Bored Ape Yacht Club crosses $1 billion in total sales

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of coveted non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has now generated more than $1 billion in total sales.

The cumulative sales figure for the 10,000-piece collection now stands at roughly $1.03 billion, according to data site CryptoSlam .

BAYC reached milestone in the first few days of the new year, with roughly $55 million in sales recorded since January 1.

Demand for the digital apes was especially strong among celebrities — many of them rappers — in the closing weeks of 2021. Martin Garrix, Post Malone, Diplo and DJ Khaled are just a few of the growing number of artists to have ‘aped in,’ as the saying goes in crypto.

Rapper Eminem joined the fray on January 3, splashing around $462,000 on a gold-jacketed specimen.

The buy-in from big-name celebrities has lent more credence to the idea that the primates have become a status symbol to rival flashy cars and watches. So too have in-depth pieces from the likes of Rolling Stone, the popular culture magazine.

MoonPay, the $3.4 billion crypto payments app, has also helped stoke enthusiasm for the NFTs by brokering sales to big-name celebrities — including many of those mentioned in this piece — through a new concierge service .

Still, the rise of BAYC has not been without controversy. The community has been ridiculed by some corners of the crypto market for not practicing smart security techniques, a failing that has resulted in the theft of some apes. On Monday, BAYC was forced to address accusations of racist origins in a Twitter spaces.