Bored Ape Kennel Club: Expanding the Bored Ape NFT Ecosystem

Crypto 101: Bored Ape Kennel Club

Launched in June 2021, Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) is an offshoot non-fungible token (NFT) collection derived from the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection of Bored Ape NFTs that debuted in April 2021. As a reminder, NFTs are unique digital tokens that can be used to prove ownership of an asset or item — from a work of digital art to a document or even a digital title. BAKC NFTs use the ERC-721 token standard, which is the Ethereum blockchain’s primary smart contract system for proving scarcity and tracing ownership of NFTs.

The Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT collection was created to reward Bored Ape NFT holders with a digital Ape’s best friend — an NFT that takes the form of a four-legged canine. These unique collectible dogs feature a combination of 170 variable traits, including fur color, eye and mouth position, and various accessories such as hats, glasses, shoes, collars, and clothing ensembles. These NFTs are known as (Bored Ape Yacht) “Club Dogs,” as they are companions to the Bored Apes that frequent the metaversal yacht club that inspired the entire BAYC NFT ecosystem.

The Bored Ape Kennel Club Adoption Drive

Unlike the preceding Bored Ape NFT collection — which was sold to collectors on the open market — Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs were not available for sale. They were only offered to those who held a Bored Ape NFT in a wallet. BAKC NFTs were also offered for free, minus Ethereum gas fees. However, this “adoption drive” was limited to only a week and ended on June 25, 2022; any unadopted dogs were not minted. Nearly 400 Bored Ape owners did not participate in the adoption, leaving the total number of BAKC NFTs at 9,602 (as compared to the 10,000 Bored Apes). A 2.5% royalty was added for the first six weeks of secondary sales and was donated to dog-friendly charities and no-kill shelters by Yuga Labs, the creators of both the BAYC and BAKC collections.

In addition to having an unalterable max supply, Club Dogs come with different “traits” that make each one unique. Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs with rarer traits or rarer combinations of traits tend to command higher prices. For this reason, during the weeklong claiming period, all these furry NFTs were shown as black silhouettes; Bored Ape NFT claimants were getting an NFT mystery box — albeit a free one.

BAKC NFTs and the Burgeoning BAYC Crypto Ecosystem

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs originally sold for 0.08 ETH (around USD 200), only to later appreciate parabolically in value. In April 2022, the originally free BAKC NFTs reached a floor price of 12 ETH — or over USD 36,000. Some BAKC NFTs have since sold for over USD 100,000. Now, you can purchase BAKC NFTs on numerous NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, and even traditional auction houses such as Sotheby’s.

Following the success of Bored Ape Kennel Club, the Yuga Labs team released a subsequent collection called Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC). In March 2022, the BAYC NFT ecosystem of collectors was given another gift — an airdrop allocation of ApeCoin (APE). APE is an ERC-20 token designed to serve as a utility and governance token within the expansive BAYC crypto ecosystem of NFTs, merch, in-person events, and blockchain-based games and metaverses.