What is Yuga Labs? Yuga Labs is a blockchain technology and digital asset company headquartered in Miami, Florida. Yuga Labs is known as King Midas in the NFT world as all NFT collections developed by Yuga Labs are very successful and well received by the community. So what did Yuga Labs do to achieve such success? Let’s find out with the Weakhand team in this article.
What is Yuga Labs?
Introducing Yuga Labs
Yuga Labs is a blockchain technology and digital asset company headquartered in Miami, Florida. Currently, Yuga Labs’ main focus is on developing NFT digital collectibles and bringing NFTs closer to the real world. The name Yuga was also inspired by the founders of a villain in the legend of Zelda, who can turn himself and others into 2D works of art.
What is Yuga Labs
Yuga Labs is known as the team behind the development of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, which is also considered one of the most successful NFT collections in history. From what started 2 years ago with boring ape JPEGs, Yuga Labs has grown to become an industry giant with 16 NFT collections in its portfolio. These collectibles currently account for 34.6% of total trading volume in the NFT industry. Recently on March 22, 2022, Yuga Labs also announced a successful call for $450M led by A16z with a company valuation of $4B. All of this shows that the stature and attraction that Yuga Labs creates in the NFT market is huge.
Brief history of Yuga Labs
Yuga Labs was founded in February 2021 by two friends who love art and Blockchain technology, Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano. They both grew up in Miami and began to bond over the work of David Foster Wallace.
As the NFT market became popular, they were impressed and attracted by what NFTs created. Therefore, Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano decided to enter the NFT market with the announcement of their first project on Twitter in April 2021. The first idea is to promote utility by creating a collaborative work of art to which everyone can contribute. However, after exchanging ideas and building lore, they finally decided that the project should revolve around a Yacht Club with a bar in the swamp where all the bored apes could go. hang out.
Learn About Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT Ecosystem
Yuga Labs started out as Bored Ape Yacht Club
What is Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
BAYC is a collection of 10,000 NFTs featuring mutant apes. The BAYC collection sold out overnight, a week later the Bored Ape Lo-fi Youtube channel was created.
Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) – companion of BAYC
To expand its ecosystem as well as show gratitude to members holding NFT BAYC. The Bored Ape Kennel Club collection was launched just 2 months later in June 2021. Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) is a collection of 10,000 NFTs featuring dogs in a variety of unique colors. BAYC owners can “adopt” notes to BAKC for free by paying the gas fee for minting NFTs, and Yuga Labs has donated royalties from secondary sales (over $1 million ) for charity.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) – The story revolves around BAYC
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) is an NFT collection of 20,000 Mutant Apes that can only be created by exposing BAYC NFTs to serum or minting them during a public sale. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection was created as a reward for the loyal Ape. Essentially, to receive a brand new NFT users need to expose their ape to a jar that is randomly dropped into the respective wallet of the BAYC NFT owner.
What is Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC).
It’s worth noting that three mutant serums exist on the market: M1, M2, and Mega Mutant. If an Ape “eats” either of the first two, the Mutant Ape will retain some of the original Ape’s characteristics, while the Mega Mutant vials cause more defects and mutations.
Yuga Labs developed MAYC also with the aim of helping more people access its ecosystem. Of the 20,000 NFTs, 10,000 NFTs were reserved for BAYC owners, while the remaining 10,000 NFTs were sold publicly to the community.
Otherside: Metaverse of Bored Ape Yacht Club
Otherside was launched on April 30, 2022 as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in which more than 10,000 players can collide and explore this super universe. Otherside leverages BAYC utility by allowing participants to introduce third-party NFTs into their games. Besides, players can visit the Otherside to perform quests, explore the real estate metaverse, or simply explore the world that the founders of Yuga Labs have prepared for the community.
The Success of CryptoPunks and Meebits Acquisitions
On March 11, 2022, Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of the intellectual property of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collection from Larva Labs consisting of 423 CryptoPunks and 1,711 Meebits.
Yuga Labs acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits
This acquisition significantly increased Yuga Labs’ presence in the NFT market, as both collections had an estimated market capitalization at the time of $2.42 billion and $370 million respectively. response. Following the acquisition in late March 2022, the estimated market cap for Yuga Labs’ NFTs increased to $8.1B USD representing 42.6% of Ethereum’s top 100 NFT collections.
CryptoPunks is also currently one of the collections with the top trading volume in the NFT market. In addition to acquiring CryptoPunks and Meebits, in November 2022 Yuga Labs acquired Web3 ecosystem WENEW and its flagship NFT collection 10KTF. This brought Yuga Labs into the fashion industry. In the first quarter of 2023, 10KTF collections accounted for 74% of all trading volume in NFT fashion collections.
