Rare Club Nifty Newsletter #8
Ape domination, a multi-million dollar serum and the Metaverse Picasso's
Welcome to the ‘Rare Club Nifty Newsletter’, a curated snapshot of what matters most. We provide informative and easily digestible content about the NFT space, with one publication a week. Subscribe for free at the bottom of the article.
We include NFT news, info on trending narratives, educational info, tips, projects to watch, occasional deep dives and more.
HEADLINER - ‘Mega Mutant Serum NFT bought for $3.6 million USD’
Wow! It’s insane to think that this NFT was airdropped for free to a BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) member in August of this year.
Fast forward four short months, and the co-founder of the Ethereum Foundation, Taylor Gerring, has just purchased it for 888 ETH. This is approximately $3.6 million dollars (USD).
So what is a Mega Mutant Serum? Well, back in August BAYC airdropped Serums to all holders. There were three types: M1 Mutant Serum, M2 Mutant Serum and Mega Mutant Serum. When “infused” with their Bored Ape, it created a separate Mutant Ape.
The Mega Mutant Serum was much, much rarer than the other two, with only 8 created. Five have been used, and three remain. The Mega Mutant Serum, when combined with a Bored Ape, will produce a Mutant Ape with ultra-rare attributes.
The previous all-time highest sale for a Mega Mutant Serum was 350 ETH. Taylor Gerring live streamed the “drinking of the serum” earlier today. Here was the resulting Mutant Ape NFT:
The Mega Mutant Ape serum was the highest NFT sale in the past week. The majority of the other top 10 sales showed nothing unusual; CryptoPunks, Fidenzas and Bored Apes. But with one exception. In 2nd place with a sale value of approximately $1.48 million dollars (375 ETH) was a Mirandus Vox Red Dragon NFT. For more info on this NFT and Mirandus Vox, please click here. This is a collection we did a write-up on prior to launch several weeks ago.
BEST OF THE REST
A curated selection of other NFT headlines. Click to read.
TALKING POINTS - ‘Apes are everywhere’
It seems the ape fascination is showing no signs of slowing down, and in honour of the most successful NFT project of the year, Bored Ape Yacht Club, it seems fitting to close off 2021 with a nod to them and their ongoing influence in the NFT space. So let’s take a look at a few ape-related collections and what they’re up to.
Bored Ape Yacht Club has set the precedent for what a new-wave blue-chip NFT collection looks like. What they have achieved is immense. Their success and popularity is undeniable, but they are no longer affordable for the average person. This has led to hundreds of other projects looking to fill the gap in the market for cheaper ape-based alternatives.
The Mutant Ape Yacht Club gave a passing opportunity at being a part of the BAYC brand at a lower entry price, but was still pretty high even at its lowest point. Now at around a $40,000 USD entry price, this has also become a more exclusive group.
Prime Ape Planet was released today, which has reached a floor price of over 1.4 ETH prior to the reveal. The art is made by designers who have worked on productions such as The Lion King, Godzilla, Marvel, Disney, MGM, and more. The project looks good on paper and the art is amazing, but it needs more than that to succeed. We are watching this one closely.
Elderly Ape Retirement Club is a Bored Ape Yacht Club derivative, which has definitely got some attention. Big wallets have accumulated in large numbers, and the team look keen to build long-term value. Nice entry price at around 0.26 ETH, and low supply with only 5,000 NFTs in the collection.
Degenerate Ape Academy is a Solana-based ape collection with awesome 3D artwork. It occupies 3rd place in the all-time Solana NFT rankings, and currently has a floor price of 30.5 SOL. Strong community and good long-term outlook.
Apocalyptic Apes offer an entry price of 0.47 ETH at the time of writing. They are a collection of 8,888 Post Apocalypse themed chimp NFTs. Another derivative collection of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, coming back in time to help prevent the future from which they came.
Angry Ape Army is a collection with an entry price of around 2.5 ETH, and has seen impressive growth over the past month. Their 3333 Angry Apes live in the metaverse, and can be bred, evolved and upgraded. You can also play, mine, and earn rewards on Monkey Island.
