What is Bored Ape Kennel Club?
Summary of Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs
- Bored Ape Kennel Club is a collection of 9,602 cartoon dog NFTs, each a part of Yuga Labs’ broader Bored Ape Yacht Club universe.
- Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs were originally offered for free (minus the cost of gas) to any owner of a Bored Ape NFT.
- The project collected a portion of secondary market sales in the first six weeks after its launch to donate to animal conservation charities and no-kill shelters.
Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) is an NFT collection of 9,602 outlandish cartoon dogs on the Ethereum blockchain. BAKC is a companion series to the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs by Yuga Labs.
The BAKC dogs accompany their primate owners, sporting traits that range from playfully mundane to completely outrageous. With all images depicting Shiba Inus (a breed of dog popularized by a viral “doge” internet meme and Dogecoin), the BAKC pets might be holding a tennis ball, wearing a cowboy hat, sporting a third eye or breathing fire.
In June 2021, these canine NFTs were offered for free (minus the cost of gas) to BAYC owners as a membership perk for supporting the BAYC ecosystem. BAKC NFTs trade independently of BAYC NFTs on the secondary market.
Like their Bored Ape counterparts, the eclectic group of dog avatars was well received in the first year following their launch. The most expensive NFT from the BAKC collection sold for over $200,000.
Who created Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs?
The BAKC NFT collection was launched in June 2021 by Yuga Labs, the founders of BAYC and ApeCoin.
Self-described developer and gamer “nerds,” the founders go by the pseudonyms Gordon Goner, Gargamel, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. They worked with a team of artists to create the original BAYC collection, a landmark NFT collection that dropped in April 2021.
The offer of a free BAKC NFT was one of the perks of BAYC ownership, but the BAKC collection also served as a charity fundraiser. A 2.5% fee collected from all BAKC trades in the first six weeks of their secondary sales helped support causes aligned with the theme of the project. Approximately $291,000 was donated to charities benefitting apes, dogs and wolves.
What makes Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs unique?
BAKC lore starts with the story of their hypothetical “owners,” the simians of BAYC. In this backstory, the Bored Apes of the BAYC collection became billionaires after “aping” into cryptocurrencies — a term used when buying into an asset before doing much research.
The dogs of the BAKC NFT collection are the pets of the BAYC apes. Like the apes, these dogs are illustrated in an irreverent cartoon style. Each BAKC NFT is generated from multiple traits of varying rarity, including some wild traits like missile launchers and jetpacks.
The universe that the dogs and apes belong to has a vivid, comical, dive-bar aesthetic. The look is both futuristic and retro at once. Unlike the BAYC artwork, BAKC NFTs have different backgrounds including a bar interior (the rarest background trait, found in 786 NFTs) to a swamp (the least rare, appearing in 2,426 NFTs).
Why buy Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs?
If you’re interested in BAKC, you are likely familiar with the success of BAYC. BAYC’s initial success was one of the primary drivers that brought NFTs into mainstream pop culture consciousness. BAKC features the same stylings as the Bored Apes and while they benefit from their association with BAYC and its cultural cachet, floor prices of BAKC NFTs remain comparatively low.
Purchasing a BAKC NFT gives its buyer access to the broader BAYC ecosystem. This provides opportunities to earn rewards and exclusive access to Bored Ape communities and events.
Another selling point is the full artwork ownership rights that come along with every BAKC NFT purchase. This enables owners to create income via merchandising their NFTs’ likenesses any way they choose.
What makes Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs valuable?
The allure of BAKC primarily stems from the wild success of BAYC, their parent NFT collection. Upon launch, BAKC enjoyed instant notoriety due to its direct lineage to the original BAYC collection.
BAKC has found tremendous success in the market in its own right. At Sotheby's September 2021 “Ape In!” sale, 101 BAKC NFTs were sold as a lot for over $1.8 million.
Some BAKC collectors value the social aspects of ownership, such as invites to parties around the world and access to a special Discord chat room.
Like the BAYC collection, BAKC owners have the full commercial rights to their NFTs. This allows them to create merchandise and potentially generate an income from their NFT investment.
Buy a Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT
Enjoy zero gas fees when you buy a Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT or any other Ethereum or Solana based collection on the Kraken NFT marketplace.
You can buy NFTs with the crypto or cash in your Kraken account and use our built-in rarity tools to discover the best NFT for you.
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