Stories Behind the Top Yuga Sales of 2023

Yuga Labs shocked the NFT world on Monday by announcing their generative art collection TwelveFold… on Bitcoin. 😱

On the same day, they also had a massive Sewer Pass 1-of-1 key sale— and even got their royalty cut.

Last June, Yuga was valued at $4 billion. In a world of looming crypto regulation and lawsuits, Blur-ry NFT volume data, and projects tightening their purse strings— they continue to be the biggest player in the space.

Here are the stories behind the biggest Yuga Labs sales of 2023.

Weirdly, they nearly all have blue backgrounds…

BAYC 4025 - $609K

j1mmy was the original minter of this robot Ape. The seller thiscat doesn’t have a Twitter account, but they own many other high-end Apes. The sale was made on X2Y2, likely to avoid paying royalties.

The buyer n0b0dy.eth also owns two gold fur Apes, four trippy Apes, eight blue-beam Apes, and many other high-end NFTs. BAYC 4025 was an addition to their 4-trait Ape collection.

BAYC 5840 (& its 2 Mutants) - $804K

This sale wasn’t just for one BAYC— it was for a set of three blue beam Apes. Some grail NFT collectors seek out full sets of Apes, including the BAYC, its M1 mutant, its M2 mutant, and its BAKC dog.

OSF was the original minter of this Ape. You may know him as one of the two who liquidated 71 Apes for $9 million, so he’s doing just fine these days. 💅

The seller was ptm.eth, the founder of Fragment.xyz and the Applied Primate collection.

The buyer was n0b0dy.eth, who was also the buyer of the 4-trait robot. They have been going on an Ape shopping spree in 2023.

BAYC 7090 - $1.3 million

j1mmy was the lucky seller of this solid gold, rainbow grill Ape. It is the 62nd rarest Ape in the collection. The sale took place on X2Y2.

The minter of this Ape is anon, but they own many other Apes that are all currently listed.

“PimpCapital” was the buyer. They own a few Punks and Apes, but also bought a rare DeadGod for $220k.

PUNK 5066 - $1.4 million

PROOF CEO and entrepreneur Kevin Rose sold the zombie Punk he had held onto for 2 years. He purchased it for about $20k, so not a bad ROI. This is one of 88 zombie Punks in the collection.

Who did KRO buy the punk from back in the day? None other than Snowfro, the creator of Art Blocks and the Chromie Squiggle.

The buyer of this Punk with provenance was bitshamed.eth, who now owns two Punks and two Azukis.

SEWER PASS GOLDEN KEY - $1.6 million

This wasn’t just the biggest Yuga Labs sale of the year— this was the biggest NFT sale of the year, period. And we don’t even know what this key even does.

18-year-old professional Fortnite gamer Mongraal Dookey-Dashed his way into the #1 spot for the game out of over 20,000 players. After turning down a 690 ETH offer from Pixel Vault’s UPDAO and a 999 ETH offer from Memeland, he sold it to billionaire Adam Weitsman for 1,000 ETH on Monday.

This key sale also marked the third-highest eSports prize of all time, NFT or otherwise. Congrats to the kid. 🏆

Yuga continues to benefit from being a first-mover into the 2021 bull market and embracing its community and its initiatives.

The “Summoning” phase for Sewer Passes starts March 8. Otherside’s next trip is in March. Despite insane Blur farming volume and several lawsuits, Yuga’s collection floor and their community have shown resiliency. By experimenting with Bitcoin Ordinals, the web3 giant is also showing they’re still nimble enough to try new things.

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