ApeDads is another collection that has launched today. It could be considered a mash-up of BAYC and CryptoDads, but certainly displays more similarities with the former. Low entry price of 0.22ETH at time of writing. Still unrevealed.
Gambling Apes is an older collection, but has stood the test of time somewhat, offering holders benefits as part-owners of their online casino. Entry price is around 1.1ETH, which has remained fairly stable over the past weeks.
A lot of people are dismissive of ape-related NFT collections, stating they are just copycats, but the reality is far from that. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. People admire BAYC and want to be part of a community like it, but can’t afford the price-tag. Inevitably, this gives rise to alternative options. Most will fail, but not all.
Will any supersede BAYC when it comes to floor price? Maybe not in the short-term, but long-term, possibly. Will there be NFT communities that compete with BAYC? Of course there will. Will they be ape-orientated? Probably not. But that’s not to say that there can’t be other successful ape-based NFT collections, and some of the ones mentioned above are proof of that already.
There will be a lot of failures, but this space is still so young. There’s an enormous amount of talent, creativity and money that hasn’t even entered the market yet. And this gives us a lot to be excited about.
Congratulations Bored Ape Yacht Club for what you’ve achieved so far, and I hope 2022 brings us many more like you.
RARE.NEWS
Updates regarding the Rare.club NFT DAO fund
Discord is set up. Check out the updated FAQ section
New logo finalised
New website should be completed early January 2022
Pitch deck is completed. Will be released soon
Two projects lined up for incubation: a Solana project and a launchpad
MOVERS & SHAKERS
This section gives an overview of what NFT collections have been making moves in the past week. For transparency, I do not own any of the NFTs mentioned below.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club - This collection has seen the highest volume of sales over the past week, and its floor price has increased by about 2ETH.
Vox Collectibles Mirandus - This collection is seeing strong accumulation, with one of their collectibles taking 2nd spot in the highest individual sale of the week.
Psychedelics Anonymous Genesis - Still unrevealed, but with huge hype, this collection sits firmly in the top 10.
Bored Ape Kennel Club - When BAYC and MAYC move, this collection invariably follows. There were calls that it was undervalued last week, and then it moved, with a 900% uptick in sales volume.
Prime Ape Planet PAP - Only launched today and still unrevealed, this hotly anticipated collection has seen a high sales volume already.
THE WATCHLIST
This is a selection of projects we are monitoring for their long-term potential. DYOR. Not Financial Advice.
Star Atlas NFTs (Gaming, reducing supplies through in-game mechanics, AAA-team, big ambitions, play-2-earn elements)
CryptoDads (strong community, low entry price, solid roadmap, doxxed team, mass appeal)
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (strong community, extension of BAYC, long-term HODL, established)
Meebits (same team as CryptoPunks, mass appeal, solid long term investment)
Cool Cats NFT (very strong community, respected collection, mass appeal)
Lost Poets (created by famous artist ‘Pak’, strong community)
Art Blocks Curated/Playground/Factory (simply can’t be overlooked, long term HODL)
Parallel (gaming, TCG, strong team, incredible backers, already established, big ambitions)
TIP OF THE WEEK - AirDrop for OpenSea users
During the past week, a project called OpenDAO announced they were giving rewards to users of the OpenSea platform, in the form of their $SOS tokens.
Myself and many others were initially cautious about this free internet money, but after much research it seems it’s legitimate.
There are numerous scammers now trying to impersonate OpenDAO team members, but OpenDAO itself looks to be safe to interact with.
For more information on the project, check out this short article: What Is OpenDAO?
If you have used OpenSea prior to 23rd December, connect to https://www.theopendao.com to claim your rewards.
Links to our socials and website coming soon,
Thanks for reading, and see you next time
Always DYOR (do your own research). Nothing in this or any other article in this series should be construed as financial or investment advice. We do our very best to provide useful information for our readers. What you do with that information is up to you.
Remember to exercise caution within the NFT space. The community is full of amazing people, but there are unscrupulous ones too. Keep your wits about you, and act responsibly. As always, good luck.