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Current macroeconomic conditions and the recent pullback in cryptocurrency prices have brought in a crypto winter for which the NFT industry was scarcely prepared. However, this circumstance did not stop projects from developing their ecosystems. On the back of NFT.NYC, today, we explore the latest controversies with Yuga Labs and the potential ascension.

The Monkey’s Business Is ‘No Mere Monkey Business’

Yuga Labs has successfully made a name for itself in the NFT space more than one year since the launch of its Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection. To date, the BAYC collection has amassed 623.2K ETH worth of transaction volume on OpenSea. Yuga Labs is also valued at $4 billion after a $450 million fundraise in March 2022. 

For months now, Yuga Labs was the target of Twitter user Ryder Riipps (@

 claiming that the BAYC NFT displayed Nazi symbolism. Ripps created a website called GordonGoner.com laying out evidence to corroborate his claim of BAYC founders supporting alt-right political philosophy. One of the allegations include similarities between BAYC’s logo with the 

The story picked up steam after YouTuber Philion released an hour-long video called Bored Ape Nazi Club, diving into every single neo-Nazi claim Ryder Ripps made on Yuga Labs. The video was released on June 20, 2022 — coincidentally in the middle of NFT.NYC. To date, the YouTube video generated approximately 1.1 million views. 

Gordon Goner, one of BAYC’s founders, has since responded to all the allegations on Twitter. According to Goner’s Tweet, the Anti-Defamation League, which seeks to protect Jewish rights, confirmed that such claims are not true. Goner also published an article on Medium addressing each point Ryder Ripps and Philion made. Email receipts and initial mockups for the BAYC logo together with its inspirations were also provided in the Medium article. 

Image from Gordon Goner’s Medium Article

Ryder Ripps also released an NFT collection called RR/BAYC, which uses the art of the BAYC collection. The collection was minted onMay 13, 2022 and has since been removed from OpenSea. Yuga Labs filed a 

 against Ryder Ripps citing the latter’s deliberate intention to confuse users with a fake collection using the art and name of BAYC.

Holders of the collection do not seem fazed. According to Nansen, the floor price of the collection remains at 91 ETH, and the percentage of holders owning one NFT remains over 80%. Although the crypto bear market has caused many NFT traders to exit their investments in the project, this has created opportunities for others to enter, including those tagged as Smart NFT Sweepers on Nansen. Finally, the relatively stable number of Smart NFT Hodlers on Nansen since November of 2021 speaks of the strength of the brand Yuga Labs created.

Over the past few months, there have been numerous developments in blue chip NFTs with the rise of Azuki and Moonbirds, as well as developments with the ecosystem that Yuga Labs is building with the acquisition of the IP rights of CryptoPunks and Meebits. These developments have caused many to forget previous successful collections, such as Doodles, until recently. 

 collection contains 10,000 PFP NFTs from founders Scott “Burnt Toast” Martin, van “Tulip” Keast, and Jordan “Poopie” Castro, which were initially minted in October 2021. The collection features colorful looking NFTs that were trading for an average price of 25.29 ETH at its peak before dropping as low as 8.32 ETH this crypto winter. 

The recent Doodles resurgence came with recent announcements from NFT.NYC. Last week, Doodles announced that music producer and artist Pharrell Williams will be joining the team as Chief Brand Officer. Williams will join the team that already includes former Billboard president and now Doodles CEO Julian Holguin.

Doodles’ latest announcements look to position the brand as a premier brand in the music and entertainment industry. In fact,  Pharrell will also produce Doodles Records: Volume 1, in the form of music NFTs available on streaming services. 

The team is also looking into releasing a second collection called Doodles 2 in an unspecified blockchain. There is plenty to look forward to with Doodles incorporating their Dooplicator, The Genesis Box, and Space Doodles NFT into their ecosystem. 

Doodles also announced its first fundraiser from Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six. The said venture capital fund also invested in PROOF Collective, the team behind the Moonbirds NFT collection. According to Seven Seven Six’s website, Yuga Labs is also part of its portfolio. As such, Doodles’ fundraiser has put itself in good company, at least in current PFP NFT standards, with a community consisting of more than 354k Twitter followers and more than 72,000 Discord members. 

In the 24 hours following Doodles’ announcements from NFT.NYC, the collection was the number one traded NFT according to CryptoSlam.

Over the last few months, we can also see plenty of changes in the Doodles collection in terms of its holders. Based on data collected from Nansen, around 2,230 individuals classified as diamond hands sold their NFTs on March 1, 2022. The selloff coincidentally occurred with the launch of Space Doodles on Feb. 28, 2022. 

Overall, the selloff on March 1, 2022 provided an entry point for more users to join the Doodles ecosystem, as evidenced by an increase in unique addresses holding the collection up to today, about a week after the Doodles team made its announcements to position the collection in the media and entertainment industry.

As of the time of writing, data also shows around 19% increase in Smart NFT Hodlers from the selloff on March 1 to June 29. Looking at data since the collapse of Terra in May of 2022, we also see faith in long term believers of Doodles with Smart NFT Hodlers staying put with their holdings together with a decrease in NFT traders.

There is plenty to look forward to with Doodles. If anything, the recent developments indicate that the collections should not be overlooked. With this, our sleeping giant awakens hoping to bridge the gap between URL and IRL (in real life) NFT benefits and utility.

The bear market is still on and the crypto winter has yet to show signs of ending. The numerous developments in the more famous collections, such as BAYC, Doodles, and the recent NFT.NYC have failed to spark a shift in market sentiment, causing yet another month-on-month low based on Dune Analytics. 

For now, the NFT industry’s success depends on global financial health. Despite the low transaction volume, there is plenty to look forward to in the NFT space. Yuga is currently facing criticism in the public and its result will set the tone for the general market sentiment towards the NFT industry. With its recent moves in onboarding new key team members, Doodles hopes to make an impact in showing the value and utility that NFTs can bring, both online and in-person, to holders. Further developments with these two projects could possibly spell a light at the end of a dark tunnel this crypto winter. 

On the back of NFT.NYC, today, we explore the latest controversies with Yuga Labs and the potential ascension. Find out more here on NFT Insights.

The Monkey’s Business and the Doodle Giant — Exploring the Latest Developments and Controversies in NFT Winter

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