Labs speak out against the industry’s departure from respecting creator royalties.

Instead, they offered a technical solution to enforce creator royalties.

Read also: Coinbase safe from FTX exposure, says CEO

The proposal

The Yuga Labs’ founders offer an “allow list” model for developers to allow secondary exchanges through marketplaces that recognize royalties.

If a marketplace’s smart contract is listed, the transaction will be completed; otherwise, it will not.

However, standard wallet-to-wallet transfers will not be affected.

“The NFT ecosystem would be a tiny fraction of what it is today if it weren’t for creator royalties,” the Yuga Labs’ founders wrote.

“The leading marketplaces of the past couple years would be nowhere if they hadn’t supported them.”

They noted that when Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs launched for $220 worth of Ethereum last year, they set a 2.5% royalty on secondary sales.

The founders explained that this was the amount charged by OpenSea for its market fees.

The license fee is lower than the fee chosen by other NFT creators, often between 5% and 10% of the retail price.

“The end result has been that OpenSea has made around $35 million dollars from Bored Ape sales on its platform, not including any of our other collections,” they wrote.

“We’ve never met the founders, but perhaps they have a beach house somewhere with a plaque for us.”

Yuga Labs

According to Galaxy Digital, BAYC founders earned over $147 million royalties from creators on secondary sales last month.

Today, however, NFT royalties are less durable.

Although the creators can put them in smart contracts, they are not fully enforceable on the chain.

Markets should honor them as most did until recently.

Read also: Yuga Labs reveal plans to turn Otherside into an adult Web3 Roblox

The marketplaces

In the Solana NFT space, nearly all secondary sales are on platforms that reject creators’ royalties or make them optional.

The move came after Magic Eden made them optional after losing market share to rivals.

Meanwhile, markets like LooksRare, Blur, X2Y2, and Sudoswap in Ethereum have also taken a similar approach.

OpenSea always has honored creators’ copyrights, but the company recognized the spatial change.

They said it could make creator royalties optional for merchants and explore new application models or charge royalties only on certain projects.

The creators in the Web3 space did not handle the OpenSea news well.

The founders of Yuga Labs joined the case, claiming that the denial of copyrights for the creator is a “race to the bottom” in which they believe OpenSea will participate.

Reference:

Bored Ape Founders propose NFT royalties model, decry OpenSea’s stance as ‘not great’

Apple’s updated review guidelines map out new NFT policies

Hector Andrews Hector Andrews on March 13, 2023

Tech giant Apple remains adamant about its controversial stance on NFTs and is responding to it with updated App Store policies.

According to Apple Insider, Apple released its updated NFT review policies on Monday.

NFTs can exist in App Store’s apps but cannot unlock additional features or content.

The guidelines

Per the policy, apps can use in-app purchases to sell NFTs and NFT-related services, such as:

  • Minting
  • Listing
  • Transferring

“Apps may allow users to view their own NFTs, provided that NFT ownership does not unlock features of functionality within the app,” the guidelines read.

How it affects users

Apple’s policies are likely to discourage users from purchasing NFTs.

NFTs typically unlock token-gated content such as NFT Moonbirds and NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club.

NFT holders get exclusive access to merchandise, various communication channels and other benefits.

Developers will not have the authority to create buttons, external links, or calls to action that indicate how users can navigate the App Store to purchase NFT via other platforms.

Instead, the App Store wants users to make in-app purchases.

They are also not allowed to pay in cryptocurrencies.

The importance of the guidelines

App Store Review Guidelines tell developers what they can and cannot publish to the App Store.

If they violate the guidelines, Apple will reject or remove the apps.

Apple announced that it would take a 30% cut of all NFTs sold in apps offered through its App Store in the past.

The new update coincides with its previous announcement.

Last month, the news disappointed Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games and a crypto enthusiast.

He said Apple should be stopped because its decision crushed “nascent technology” that could rival its overpriced in-app payment service.

Other notes

Besides NFTs, Apple is changing some of its language regarding cryptocurrency exchange apps on the App Store.

“Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange,” the guidelines wrote.

“Provided they are offered only in countries or regions where the app has appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange.”

