Bored Ape NFTs Sell for $24.4 Million at Sotheby’s Auction

The popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) surged to new highs this year. These intangible digital assets — representing unique virtual items like images, videos, etc — have taken the art world by storm. Now, a unique set of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs has been sold for a staggering $24.4 million (roughly Rs. 179.2 crores) at Sotheby’s auction house. These cartoons represent 1 percent of the total Bored Apes collection. The NFT set features images of colourful animated apes. The apes with a variety of facial expressions are shown wearing different accessories and clothing.

There is also an option to create six new mutant ones. The animated images of the bored apes are part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs designed by a US-based company Yuga Labs. It is a full set of around 10,000 computer-generated cartoons.

In a tweet, Sotheby’s said this was the “most significant” Bored Ape Yacht Club sale to date.

#AuctionUpdate 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs just sold for $24.4 million and 101 Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs achieved $1.8 million in our Ape in! auction – the most significant #BAYC sale to date. Congrats to all the apes out there ???????? pic.twitter.com/e7UghlgtKy

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) September 9, 2021

According to a Sotheby’s release, Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape NFT, started the auction. The originally anticipated price for the NFTs was between $12 million and $18 million.

In a tweet from its official handle, the Bored Ape Yacht Club said that it was a “historic moment for the club”, and congratulated and thanked the “whole ape community”. It added, “To the buyer, I think we speak for everybody when we say: WELCOME TO THE CLUB.”

What an historic moment for the club: the @Sothebys auction of 101 Bored Apes has closed at over $24m. Congratulations and THANK YOU to the whole ape community. To the buyer, I think we speak for everybody when we say: WELCOME TO THE CLUB. ☠️????⛵️ pic.twitter.com/NKxHekC0ny

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) September 9, 2021

The buyers of the ‘Bored Apes’ also get intellectual property rights. This collection of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club included apes with various clothing accessories, solid gold or trippy fur, unshaved face, pizza hanging from the mouth, etc.

This year, the NFT frenzy reached new highs. In May, the CryptoPunk NFTs created a rage when a set of 9 sold for a staggering $16.9 million (roughly Rs. 124.2 crores) at an auction at Christie’s. Before that, in March, digital artist Beeple sold a jpeg image for $69 million (roughly Rs. 506.6 crores).

The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are the latest web characters to sell for millions.