All this said, Yuga Labs’ acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs is an important move that further solidifies their position as the dominant player in the NFT market.
Explore Yuga Labs’ Gaming Ecosystem: From Dookey Dash to Legends of the Mara
The gaming ecosystem created by Yuga Labs has quickly become one of the most talked about ecosystems in the Wed3 industry. With the launch of the game Otherside, Yuga Labs is looking to expand into the Gaming and Metaverse market. In addition, Otherside is not only contained in the world of BAYC, but other leading NFT collections such as: Cool Cats, World of Women, RENGA,.. will have the opportunity to post their avatars in Otherside.
Otherside Metaverse by Yuga Labs
The Otherdeed land sale on May 1, 2022 also caused a fever in the entire Crypto market when it caused Gas fees on the Ethereum network. increased to 8166 gwei Correspondingly, at that time, Ethereum users sometimes had to pay up to 4,831 USD for a transaction.
The first test of the Otherside metaverse platform took place in July 2022 and involved more than 4,600 players. On March 25, 2023, the second test took place and according to Yuga Labs, approximately 7,200 players attended the 90-minute test.
On March 28, 2023, Yuga Labs released Legends of the Mara a collection-based 2D strategy game set during the events of the second season’s run into the Otherside ending. In the game the player learns about the Kodas, their origins, and their initial relationship with the Otherside. To play Legends of the Mara, players will need at least one Otherdeed, one Koda, and possibly an apprentice Mara. Each Otherdeed holder can claim a Vessel NFT, which has different functions such as hunting, farming, etc.
Since launch, Otherside Vessels has earned $6.32M USD in NFT trading volume and Otherside Koda has earned a total of $6.77M USD.
Furthermore, Yuga Labs doesn’t just focus on collectibles and the Metaverse. On January 18, 2023, Yuga Labs launched Dookey Dash. This simple yet challenging game serves as an interactive coin minting experience. To participate, users need to have Sewer Pass in their cryptocurrency wallet. These tickets were initially given away for free to BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT holders and have since appeared on secondary NFT markets racking up a trading volume of 113.8 million dollars.
ApeCoin Token In Yuga Labs’ Vast Ecosystem
On March 17, 2022, Yuga Labs announced the launch of APE Token on the Ethereum platform. Initially, Yuga Labs airdropped APE Tokens to holders of certain NFTs such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) or Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collectibles valued at over $100,000.
Yuga Labs announces the launch of ApeCoin
Holding APE offers users membership in ApeDAO – a decentralized autonomous organization that allows them to vote on proposals for system improvements and manage the community around the token.
In addition, Yuga Labs wants to bring APE Token deep into its ecosystem. With the high possibility that APE Token is the main token in Otherside’s game economy, users can also stake NFTs BAYC, MAYC to receive APE tokens.
Pioneer in the Web3 Industry
In addition to premium NFT collections and developing Metaverse titles, Yuga Labs has also made waves in the fashion industry with partnerships with the world’s leading luxury fashion brands such as: Gucci, Adidas and Puma.
Yuga Labs x Gucci: Digital Luxury Fashion in the Metaverse
On March 27, 2023, Gucci announced a multi-year partnership with Yuga Labs aimed at exploring “the intersection of fashion and entertainment in the Metaverse.”
Yuga Labs x Puma: Collaboration brings sneakers into the world of NFTs
On April 25, 2023, Yuga Labs announced a partnership with Puma to release a limited edition NFT collection for sneakers. Puma Nitro NFT holders and 10KTF community members can also receive a custom physical version of the Slipstream sneaker.
Yuga Labs x Adidas: The Indigo Herz Pack and ALTS of Adidas NFTs
Adidas’ NFT project Indigo Herz recently launched the Indigo Herz Pack NFT collection. The limited edition series includes 2,145 pairs of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Superstar shoes, a collaboration with PUNKS Comic and gmoneyNFT, and 2,195 hoodies featuring PUNKS Comic art.
Yuga Labs’ fashion collaborations with Puma, Gucci and Adidas not only push the boundaries of Web3 and fashion but also provide significant brand awareness for all parties involved. These partnerships create new revenue streams and rebranding opportunities for the fashion industry showing the limitless potential of integrating digital technology into the world of high fashion. As Yuga Labs continues to lead the way in this exciting new field, it’s clear that the future of fashion is being reshaped before our eyes.