Reference:

Apple bans using NFTs to unlock content, features in apps

Image source: Tech Crunch

BAYC #1626 burned as it makes its new home on Bitcoin

Josh Barter Josh Barter on February 15, 2023

BAYC – The Bored Ape Yacht Club has been the highest-profile NFT since the 2021 boom.

Even after the crypto market crash last year, the BAYC NFTs continued to be one of the best-selling tokens on the market.

This year, one of the most valuable Bored Ape NFTs underwent a significant change.

Over the weekend, BAYC #1626 was permanently removed from circulation.

The news

The removal of the Bored Ape surprised many, but its owner had an explanation.

According to the Ape’s owner, they wanted to symbolically shift its underlying blockchain to Bitcoin, having originally come from Ethereum.

The NFT last went on sale on OpenSea in November 2022, selling for 108 ETH, around $432,000 at the time or $169,000 in today’s prices.

Burning NFTs

Like most NFTs, BAYC #1626’s ownership was recorded on the Ethereum network before it was burned.

NFTs can be permanently removed from circulation through burning, which typically involves sending the NFT somewhere it can’t be retrieved.

Jason Williams, the owner of BAYC #1626 said he burned it in the weekend, which means it can never be sold again on the Ethereum network.

“Essentially throwing a Lamborghini into a trash compactor – it’s kind of fun,” said Williams.

“Whether putting bloated JPEGs on Bitcoin’s base chain is smart or not is a whole ‘nother [SIC] discussion, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing how it plays out.”

Ordinals

Despite burning the NFT, Jason Williams isn’t totally sure where his Ape is now, but he speculates BAYC #1626 is now on Bitcoin.

His guess can be traced to a link to an Inscription through Ordinals.

Ordinals was created by Casey Rodarmor.

It is a project that assigns content (images and videos) to individual satoshis, the smallest unit a Bitcoin can be split to, where they will permanently reside as Inscriptions on the Bitcoin network.

While the amount of Inscriptions on Bitcoin is around the 100,000 mark, there are still marketplaces for people to trade them.

A number of buyers and sellers are currently linked through Ordinal’s Discord server.

The burn happened with a new feature for Ordinals called Teleburn, which creates a unique destination with each new Inscription so digital assets can be burned.

Teleburn

Teleburn lets users assign an asset from another network to a Bitcoin Inscription, removing it from circulation.

It transfers the token between chains, which can be seen by the creators of Teleburn.

Rob Hamilton collaborated with Rodarmor to create Teleburn, and he said:

“The idea is that you are one-way, permanently burning an asset on another chain and pointing it to the ordinal that lives on the Bitcoin chain.”

Read also: Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Hamilton approached Rodarmor about developing the Teleburn feature last weekend at Bitcoin Park.

Bitcoin Park is a coworking space in Nashville, Tennessee, that was made for the Bitcoin community.

They collaborated after Hamilton showed Rodarmor that Williams wanted to burn BAYC #1626.

“Let’s go write some code right now,” said Rodarmor, who was excited at the prospect of burning a BAYC NFT.

Potential

BAYC #1626 wasn’t the first time they used Ordinal’s Teleburn feature.

Casey Rodarmor first tried it out on his ENS domain.

He and Hamilton later oversaw Jason Williams.

Rodarmor first came up with the term Teleburn when he combined the words teleport and burn, referencing its hasty development.

Rob Hamilton believes Teleburn will gain traction, acting as a way for people to bridge their digital collectibles.

Rodarmor is also looking to extend the feature to support assets on other chains like Tezos and Solana.

“This has now set the standard of representing an asset across the chain,” said Hamilton.

“It’s going to be the way to actually have skin in the game.”

He also alluded to how assets burned are permanently gone from the market.

Reaction

When news of the BAYC burn erupted online, Greg Solano, one of Yuga Labs’ co-founders, weighed in on the matter.

He said the Inscription linked to BAYC #1626 is an unlicensed reproduction of the original because Williams no longer owns it on the Ethereum network.

“If you transfer your Ape to an address you no longer control (even if it’s the ‘burn’ address), you have effectively given up your license,” said Solano.

He also waved off the idea that BAYC #1626 is permanently gone as it still exists on-chain.

