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The average sale price and frequency of trades both CryptoPunks and Meebits exploded this weekend after news hit the market that Yuga Labs acquired the two brands. On March 11, YugaLabs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, announced they had successfully acquired both the Meebits and CryptoPunks collections, boosting secondary market trading activity over 1,000%.
Yuga has acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections IP from Larva Labs. This means that Yuga now owns the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for both collections. In addition, they acquired the 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits originally in the wallets of Larva Labs.
The official announcement dropped at around 4 pm on March 11 on the West Coast of America. Almost instantly, trading started to rise on both collections, increasing the average sale price considerably. A deeper analysis shows the increase more clearly, and it’s interesting to see if trading increased as NFT holders received the news. In one way, a big selloff could indicate that holders felt their NFTs might lose value in the hands of Yuga. On the flip side, an announcement of this magnitude was sure to impact the liquidity of both collections. Traders may simply have cashed in at a good moment. Furthermore, it’s interesting to see the impact on Yuga’s original BAYC and MAYC collections.
Meebits trading up 995%
The surge in activity post announcement is apparent when looking at secondary market trading on OPENSEA for Meebits the rise in activity post announcement is evident. On March 10, the average sale price of a Meebit was 4.2 ETH, around $11,000, and there had been 87 sales that day. On March 11, the number of sales leaped 995% from the day before to 953, taking the average price up to 6.1 ETH, around $16,000.
Within 24 hours of the announcement on March 12, the price hit its highest point of 6.7 ETH, around $17,350, and 478 sales. By March 13, the average price had dropped to 5.2 ETH, and sales dropped dramatically closer to pre-announcement levels.
- Average Price on 10th – 4.2 ETH / 87 sales
- Average Price on 11th – 6.1 ETH / 953 sales >>> % increase from day before – 995.4%
- Average Price on 12th – 6.7 ETH / 478 sales
- Average Price on 13th – 5.2 ETH / 121 sales
CryptoPunks Trading up 1000%
Secondary market trading on CryptoPunks followed suit. On March 10, pre-announcement, there were only five sales with an average price of 69.8 ETH, or around $181,500. Post announcement, sales jumped 1000% to 55, with the average price increasing to 77 ETH or approximately $200,200. Just like Meebits, the peak came on March 12 when the average price reached 86.5 ETH, or around $225,000, and 47 sales happened. By March 13, sales had dropped closer to pre-announcement levels, and the price fell by almost 10 ETH.
- Average Price on 10th – 69.8 ETH / 5 sales
- Average Price on 11th – 77 ETH / 55 sales >>> % increase from day before – 1000%
- Average Price on 12th – 86.5 ETH / 47 sales
- Average Price on 13th – 75.4 ETH / 10 sales
BAYC Impact?
As mentioned, Yuga Labs are the creators behind the wildly successful BAYC and MAYC NFT collections. While the announcement impacted the two collections acquired, it’s interesting to see how the takeover affected BAYC and MAYC. Arguably the BAYC and MAYC collections could become more popular as holders anticipate an airdrop now the four brands are under one roof. Equally, traders could expect the price of both BAYC and MAYC NFTs to shoot up over the longer term as the strength of the Yuga brand grows with the acquisition.
On March 10, there were just two sales of BAYC NFTs for an average value of 74 ETH, or around $193,000. Sales leaped 500% by the following day, with 12 sales at an average price of 76.1 ETH. Then, unlike CryptoPunks and Meebits, whose sales started to drop after peaks on the 11th, BAYC has continued to grow. By March 13, the price had reached 95.2 ETH, or around $248,000 and sales remained on par with the previous day. It will be interesting to see if sales continue to grow over the coming week.
- Average Price on 10th – 74 ETH / 2 sales
- Average Price on 11th – 76.1 ETH / 12 sales >>> % increase from day before – 500%
- Average Price on 12th – 87.1 ETH/ 34 sales >>> % increase from day before – 183.3%
- Average Price on 13th – 95.2 ETH / 35 sales
MAYC Impact?
Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs are considerably cheaper than BAYC, so it would make sense that airdrop hunters and collectors gravitate toward this collection over BAYC. As expected, the data follows a very similar trend to BAYC sales since the YugaLabs takeover. On March 10, there were 44 sales for an average price of 16.2 ETH, or around $42,000. The next day sales increased slightly along with the price. By March 12, the average price had risen by 3 ETH, and sales peaked at 74 on that day. Like BAYC the price continued to rise rather than drop back as CryptoPunks and MeeBits did after the flurry of activity.
Overall it appears the acquisition of the two blue-chip brands by Yuga Labs has increased the overall stature of the organization and its NFT collections.
- Average Price on 10th – 16.2 ETH / 44 sales
- Average Price on 11th – 17.8 ETH / 49 sales
- Average Price on 12th – 19.2 ETH/ 74 sales >>> % increase from day before – 51%
- Average Price on 13th – 21.5 ETH / 68 sales
What happens next?
Yuga intends to add additional utility to both the CryptoPunk and Meebits collections but in a thoughtful, community-driven way without time pressures. Importantly Yuga says they have no intention of shoehorning CryptoPunks or Meebits into the membership club model developed for BAYC. Instead, they outline a vision where BAYC is the center of the universe, and CryptoPunks is a historical collection.
For holders of CryptoPunks and Meebit NFTs, there are a few significant changes to note now the brands are under Yuga control. As a first step, Yuga will soon be granting CryptoPunks and Meebits holders the same commercial rights that BAYC and MAYC owners enjoy. By handing over these rights, Yuga hopes further to align CryptoPunks and Meebits with the web3 ethos and expect a wide range of third-party developers and community creators to incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into their web3 projects.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds ETH, BTC, AGIX, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, IMMUTABLE X, GALA, AVASTR, GMEE, CUBE, RADAR, FLOW, FTM, BNB, SPS, WRLD, ATOM, and ADA.
