Disney, Boring Ape, and the rise of the IP empire

No company with an IP operation wouldn't want to be Disney.

How much money does Disney make by relying only on the IP images created one by one? According to statistics, among the 10 most profitable IPs in the world in 2021, Disney alone occupies half of the country, and the 5 IPs (Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and his friends, Star Wars, Disney Princess, Marvel Cinematic Universe) have a total revenue of 311 billion US dollars.

Around the IP as the core, Disney has established a closed-loop and comprehensive means of profitability, covering all aspects that consumers can access, theme parks, film production, streaming, retail... Once in Disney's hands, the avatars created by people are transformed into full-power printing machines, producing a steady stream of revenue at a speed that other companies envy.

Disney's birth and prosperity are inseparable from the establishment of the modern copyright system, and the nickname of "the strongest legal department on the surface" is enough to illustrate the importance of the judicial system to maintain Disney's prosperity. When the era of Web3 arrives, the permissionless, decentralized on-chain world, with the help of new technologies and organizational forms such as NFT, ERC20, DAO, etc., can the natives of the on-chain world reproduce a decentralized Disney, or even surpass Disney?

On March 17, bayc flooring prices exceeded 100 ETH. This means that the price of a "monkey head" has reached about $300,000. Some people see the hype and absurdity, while others see the team's strong strength in IP operations. The $5 billion BAYC team, although still far from Disney's $250 billion market capitalization, this project, which is less than a year old, has given us a glimpse of the possibility of a Web3 version of Disney.

Mickey Mouse with boring apes

In 1923, Walt Disney sold his camera and bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles with the unfinished film film "Alice in Cartoon Country", that year he and his brother Roy Disney founded the Disney Brothers Studios, and 5 years later created a cartoon image based on the mouse on the car to Hollywood, which was renamed Mickey at the suggestion of his wife, and the legendary cartoon mouse image influenced generations of Disney.

Seneca, a Chinese-American illustrator living in New York, is the most ordinary of the generation influenced by Disney, she deliberately left a corner in her Manhattan apartment, randomly placed brushes and papers that are her own "studio", in addition to a bunch of watercolor paintings scattered on the ground, the game "Alice: Crazy Return" is also mixed in, which is the story of Disney brought to the screen a hundred years ago, and it is also the "rabbit hole" that Seneca started her illustration journey and fell into.

Seneca's wild imagination has led to Seneca becoming the chief illustrator of Yuga Labs, and her fantasy world is inhabited by a group of life-weary apes called bored Ape Yacht Club, who have swept the world of Web3, just as Mickey Mouse who whistled and drove a steamship once swept the childhood of everyone in the world.

Paradise and the universe

Every girl dreams of becoming a princess, and Disney has given them a way to fulfill their dreams, as long as you walk in, you are a princess.

Mickey's first attempt opened the door to Disneyland, and in the following decades Donald Duck, Snow White, Dumbo, Iron Man, joined the world, stationery, daily necessities, clothing, it seems that everything you can touch in life has been printed with Disney motifs, and the fireworks that the characters in memory have lit for the park have bloomed to this day. They defend the attribution of each image to the death, but these concepts are clearly not as popular in the world of Web3.

People want BAYC to be more open, and that's true.

"BAYC membership costs the same for everyone", before the launch, the BAYC team shouted the slogan "fair" on Twitter. Fair sale and giving the owner a complete commercial license, that is, the avatar is also a club membership card, and the development community becomes a spontaneous and enthusiastic action of each member - as long as your avatar is an ape, then other "apes" will pay attention to you.

At that time, people printed their own apes on clothes, mobile phone cases and even masks. BAYC gives them not childhood idols that are out of reach across the screen, but "your neighbor" or "you."

These young people of Web3 are far more crazy than imagined, bathroom graffiti, offline gathering, their condensed power is not weaker than the centuries of precipitation of Mickey, "apes" soon have their own paradise, not only the official airdrop of BAKC or the use of potions mutated MAYC, these new members are far from being able to constitute the current "ape" universe. The opening of commercial copyrights has allowed more NFT projects to do secondary creations with boring apes as the core, and the heat wave of the "zoo" in the entire NFT market is the most powerful driver.

He is always telling us: you no longer need to admire the princess to enter paradise, you are in paradise.

Star Wars vs Punk

In 2012, Disney embarked on the path of expansion, acquiring Lucasfilm, founded by George Lucas, for $4.05 billion. This film industry may be a little unfamiliar to most readers in China, but their IP you must know: the world-famous "Star Wars".

Limited by the differences in cultural backgrounds, Star Wars may be just a "well-known IP" for Chinese audiences. For American audiences, it is a household "classic" that has accompanied generations of people over the course of 35 years. The value of Star Wars has long been limited to movies, movies, toys, games, derivatives, but also a milestone in the comprehensive operation of science fiction IP.

Let's modify it a bit, put this story in the world of NFT and tell it again, what do you think?

A classic and long-standing IP, a strong IP operator, and a powerful combination of two well-known companies. Doesn't that sound like BAYC and Crypto Punks?