However, people can no longer access the Ape.

Image source: Crypto Slate

2022 NFT sales were positive despite market crash

Stephen Reynolds Stephen Reynolds on January 5, 2023

Image source: Kiplinger

NFT: A digital asset known as an NFT signifies ownership of a unique object or item.

It could be a tweet, a work of art, a collectible, a video game item, etc.

A blockchain, a decentralized and secure digital ledger, is where NFTs are stored.

Their capacity to prove ownership and authenticity of digital things has attracted much interest in recent years.

2021 popularity

NFTs saw a rise in popularity in 2021, especially in the art industry.

Digital artworks have been sold using NFTs for high prices; some artists have made millions from the sale of their NFTs.

The convenience with which NFTs may prove a digital item’s ownership and authenticity is one of the factors contributing to their appeal.

Since digital artworks can be copied and shared online, the art world finds this particularly enticing.

Another factor contributing to NFTs’ appeal is the ease with which people can buy and sell them, thanks to online markets.

2022 market

The NFT and cryptocurrency sectors experienced months of falling sales last year.

Despite a sharp decline in cryptocurrency values, the entire NFT sales volume nearly reached its peak in 2021.

Data from DappRadar indicates that a positive start to the market in 2022 contributed to the final tally, offsetting the subsequent months of weakness.

Over $24.7 billion in organic trading volume was created last year on blockchain platforms and marketplaces.

Even so, it represented a minor decline from the $25.1 billion total in 2021, when the industry surged and tokenized collectibles started to gain specialized interest.

Wash trading

The information DappRadar provided omits suspicious trades, particularly those resulting from wash trading.

Wash trading is the practice of traders selling their NFTs at inflated prices back and forth within their controlled wallets.

Trading typically takes place to benefit from a token rewards mechanism on marketplaces.

The figures didn’t include wash trade worth billions of dollars from sites like LooksRare and X2Y2.

Both markets provide virtual incentives for trading.

Trading volume

Although trading volume was static throughout the year, DappRadar saw an increase in the number of NFTs exchanged.

In 2022, the firm recorded over 101 million trades, up from 58.6 million in 2021.

However, because of the unstable cryptocurrency and NFT pricing, NFTs were traded at lower USD values.

Read also: Coinbase stock price jumps after settlement

Falling value

The value of the cryptocurrency market decreased significantly in 2022.

Following the breakdown of Terra’s LUNA and UST in May, the losses were severe.

The collapse of FTX, which had a ripple effect on cryptocurrency values, worsened the crypto winter.

In 2022, the NFT market took a similar trajectory.

Due to the momentum from 2021 continuing into the new year, sales were strong in January.

OpenSea reported a $5 billion trading volume record.

The following months saw a decrease in trading volume, however.

The debut of Yuga Labs’ Otherside stabilized the market in April, which helped OpenSea set a single-day trading volume record.

By that point, the 2022 sales volume appeared to surpass the 2021 total.

May collapse

The spike in sales only lasted briefly as crypto prices took a steep fall in May.

As a result, NFT trading prices fell sharply, losing their momentum.

In May, monthly volume declined from almost $3.3 billion to over $1 billion in June.

Since then, the market has been unable to reach the same heights as the $1 billion mark.

Leading NFT

The Bored Ape Yacht Club was the most popular NFT project in 2022.

It produced trade volume reaching close to $1.6 billion.

However, the bulk of the trading took place from January to May.

Due to this, starting prices decreased from a peak of $429,000 worth of ETH in late April to the more recent $60,000 in November.

Closing market

The NFT market began 2022 with a bang but ended the year in a hush.

In November, trading improved marginally, while NFTs sold in December recovered from a decline.

DappRadar estimates that the market generated roughly $684 million in organic trades in December, up from an adjusted total of $662 million in November.

That month saw the sale of more than 6.7 million NFTs, up from 4.8 million in November and 6.1 million in October.

With approximately $297 million in organic NFT trades in December, OpenSea remained the market leader.

Blur, a new rival encouraging trading with the promise of token incentives, saw a surge in December from $115 million to $177 million.

Solana continued its patchy performance, decreasing from November’s $95 million to $70 million.

