In a moment on Sunday morning, CryptoPunks toppled The Bored Ape Yacht Club, the floor price of the veteran NFT collection for the first time among primates since March 3.
Like the last brief flip, Bored Apes quickly regained the top spot, which they have effectively held all year. However, CryptoPunks has been ahead of The Bored Ape Yacht Club since March 6 and if the trend continues, CryptoPunks could soon recapture and hold on to the lead.
Of course, the rivalry is arguably iconic as Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs bought the rights to CryptoPunks in March and now owns both collections.
Moreover, this latest subversion is not the result of increasing the value of CryptoPunks. The Bear market caused everything to crash. Both Apes and Punks have actually depreciated in the last 30 days, according to NFT Floor Price. Apes simply depreciated faster, down 28% compared to 16% for Punks, when measured in USD.
In fact, Apes floor prices fell 33% in the past week alone hitting an 8-month low yesterday – compared to 24% for Punks.
However, CryptoPunks gained some momentum. In June, Yuga Labs hired Noah Davis from Christie’s to oversee the collection and, earlier this month officially transferred the commercial rights to the owner of CryptoPunks. Moreover, the cryptocurrency incident has prompted some investors to choose “blue chip” NFTs.
CryptoPunks saw a solid floor price increase at the end of June, while Bored Apes just held steady. Over the past few weeks, the gap has narrowed, leading to a brief change this morning.
It is likely that two huge NFT collections will continue to occupy the top of the rankings in the coming weeks. But some members of crypto Twitter are suggesting that the Bored Ape Yacht Club reached its peak with the launch of Otheride on April 4, while the future of CryptoPunks may now be more favorable due to their history and recent intellectual property handovers.
Been saying it for a while but it’s only a matter of time before Punks flip Apes again.
Overtime, I predict the gap between the 2 only gets bigger. Apes are dope but it’s impossible to compete with Punks long term imo.
Punks are forever. The ultimate grail for collectors. 🍷🤌
— Renegademaster.eth 🫡 (@renegademasterr) August 20, 2022
Meanwhile, with Bored Ape prices at record lows this week, some analysts are pointing to the possibility of forcing the liquidation of BAYC NFTs that were purchased with loans from BenDAO. It is possible to auction up to 72 Bored Apes in a short time, putting more downward pressure on prices.
However, it may still not be the economic indicator that some people expect.
When punks re flip apes, the bull market officially re-starts
— lolbro.eth (@terpynfts) July 18, 2022
