#204—Planet of the Bored Apes

Also, two perspectives on crypto wallets

Mar 21, 2022

Welcome to Yaka Stuff, our weekly newsletter that covers news, industry perspectives, and updates from the Hard Yaka ecosystem. Check out last week’s report here.

This week:

Big news for bored apes
Two perspectives on crypto wallets
This week in policy
Stuff happens

1. Big news for bored apes

NFTs were all the rage in 2021 but a couple projects set themselves apart, finding mainstream crossover appeal and wild valuations.

Those blue chip projects included Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). NBA Star Steph Curry owns a couple Bored Apes. Visa owns a Cryptopunk.

For some, these are the crypto community’s ultimate collectibles. For others, they see these organizations as next generation analogs for Warner Brothers or Disney. And, of course, for the skeptics, these are simply overpriced jpegs.

A couple weeks ago, Yuga Labs, the creators of BAYC, announced that they had acquired Cryptopunks (and Meebits) from Larva Labs.

We now have two of the industry’s biggest NFT projects under one roof. Days later, Yuga Labs announced their plans for a new APE coin and DAO.

Here’s Bankless:

Yuga Labs unveiled APE, “a token for culture, gaming, and commerce used to empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3,” on Wednesday.
In the same announcement, Yuga Labs revealed ApeCoin DAO, a “decentralized organization … to vote on governance and use of the Ecosystem Fund,” and the Ape Foundation, the “legal steward of ApeCoin [that administers] the decisions made by the ApeCoin community.”
Yuga Labs also announced that 62% of the 1B APE token supply would be allocated to the ApeCoin community over time, and 15% of the total supply, or 150M APE, would be claimable by Bored Ape ecosystem NFT holders as of 8:30 AM ET on Thursday, March 17th.

Apecoin launched on major exchanges last week and now has a market cap close to $3 billion.

None of this probably means much to an NFT skeptic.

But Yuga Labs has clearly played its cards right and positioned their projects for success. Maybe that means content. Maybe it means gaming. Whatever the case may be, at some point, they’ll need to deliver cultural not just transactional value to their community.

Bankless, again:

Yuga Labs’s acquisitions of Punks/Meebits, the launch of APE, and the company’s planned virtual land sales have positioned the team to be an extraordinarily influential Web3 media juggernaut going forward. Look for other top projects in the space to more aggressively pursue Yuga Labs’s recent playbook (acquisitions, token launches, etc.) as they attempt to play catch up!

Relevant:

2. Two perspectives on crypto wallets

First perspective: Crypto wallets are hot.

Axios:

Crypto apps are in. The last three months of 2021 saw more than 100 million downloads for the first time ever in a single quarter, according to data firms Adjust and Apptopia in a new report released today.
Why it matters: The increased popularity of crypto applications shows how crypto assets are becoming more and more popular with the mainstream. Many investors rely on third party apps to do the heavy lifting for them, rather than the more technical approach of interacting directly with blockchains.

Very hot. TechCrunch:

Crypto developer ConsenSys, which owns the popular Ethereum-based MetaMask wallet, announced a $450 million Series D round today that values the company at $7 billion, nearly double in worth since its last fundraise in November 2021.

Relevant:

Second perspective: Crypto wallets are a thing of the past.

Dana Wright (via /kiwipete):

The point he made back then is more relevant today than ever: Crypto wallets don’t really have anything in them. They never have. The coins are on the blockchain. The wallet contains only keys.
When you realize this, you’re half way to understanding why “wallet” was truly such a terrible name for this mechanism.

Maybe what Dana is really looking for is digital identity.

Relevant:

Via /kiwipete—Why the crypto wallet will soon be a thing of the past

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Discussion about this post

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#204—Planet of the Bored Apes

Also, two perspectives on crypto wallets

1. Big news for bored apes

2. Two perspectives on crypto wallets

3. This week in policy

4. Stuff happens

Discussion about this post