After almost generating $134 million in NFT sales, it decreased in October.

In addition, after the FTX crash, SOL values decreased in November and December.

Reference:

NFT sales in 2022 nearly matched the 2021 boom, despite market crash

Bored Ape NFT manages profitable sale

Vina Grady Vina Grady on November 25, 2022

Image source: South China Morning Post

Bored Ape NFTs: NFTs were the biggest thing online just over a year ago, but the space and market have cooled off.

The recent crash of FTX and a crypto contagion spreading to other companies have also caused the icy cryptocurrency bear market to be colder.

However, some “blue chip” Ethereum NFTs still command high prices.

For example, a Bored Ape NFT recently sold for nearly $1 million, the first in a while.

The NFT

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT #232 sold for 800 ETH on the secondary market.

Converted to dollars, it costs around $927,000.

Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of cloud software startup Chain, sold the tokenized profile picture (PFP NFT).

Pseudonymous collector Keung bought the NFT and tweeted, “Thanks [Thapliyal] for the good deal.”

Read also: Bored Ape Yacht Club Prices Mirrors Declining Ethereum Value

Bored Ape NFTs

Bored Ape NFTs have lost a lot of value in recent months.

One of the most notable losses is an NFT that Justin Bieber previously bought for $1.3 million worth of ETH.

However, it is valued at around $69,000 today.

The gold fur Ape is one of the rarest NFTs in the collection, ranking 324th out of 10,000 NFTs according to Rarity Tools.

Less than 0.5% of Bored Ape NFTs have golden fur.

The sale

Thapliyal is a renowned NFT collector who set the record for purchasing CryptoPunks earlier this year.

He paid 8,000 ETH ($23.7 million at the time) for the NFT.

However, Thapliyal recently tweeted that he would sell his rare NFTs after the demise of FTX, which affected Chain.

He made it clear that he would keep the pricey Punk NFT.

Since then, Thapliyal’s tweets have been deleted.

Read also: Yuga Labs integrates the first council in the Bored Ape community

The market

The last time a Bored Ape NFT exceeded $1 million was October 1st.

At the time, Bored Ape #8585 was selling for 777 ETH, which equals $1.02 million.

ETH was 13% more valuable.

In 2021, the NFT market grew to a trading volume of $25 billion, continuing the momentum into early 2022.

However, along with the cryptocurrency market, it fell in May. Despite the decline, the NFT market is not dead.

DappRadar and Dune suggest October secondary market NFT sales will be over $700 million, up from $5.36 billion in January.

Bored Ape prices also dropped.

The cheapest available NFT of the collection listed on the market peaked at $429,000 (152 ETH) at the end of April.

The floor is currently at 60 ETH, which is worth $69,000.

However, the recent sell-off shows that Bored Ape NFTs can still reach incredible prices even when the market declines.

Reference:

NFTs are dead? Even in bear market, a Bored Ape sells for nearly $1 million

Yuga Labs integrates the first council in the Bored Ape community

Stephen Reynolds Stephen Reynolds on October 31, 2022

Image source: VOI

Yuga Labs recently named seven Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT owners to become the first community council to handle community feedback.

Web3’s powerhouse has settled on seven of the community’s most active members.

The council

The council was first revealed in a Yuga Labs blog post published on Wednesday.

According to the company, the seven will focus on collecting and curating community feedback.

You will also be responsible for leading philanthropic efforts.

In the blog post, Yuga said he wants to keep the board “autonomous,” meaning it won’t be governed by the startup.

Members are expected to contribute and present ideas for future initiatives.

The decision to create a community council confirms that Yuga Labs seeks to welcome its NFT owners and give them the opportunity to share their ideas and concerns.

“This council, and future councils to come, puts a more formal, efficient and consistent process in place for Yuga leadership to get community feedback and advice on an ongoing basis,” the post reads.

A word from one of the council members

One of the newly appointed board members, Wave or oxWave, believes that their job is to gather the ideas and sentiments of the community rather than impose their preferences.

He also said he wanted to help the community better understand crypto security, especially when it comes to protecting their NFTs.

Data from Dune shows that 413 Bored and Mutant Ape NFTs are currently marked as “stolen” on OpenSea.

