Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible tokens are seeing a price surge, sparking cautious optimism about a broader revival in the battered NFT market. Floor prices for the flagship Yuga Labs collection have climbed from around 5 ETH to 10 ETH over the past month. Meanwhile, Apecoin (APE), the ecosystem’s governance token, has also rallied from below $0.10 to about $0.16, with a sharp increase in trading volumes.
This rebound comes as memecoins and other high-risk crypto assets outperform more defensive sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi). The trend suggests retail traders may be returning to the market after months of subdued activity.
Beyond short-term hype
For Yuga Labs’ newly appointed CEO, Michael Figge, the rally reflects more than just speculation. “It’s clear from the numbers that for some time, as far as blue-chip digital collectibles go, it was oversold,” Figge told CoinDesk. He noted that while prices had compressed, unique holder counts actually increased. “A cynic will say prices doubled and the unique holder count didn’t double. But that’s really just recovery from a period where things fell disproportionately.”
The rebound also coincides with a broader reassessment of digital art and onchain ownership. In an essay last week, pseudonymous collector and analyst “Van” argued that while the speculative mania around NFTs largely collapsed after 2021, institutional adoption of blockchain-based art has continued quietly. The essay pointed to acquisitions by institutions like MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and LACMA over the past four years.
Speculation and shifting sentiment
The move higher has aligned with renewed momentum in speculative crypto corners. CoinDesk’s MemeCoin Select Index was among the best-performing digital asset sectors last week, outpacing DeFi tokens as traders shifted into higher-beta bets.
Some market participants point to growing stress in DeFi as another possible driver. A string of recent exploits and declining yields across lending protocols have dented confidence. “With one well-planned hack, you can lose it all,” Figge said. “That has to get solved in DeFi, but it’s definitely made people rethink the idea that it’s the only use case. NFTs offer something different — they’re tied to communities that persist beyond just price action.”
Signs of renewed activity are emerging in NFT financial markets. Earlier last week, a $2.8 million NFT-backed loan tied to a CryptoPunk circulated widely on social media. The lender is set to earn roughly $138,000 in interest over 90 days, in what traders described as one of the largest such loans to date.
The broader NFT rebound has extended beyond BAYC. Pudgy Penguins, another major collection, has also rallied strongly in recent weeks. Traders speculate that OpenSea — the marketplace synonymous with the 2021 NFT boom — could reignite activity through a long-rumored token launch.
Back to basics
Even so, Figge acknowledged that speculation remains central to the market. “It would be naive to say financial speculation isn’t a huge driver,” he said. “Whatever happens in this cycle will rhyme with the last one, but it’s never going to be exactly the same.”
Yuga Labs has shifted its focus back toward community-building, including more than 30 in-person meetups worldwide over the past month. “A lot of what made Bored Ape work in the first place — the social layer — hasn’t really been serviced in recent years,” Figge said. “We’ve gone back to basics.”
