Ever since its arrival in April 2021, one collection has dominated the NFT realm, becoming a global phenomenon of art, technology, and internet culture. That NFT collection is the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The Bored Apes stand out for their rapid rise to the top of the NFT industry, its influential community, and its trials and tribulations to date. BAYC NFTs have become sought-after status symbols, with many celebrities and high-level figures as holders – but why do they continue to reign atop the NFT landscape?
Here’s our complete 2025 guide to Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection.
What is Bored Ape Yacht Club?
Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 ape NFTs minted on Ethereum. Created by Yuga Labs, each Ape is composed of a combination of traits, such as clothing, hats, accessories and more.
Holders of Bored Ape NFTs enjoy benefits such as access to members-only spaces, merchandise, and in-person events – such as the annual ApeFest – plus priority access to other NFT collections and products, such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Otherside and more.
Bored Ape holders are also given the commercial rights to their Ape. This has led to the creation of many derivative brands, with one example being the Bored & Hungry restaurant chain.
There are many high-profile celebrities that hold Bored Apes, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon and more. Many of these figures have at one time set their Bored Ape to be their profile picture on social media, or have used their ape in the media, which has boosted their visibility and demand.
What has Bored Ape Yacht Club accomplished so far?
The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection minted on April 30, 2021, priced at 0.08 ETH each – roughly $190 USD at the time. Sales were slow, until Pranksy promoted the collection which led to all 10,000 NFTs being sold inside 12 hours.
As the popularity of NFTs hit its all-time high in late 2021 and early 2022, Bored Apes rose to become the 2nd most valuable NFT collection in the world – only behind CryptoPunks – which is a position they’ve kept to this day.
BAYC hit its all-time high on May 1, 2022, when the floor price reached 128 ETH – roughly $360,000 USD at the time. Individual Bored Ape NFTs have sold for millions of dollars, with many auctioned at auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The most expensive Bored Ape sale took place in October 2021, when Bored Ape #8817 was sold for $3.4 million USD.
The success of Bored Ape Yacht Club has led Yuga Labs to mint several companion collections, such as Bored Ape Kennel Club in June 2021, Mutant Ape Yacht Club in August 2021, and Otherdeed NFTs for Otherside in April 2022.
The ApeCoin DAO – a decentralised group that supports the Bored Ape ecosystem – was formed in early 2022. They released $APE in March 2022, and have played a key role in the creation of BAYC’s own blockchain, the ApeChain.
Yuga Labs have expanded Bored Apes beyond NFTs, with the Otherside metaverse, endless runner game Dookey Dash, and ApeFest – an annual in-person event for holders of BAYC NFTs.
The company has also acquired other major NFT collections. CryptoPunks and Meebits were bought by Yuga in March 2022, Beeple’s 10KTF was acquired in November 2022, and PROOF Collective – creators of Moonbirds – was purchased in February 2024.
The biggest challenge for Bored Ape Yacht Club came in mid-2022. Artist Ryder Ripps created the copycat RR/BAYC collection, which saw him served with a lawsuit from Yuga Labs. This led Ripps to distribute wild theories that Bored Apes included racist, Nazi imagery – leading to a court case that was settled in Yuga’s favour.
What does the future hold for BAYC in 2025?
In 2025, we anticipate Bored Ape Yacht Club to retain its place as one of the top NFT collections in the world.
The Otherside metaverse continues to move forward in its development, and we hope to see access to the title expand beyond Bored Ape holders in the coming year.
ApeChain has been in development throughout 2024, and 2025 is set to see some of its core features – such as native yield, easy onboarding and Apple Pay integration – become live and available.
Partnerships continue to be struck, and we expect to see many more be announced in 2025. BAYC recently partnered with BMW on a merch line and the first ApeCar – a BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe with custom Bored Ape livery – that has been raffled away to one lucky member of the community.
Like it or loathe it, Bored Ape Yacht Club is the global face of the NFT industry. As its list of partnerships, experiences and products continue to grow, their status as one of the most prominent NFT collections in the world will only become more true.
Riding crypto waves since 2012, bridging digital and physical worlds through prose.