“Holding these assets puts a target on your back to bad actors,” said Wave.

The community reacts

The announcement of the seven sparked disappointment among community members, with some even expressing bitterness at not being selected.

An annoyed monkey named Storm took to Twitter to speak out and wrote:

“I’m not mad I’m not on the official BAYC community counsel [sic] I just want to know what I’m doing wrong.”

“I would advocate for not seeing the current council as forever enshrined, but rather a first iteration,” Wave replied.

Meanwhile, other Twitter users were surprised that owner “ThreadGuy” was not selected for the board.

Despite council members’ optimism, reactions on social media have been mostly mixed.

One user applauded Yuga, saying the board is what Web3 should be like.

However, tech journalist Asa Hiken noted that Yuga Labs personally chose members to represent the community, rather than holding a vote among them.

There has been no word on the criteria Yuga Labs used to evaluate potential board members or how they were chosen. 

Reference:

Yuga Labs forms Bored Ape Community council—but not everyone in community approves

ApeCoin’s price falls as a result of the SEC’s investigation into Yuga Labs

Josh Barter Josh Barter on October 12, 2022

Image source: Zipmex

The Ethereum-based ApeCoin (APE) token took a steep drop when news emerged from the SEC investigating Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Price drop

When news of the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into Yuga Labs surfaced, the token’s price dropped dramatically, dropping nearly 10%.

According to data from CoinGecko, the price fell nearly 11% on Wednesday in the past 24 hours.

At the time, it dropped to $4.67 per token, which was worth $5.27 over the same period.

Since the report came out, APE’s trading volume has nearly doubled over time.

Investigations

Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg released reports that the SEC was investigating Yuga Labs for securities violations with the sale of NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

According to the report, which was informed by an unknown source, the agency is also investigating the distribution of ApeCoin.

ApeCoin launched earlier this year in March 2022.

The official position of the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club is that it is not the creator of ApeCoin due to regulatory issues.

According to the official ApeCoin website, the Ape Foundation is the “steward” of the Ethereum-based token.

The base is designed for use in the growing ecosystem of Bored Ape apps and markets.

The Ape Foundation is anchored by a board made up of leading Web3 builders, including the following:

  • Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian
  • FTX Ventures head Amy Wu
  • Animoca Brands co-founder and Executive Chairman Yat Siu

ApeCoin

ApeCoin aims to go beyond use in metaverse games and apps.

It is also a governance token that holders can use to vote on proposals involving the EPA protocol.

Holders are considered part of the ApeCoin DAO.

The Decentralized Autonomous Community is an online group brought together by a shared focus, where belonging is represented by the ownership of tokens.

The Bloomberg report states that Yuga Labs has not been charged with wrongdoing and may not be charged as part of the investigation.

Yuga Labs wrote a statement that said:

“It’s well known that policymakers and regulators have sought to learn more about the novel world of Web3.”

“We hoped to partner with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem,” they continued.

“As a leader in the space, Yuga is committed to fully cooperating with any inquiries along the way.”

Reference:

ApeCoin sinks 10% after report of SEC probe into Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs

BAYC NFT owner to create a Bored Yacht Club in the NFT space and the real world

Vina Grady Vina Grady on September 19, 2022

Image source: Asia Crypto Today

The NFT space has never been boring as new projects seem to be popping up every day since the NFT boom in early 2021.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club, in particular, has become the most recognizable NFT project in space.

Now a Bored Ape owner has decided to take the project name to another level with the development of his own NFT.

The Bored Yacht Club

The Bored Yachts Club is an emerging NFT project that aims to create a decentralized yacht platform with an NFT gate.

The aim of the project is to give members the opportunity to charter real ships around the world. The proceeds from the project will then go to charity.

Comair

Jad Comair is the man behind the project.

He is the founder and CEO of a French investment firm called Melanion Capital, which launched a Bitcoin-themed ETF in 2021 that highlighted companies in the cryptocurrency sector.

Comair personally started investing in Bitcoin over eight years ago, which proved to be very beneficial as it allowed him to buy his own yacht.

“Bitcoin allowed me to buy my first yacht,” he said.

