The Alpha:

• Yuga Labs’ new CEO, Daniel Alegre, bought a BAYC NFT for 50 ETH (approximately $90,000).
• The purchase was slightly above the floor price at the time, and the move helps demonstrate Alegre’s belief in the project and his understanding of the importance of community.

Dive deeper:

Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs, just made a splash in the NFT world. On May 10, 2023, he purchased a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT for 50 ETH on Blur. At the time, the purchase was equal to about $90,000. Why is this so notable? When Alegre made his purchase, the floor price for Bored Ape NFTs was about 44 ETH (around $78,000), according to CoinGecko.

In short, Alegre used his own money to buy an NFT from his own company — and he bought it for quite a bit more than he needed to.

Through his purchase, Alegre likely hoped to demonstrate his belief in the BAYC NFT project and, more broadly, Yuga Labs’ portfolio of intellectual properties. Currently, this portfolio includes nearly all of the most widely known and valuable projects in the NFT space — Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club, CryptoPunks, and Meebits.

The move also helps to show Alegre’s understanding of how much those in the NFT space value community and community interactions. Those who are committed to an NFT project are expected to follow others in the space who are connected to the community, interact regularly, and feature an image from the community as their avatar.

Ultimately, Alegre purchased Bored Ape #3575, which depicts a chimpanzee wearing sunglasses and a Sea Captain’s hat. Shortly after his purchase, he made it his Twitter avatar. “To my kids: meet a new member of the family. Proud to Ape into BAYC #3575,” he wrote on Twitter.

What’s next:

Yuga Labs closed a $450 million funding round from Andreessen Horowitz at a $4 billion valuation last year. Their goal is ultimately to create a media empire entirely centered around NFTs, starting with games and its own metaverse project (aka Otherside). At the end of 2022, Yuga Labs announced that Alegre would be joining as CEO in order to help the company fulfill its mission.

Alegre is a fitting candidate for the role. Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Activision Blizzard. There, he helped create an impressive portfolio of internationally recognized gaming brands, including World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is the largest blockchain collectible by market capitalization, nearing $800 million, according to CoinGecko, and Alegre’s latest move shows that the company is still going full steam ahead.

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