At the height of the ‘Bored Ape’ craze earlier this year — I am embarrassed for the species that my kids are ever going to have to learn about this — pop star Justin Bieber paid a ridiculous $US1.29 million ($AU1.92 million) for a receipt that said he owned a jpg of an ugly cartoon ape.
As Decrypt report, though, the arse hasn’t just fallen out of the crypto market and lesser NFTs in recent months; even Bored Apes, once the flagship mascots of the fad, have taken a hit. The “floor” price for the jpgs — which is the cheapest price you can buy into a collection — peaked at an eye-watering $US429,000 ($AU640,000) in April.
On Monday, however, after the FTX crash had sent shockwaves through the crypto (and its adjacent NFT) market, that floor price dropped below $US60,000 ($AU89,600). For NFT purchasers that’s some pretty bad news; the slightly less terrible news is that in the days since that ‘value’ has clawed its way back up slightly, to sit at $US69,000 ($AU103,000). Which is, I think we can all agree, very nice for them.
Bieber’s ape, #3001 in the collection (pictured above), was purchased back in January. It is one of the apes currently ‘valued’ at that $US69,000 floor price. That’s a pretty dramatic drop — around 95%! — but it’s free-fall isn’t entirely down to the tanking market; Bieber’s own impulses contributed, because even then, at the height of the mania, other collectors knew he’d massively overpaid just to get into the game:
Justin Bieber really paid 5x the Bored Ape floor price for an ape with no rare traits
He just got finessed 😭😭😭
— yzy.eth (@LilMoonLambo) January 29, 2022
If you thought after a day or two’s consideration he may have regretted his purchase, the next month he purchased a second Bored Ape, this one for $US440,000 ($AU657,000). It is also now ‘worth’ the floor price.
Justin Bieber bought this NFT for $444k. We posted this picture of the same NFT for free. pic.twitter.com/wXM8VIdiNE
— Market Rebellion (@MarketRebels) February 4, 2022
If you’re a fan (of the artist, not the apes) and are concerned over these mistakes, don’t cry for Bieber; dude is worth over $US200 million ($AU298 million), and could drop $US1.3 million ($AU1.94 million) on an NFT like you or I would buy a $10 game on a Steam sale.
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