81 Bored Ape NFTs on the Line as DAO Members Vote to Sell
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from highly rated collections like Bored Apes Yacht Club and Crypto Punks could be liquidated by ApeDAO. The market price of the organization’s governance token dubbed APED and issues with project development have spurred division within the community.
BAYC Whale May be Forced to Sell Holdings
According to a thread released by ex-blockchain engineer Montana Wong, the third-largest holder of Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, ApeDAO, could liquidate their holdings following ongoing division within the community. The division is reportedly caused by concerns regarding the speed of development and the price of APED, the community’s governance token.
ApeDAO was formed by an individual known as KyloRen in 2021 from the collector’s personal collections with the aim of building a community of the single largest BAYC NFT holdings.
Since then, the DAO has bought up several BAYC pieces at floor prices and launched a governance token to provide fractionalized ownership of the treasury and voting rights within the community. In addition, ApeDAO also held an in-house fundraiser back in August 2021.
The community fundraiser, in particular, was geared towards acquiring more blue-chip NFTs and allowed the DAO to launch its APED token at a $10 valuation. Also, the floor price of the BAYC collection has skyrocketed from 20 ETH to 100 ETH since August, and members expected the pool of funds to facilitate faster DAO development, said Wong.
However, coordination issues allegedly disrupted progress, and community members have vocalized their concerns. The average trading price of APED has also dropped $8 and community members are now calling for swift actions.
Members Vote to Dissolve the DAO
One member recently proposed a vote for the liquidation of all DAO treasury assets. Details of the proposal suggest a pro-rata disbursement of the ETH proceeds based on the share of tokens across the community. Currently, a significant majority of members support the vote, according to Wong.
Furthermore, the calls of liquidation have incentivized a rise in the price of APED. In a bid to hedge the community from dumps, DAO found KyloRen has pulled out the majority of the wrapped ether (WETH)/APED liquidity pool on Uniswap.
Wong, who is supposedly a former member of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), published the thread in the late hours of Sunday, January 30, 2022. The thread also claims that the DAO’s NFT treasury holds over 81 NFTs worth 11,562 Ether (ETH).
As of the time of writing this report, Ape DAO controls over $30 million in assets and the treasury also boasts pieces from popular collections like BAYC, Mutant Apes Yacht Club (MAYC), Crypto Punks, Cyber Kongz, and Chromic Squiggles to a name a few.
NFT’s Leading The 2022 Crypto Charge
Since its launch back in April 2021, the BAYC NFT collection has garnered mainstream attention. Grammy award-winning artist Justin Bieber recently purchased a floor ape for a whooping for 500 ETH, $1.3 million at today’s market prices.
The pop star joins a growing list of popular ape holders such as multiple grand slam winner Serene Williams and NBA star Steph Curry.
Despite the ongoing cryptocurrency market dip, the NFT space continues to make significant strides. Social media platform Twitter recently launched NFT profile photo integration for users of its paid subscription service dubbed Twitter Blue.
As previously reported by crypto.news, video streaming giant YouTube announced plans to explore the possibility of adding NFTs for content creators on its platforms. Also, micro-video app TikTok partnered with blockchain-powered audio streaming provider Audius.
LooksRare, a possible competitor for leading marketplace OpenSea, recently launched their NFT trading platform. The NFT company also launched its token dubbed LOOKS with an airdrop for existing OpenSea users in a vampire attack. LOOKS is currently trading at $4.17, as per data from on-chain aggregator CoinGecko.
