Not a day goes by in the NFT world without something mind-blowing. I’ve been blown away so much by a message from Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, from January 3 that I’ve taken this long to write about it.
As many of my readers know, back in November 2021, I published an article on “The Bored Ape Business Model: Decentralized Collaboration via Blockchain and NFTs.” [download here]
That article is the first to identify the Bored Ape business model as based on the use of licenses that enable decentralized collaboration (De-Collab) between Yuga Labs and all of the Bored Ape NFT owners. Under the content licenses for Bored Ape NFTs, Yuga Labs gave the owners unlimited commercialization rights to their Bored Apes, including the right to make derivative works.
Well, now, Yuga Labs has revealed its grand plan: to transfer all IP rights to Bored Ape owners. It’s unclear when. Yuga says it still has work to do in developing the Bored Ape ecosystem. But it plans to do so at some point.
Besides Beeple selling an NFT for $69 million last year, Yuga Labs’ announcement is the most mindblowing one I’ve heard. Bored Ape Yacht Club amassed over $1 billion in sales in less a year. Some rumors suggest BAYC is raising capital with a $5 billion valuation. Honestly, I think that amount is too low. But, whatever the valuation of Bored Ape Yacht Club, the idea that the hottest NFT collection/startup would decide to transfer all IP rights to Bored Ape owners is downright stunning. Just imagine Walt Disney transferring its IP rights to all purchasers of Mickey Mouse merchandise. Right, crazy.
But this is likely to be the new business model for Web3 and the metaverse. I’m working on some research papers on this very topic. Buckle up. It’s just getting started.
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