RFOX has acquired a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT worth 39.9 ETH (US$114,308 at the time of purchase). The company’s purchase of Bored Ape #5503 gives us access to commercial rights and membership to the Bored Ape Yacht Club, strengthening our position in the NFT space amid our continued buildout of the RFOX VALT virtual marketplace and our white-label NFT marketplace solution. This acquisition is part of RFOX’s continued work in exploring new, innovative ways to offer value in the NFT space.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), one of the leaders and innovators in the NFT space, inspired and connected collectors and creatives from all over the world, boasting one of the strongest and most passionate NFT communities. BAYC is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs stored as ERC-721 tokens, and each of these digital collectibles is unique and programmatically generated from over 170 possible traits, including expression, headwear, clothing, and more.

The initial sale of all 10,000 Bored Apes resulted in more than US$2 million in earnings for BAYC, which saw their NFTs rise in value in the secondary markets. Now, BAYC NFTs have recorded a total trading volume of 194,358.05 ETH (US$800.27 million as of October 25), above all other NFT collections except CryptoPunks. Last month, a single Bored Ape NFT sold for as high as 740 ETH (US$2.9 million at the time of purchase), and Sotheby’s raised a total of US$24.4 million from the sale of 107 Bored Apes in an online auction. Notable members of BAYC include NBA stars Stephen Curry and LaMelo Ball, NFL players Dez Bryant and Von Miller, DJs Marshmello and The Chainsmokers, and more.

With RFOX's ownership of Bored Ape #5503, it gains access to BAYC’s members-only areas such as the Bathroom, a digital space that contains a canvas accessible only to wallets containing at least one ape, opening networking opportunities with the movers and shakers of the NFT space. The purchase also gives commercial usage rights over the specific Bored Ape NFT, allowing us to leverage BAYC to build and create new, exciting assets for the RFOX VALT and the rest of the RFOX ecosystem.

We will use this purchase of Bored Ape #5503 to produce creative experiences within the RFOX VALT and explore new ways that RFOX can create value within the RFOX ecosystem. Our purchase of a Bored Ape NFT shows our deep understanding of the immense value in the NFT community and the creatives that power them. At RFOX, we want to create an environment and ecosystem within the RFOX VALT that provides opportunities and infrastructure for all people who wish to participate and bring their creative visions to life in the VALT or through our NFT white-label platform.

Ben Fairbank, CEO and Founder of RFOX, said: “Bored Ape Yacht Club started with a couple of guys who wanted to be a part of something; instead, they ended up creating something everyone wanted to be a part of. Blockchain is so early, you can still build these new roads. They have been so successful because they built things they would be interested in and can identify themselves with, and they had a profound understanding of the market, even if they didn’t realize it at the time.”

“As a venture builder focused on creating an all-encompassing metaverse, RFOX sees some deep parallels with BAYC, as we too started from nothing more than a great idea and the passion to build something of worth and value. We were a group of a few guys who came together, dared to dream of what could be, and didn’t fall into line with the conventional thought processes. Like the BAYC founders, we haven’t forgotten our roots and we still respond to as many direct messages as we can, because that’s who we are. Now, years later, we have also bought into their vision and what they have built, and we see this becoming part of what we are building. The world needs more pioneers and trailblazers and we are about to open some of those doors for the ones coming through.”