Diving into NFTs

Jad Comair is also an art collector.

Like many, he was drawn to the celebrity-filled Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Comair shared that NFTs, especially the Bored Ape Yacht Club, have opened the door to potential business opportunities.

Yuga Labs, the studio behind the successful project, has licensed owners to use the artwork to create their own designs.

Some users have used their monkeys for clothing, food packaging, toys, marijuana packaging, and one used theirs as a theme for a fast food restaurant.

Comair took his Ape in a different direction, turning him into the fictional captain and mascot of a real yacht.

The upcoming project

Comair hopes John Blackeye, Ape #634, will become a beacon for NFT fans to draw them to his Bored Yachts Club.

The project is expected to drop NFTs later this year.

NFT Passes have three tiers of benefits and provide access to a platform that allows holders to charter yachts.

The Bored Yachts Club will not be officially affiliated with Yuga Labs, so participants will not need to own a Bored Ape NFT to access NFT membership cards.

“The community’s name is Bored Ape Yacht Club,” said Comair. “In my opinion, there were some yachts missing.”

Yachts & platform

Jad Comair owns a 30-meter yacht called “Lady Amanda,” which is filled with water toys and sails the Mediterranean Sea.

Potential members can bid on rental windows.

Meanwhile, Comair hopes the platform will attract yacht owners from around the world to serve the dual purpose of enabling them to fill charter windows while supporting charities.

“It’s amazing how much emptiness you have in this whole industry,” he said.

“The idea is to fill this gap – you have empty boats and people who do not have access to these boats.”

Comair said it has bigger ambitions with the Bored Yachts Club.

He hopes it will put yachting on the map and potentially bring “disruptive technologies” to the industry.

“We don’t have the Tesla of yachting,” he added.

With how boats can operate in international waters beyond land-based jurisdictions, Comair sees the project as a stepping stone to a marina-linked “crypto city.”

The concept of Bored Yachts Club is to launch a real-world NFT-driven yacht club.

A YachtCoin token is also planned.

Between potential token price increases and NFT Pass fees, Comair believes there is potential to generate profits for yacht owners and brokers alongside the not-for-profit element of the project.

As the Bored Ape Yacht Club ascends the Metaverse with the game Otherside, the Bored Yachts Club wants to take a different path.

“Instead of a metaverse at the end, you have a ‘yachtverse,’ where you basically enjoy yachting instead of video games,” explained Comair.

Reference:

A Bored Ape Ethereum NFT owner is launching a real-world yacht club

The Metaverse band Kingship taps Beyonce producers

Hector Andrews Hector Andrews on September 14, 2022

Image source: NFT HI

Universal Music Group has deepened the NFT space with the development of Kingship, a partnership with the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The virtual metaverse band recently reached out to music producers who have helped the stars create hits in an effort to increase their cause.

Veteran producers Chauncey “Hit-Boy” Hollis and James Fauntleroy will take on the roles of executive co-producers.

They will also be the songwriters behind the band Bored Ape, working on creating music for NFT-inspired characters in videos and metaverse worlds.

Kingship

The metaverse band was created by label head Celine Joshua of Universal Music Group’s 10:22PM label.

Characters featured include Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs, with NFTs licensed by famed collector Jimmy “j1mmy” McNelis.

The concept of the group is similar to the legendary virtual group Gorillaz.

The main difference is that Kingship is created using a handful of valuable NFTs as source material.

The producers

Hit-Boy is a renowned hip-hop producer and three-time Grammy winner.

He has produced hits for some of the biggest names in the music industry today, including Beyonce, Kanye West, Rihanna, Jay Z and Ariana Grande.

Meanwhile, Fauntleroy is just as successful.

He is a four-time Grammy winner and songwriter who has lent his genius to Bruno Mars, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake.

Fauntleroy has also produced music for other musicians.

A taste of Kingship

In August, Kingship released a teaser video to promote global confectionery giant M&M’s.

The teaser gave people a glimpse of their musical contributions to the project.

Previously, Kingship had released an NFT project, launching 5,000 Ethereum electronic keys that provided special access to exclusive content and future token experiences.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club

Since the NFT boom in 2021, no other project has made more noise than the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The project managed to bring billions of dollars in trading volume.

