OpenSea, a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, has banned two NFT collections that blatantly rip-off the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The two collections take Bored Ape images, flip them on a vertical axis and mint them as NFTs.
One of the collections, titled Phunky Ape Yacht Club (PAYC), launched in early December. The group claimed Bored Ape Yacht Club had become “a flex for rich douchebags mostly.” The other collection known as PHAYC launched later in December, with both collections selling out within hours of release. However, they were quickly banned on OpenSea for violating intellectual property rules. PAYC earned roughly 60 ETH ($226,113 USD) from sales, while PHAYC netted nearly 500 ETH ($1,884,125 USD).
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One PHAYC community member described the project as a “satirical take on the current state of NFTs and members of the community who might be taking the NFT market a little too seriously.” PAYC and PHAYC have also argued on Twitter over who is the real Bored Ape knockoff. PAYC’s founder even referred to PHAYC as a “cash grab fraud project.” Currently, PAYC is still listed on NFTtrade.com, and PHAYC is listed on Mintable. However, the collections are not verified on those sites.
2021’s boom in NFT ownership cannot be overstated. The original Bored Ape Yacht Club recently surpassed rival CryptoPunk’s floor price at 60 ETH on OpenSea. BAYC has grown upwards of 35% over the past three months. This surge, affectionately dubbed “the flippening,” has cemented Bored Ape as the premiere NFT collection. The cheapest Bored Ape currently sits around $200,000 USD. Celebrities including Steph Curry, Jimmy Fallon, Logan Paul, Shaq, Future, and Gunna have all bought into the Bored Ape phenomenon. But more on that later.
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