On March 12, BAYC parent company Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT series developed by Larva Labs. Yuga Labs plans to provide the full commercial rights to both NFT series to the holders. Yuga Labs will work to bring additional utility to the CryptoPunks and Meebits series, and will fully listen to the community before deciding on the next step.

CryptoPunks, an "antique" NFT, is well known in the World of Web3 in terms of popularity, and even repeatedly broke the circle, and its influence once spilled over to the world of Web2. Yuga Labs' acquisition of CryptoPunks is similar to Disney's acquisition of Star Wars.

Recently, Larva Labs' community-defying practices have sparked controversy among netizens. But CryptoPunks' status has always been hard to shake – after all, CryptoPunks has a historical value that no project can replace. Yuga Labs is undoubtedly trusted by the community.

A classic and time-honored IP, a team that is being criticized, a rising star. Yuga Labs' acquisition of CryptoPunks is undoubtedly one of the best outcomes for multiple parties.

As lucasfilm CEO said of the Star Wars acquisition, "One of my greatest joys over the past 35 years has been watching Star Wars pass from one generation to another. It's time for me to pass on Star Wars to a new generation of producers." Now, CryptoPunks has also ushered in his moment of inheritance.

When a good IP meets the Yuga Labs team that is good at "doing things", can Yuga's ability to operate IP empower CryptoPunks? In the best-case scenario, perhaps as Disney did after the acquisition of Star Wars: "The best content portfolio is integrated with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses and markets to generate sustainable growth and drive tremendous long-term value."

Web2 vs. Web3

At this point, the story about Disney World has come to an end. But Yuga Labs' attempts are far from simple.

In October 2021, in the face of the continuous impact of fresh blood, most of the older NFT projects began to sit like needles, airdrop NFTs seemed to be unable to solve the top priorities, and issuing Tokens seemed to be the only life-saving straw. CoolCat, Pudgy Penguins, Groupies, DeadHeads, Animetas, etc., have all begun to re-plan RoadMap, and the content is basically around the issuance of tokens as the core into the Defi gameplay, some can be pledged to benefit, some open P2E games.

Just when everyone was expecting BAYC to come up with a satisfactory answer, they poured cold water on everyone.

"When to issue tokens is a question we are often asked in the community. First of all, know that uploading an ERC-20 token is very simple and takes only a few minutes to complete. But how to build a compliant and legal Token, and be responsible for it, so that its sustainable development, this is the most difficult thing. Not to mention how to use and govern Token, we need to bring benefits to BAYC's community members while bringing BAYC's economic system to a broader perspective. That's what we're going to do for the sake of our community members and the broader NFT community."

Three months later, bayc series flooring surpassed CryptoPunks to officially become the largest leader in the NFT market.

Five months later, just five days after Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of Crypto Punks and Meebits, ApeCoin arrived.

On March 17, BAYC parent company Yuga Labs officially announced the launch of ApeCoin for use in the APE ecosystem and to empower decentralized communities.

With governance, unified spending, ecosystem access and incentives, ApeCoin has a total supply of 1 billion pieces, of which 62% belong to the Ecosystem Fund (150 million will be airdropped to BAYC/MAYC NFT holders), 16% by Yuga Labs and its supported charities, 14% to project contributors, and 8% to the project's four co-founders.

Airdrops will begin to be issued on March 17 at 8:30 a.m. EST (20:30 Beijing time today). The airdrop rules show that only those holding Bored Ape NFTs will get 10,094 tokens; those who hold only Mutant Ape will get 2,042 tokens; those holding both Bored Ape and Kennel Club will get 10,950 tokens; and holding both Mutant Ape and Kennel Club will get 2,898 tokens.

In addition, Yuga Labs also launched the Ape Foundation. According to the statement, the ownership of ApeCoin belongs to ApeCoin DAO, and ape foundation is only the "steward" of ApeCoin. ApeCoin DAO members can vote on the governance and use of the Ecosystem Fund, and holding ApeCoin is the only requirement for ApeCoin DAO members.

At this point, Yuga Labs, which has been committed to building a community, has finally completed the most important piece of territory in the construction of Web3, some people say that Yuga Labs has taken the most secure path and chosen to be the Disney of the Web3 era; some people say that BAYC has opened up the current market dilemma and opened up a new path. Either way, we cannot deny that a vast world is about to emerge that will change existing rules and establish a new order.

end

In the era of vast space exploration, human beings entered space for the first time and landed on the moon, and the imagination grew freely to the boundless space, and the theme of space became the main theme of literary and artistic works for a while. In the face of the vast space, Lucas created a classic IP such as "Star Wars", which continued to grow for more than forty years in the fields of screen, games, derivatives and so on. A good IP can incubate its own culture, community and even circle layer. Although the era of space exploration has come to an end, the influence of Star Wars has not diminished in the slightest.

And when we are in a historical window period when encryption technology has deeply changed human society, will the native IP of the encrypted world produce its own cultural attributes like the "Star Wars" of the past? After sitting on bayc, Cryptophunks and many other top IP, Yuga Labs has at least been on the road to becoming a Web3 Disney. How to make good use of these high-value IPs will test the wisdom of the Yuga team.

*Rhythm BlockBeats reminds investors to guard against chasing high risks, and the views expressed in this article do not constitute any investment advice.

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