At the same time, their popularity has attracted the attention of several high-profile names, including celebrities and athletes.

Earlier this year, Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, raised $ 450 million for a $4 billion valuation.

They are currently working on a Metaverse game called Otherside.

Reference:

Bored Ape NFT Metaverse band taps Beyonce, Bruno Mars producers

Elliptic finds more than $100 million of NFTs stolen since 2021

Josh Barter Josh Barter on August 29, 2022

Image source: Variety

Ever since the NFT boom in early 2021, NFT theft has become a recurring problem to markets and owners.

Every now and then, news reports emerge of owners and even celebrities getting their NFTs stolen.

But how much of NFTs have been stolen in the past year?

Elliptic released a report that shows a staggering number.

The report

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic revealed that over $100 million in NFTs have been stolen since 2021.

The report was released on Wednesday.

Titled “NFTs and Financial Crime,” the report covers nefarious crypto activity between July 2021 to July 2022.

The report only covers statistics from last year, but Elliptic also covered the years before.

They found that over $8 million in illicit funds have been laundered with NFTs since 2017.

Breaking down the theft

According to Elliptic, cybercriminals netted an average of $300,000 per scam.

They reported that over $24 million in NFTs were stolen via scams in May this year, with July 2022 setting the highest month on record for numbers of NFTs stolen: 4,600.

“Actual numbers are likely to be higher, as thefts are not always publicly reported,” said Elliptic.

The unreported thefts are usually the lower-priced NFTs.

The reports also say that 23% of NFTs stolen this year stemmed from compromised social media platforms, including Discord and phishing messages sent to members of a channel.

Elliptic also found that other attack methods include phishing emails, malicious websites, and an exploit in a mobile wallet.

The mobile wallet exploit occurred earlier this month when a Solana hack happened.

Theft

Elliptic found that the most valuable NFT stolen was CryptoPunk #4234.

The NFT was stolen in November 2021, and is priced at $490,000. 

Since then, CryptoPunk #4234 has been “reported for suspicious activity” on the OpenSea marketplace.

Meanwhile, the most significant theft led to a loss of 16 “blue chip” NFTs worth $2.1 million in December 2021.

Bored Apes

Elliptic also revealed that bulks of Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, Azuki, Otherside, and CloneX NFTs were lost to scams.

“Together, these five collections constitute over two-thirds of the stolen NFT value since July 2021,” wrote Elliptic.

Cybercriminals often went after Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, which accounts for $43.6 million in stolen NFTs.

Two months ago, actor and producer Seth Green had to pay $300,000 to recover his stolen Bored Ape NFT after a phishing attack.

In April 2022, a fake airdrop targeting Bored Ape NFT holders accounted for an estimated tens of millions of dollars stolen.

Elliptic data suggests scammers removed $58.1 million worth of Ape NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club in July 2022.

“Across June and July 2022, thefts of valuable NFTs decreased while those affecting lower value early-stage projects rose,” wrote Elliptic.

“This trend likely partially reflects valuable NFT owners “hodling” their assets throughout the bear market and not engaging as actively with new projects vulnerable to scammer activity.”

Other concerns

Elliptic’s report also talked about North Korean Lazarus Group hacking Axie Infinity’s Ronin Ethereum sidechain bridge in March 2022.

They also talked about the recently sanctioned Tornado Cash mixing service, wherein digital assets worth more than $160,000 from sanctioned entities were used to purchase NFTs.

“Although crime represents a small proportion of overall NFT trading, it has a disproportionate impact on the industry’s reputation and undermines the quality of experience of legitimate users,” said Elliptic.

Along with the impact on reputation, Elliptic noted that cybercriminals are becoming more crafty in circumventing verification protocols.

In January, scammers managed to get away with 9,136 SOL (around $1.3 million before the market crash) despite being verified.

Counterfeit NFTs have also started making more waves.

In January, OpenSea removed 80% of NFTs from the platform for violations like plagiarism, fake collections, and spam.

References:

Cybercriminals have stolen over $100 million in NFTs: report

More than $100M worth of NFTs stolen since 2021 —- Elliptic