Vitalik Buterin: Referencing the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, without actually saying its name, the ‘Prince of Crypto’ snipped about the most famous NFT collection in the world. He said that selling ape-related assets for millions of dollars should not be the focus of Ethereum (ETH).
The Russian-Canadian developer is the main name and mind behind Ethereum, being one of its co-founders and being involved in the project to this day.
In a recent interview with Time (the magazine upon whose cover he appeared) Buterin expressed concern about the euphoria that has influenced the course of the NFT market, and consequently, the entire crypto world.
“The danger is that you have these $3 million monkeys and that becomes a different kind of bet.”
Despite not directly mentioning BAYC, the developer was clearly referring to the works in the collection, which is currently the largest in market value in this segment. Using the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as an example, he commented on how the crypto world can offer better value to its users.
Vitalik Buterin: The real impact of the crypto world
Buterin has been a major critic of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory. He used his Twitter several times to express support for the local population, asking the ruler of his home country, Vladimir Putin, to opt for peace and cease his military offensive.
Buterin explained how the government of Ukraine has been benefiting from crypto resources in its defense. This is something he considers to be much more fruitful regarding the use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies than just buying tokens of apes.
“One positive aspect of the situation over the past three weeks is that it has reminded many people in the crypto market that, ultimately, the purpose of cryptocurrencies is not to play with million-dollar pictures of monkeys, it is to do things that achieve meaningful results, in the real world.”
Since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian government has received millions of dollars in donations via cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the country has enlisted the help of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and launched its own NFTs to raise funds for its army.
The Ethereum co-founder also shared the desire to get more involved in causes that have an impact on society, even if this generates controversy and even criticism of his project.
“I’d rather Ethereum offend some people than turn into something that doesn’t mean anything. “
Bored Apes continues to rise
Despite not winning over the Ethereum co-founder, Bored Apes remains on the rise. This is due to the company responsible for the collection, Yuga Labs, having last week launched ApeCoin (APE), a cryptocurrency native to BAYC.
The asset has accumulated an increase of 85% since Thursday the 17th March.
Yuga Labs has also acquired the copyrights to two other major NFT collections and announced plans to expand the Bored Apes ecosystem to games and the metaverse.
An increase in the trading price of new Bored Apes has been seen following these developments, with the world’s largest record label, Universal Music, investing around $360,000 to acquire one of the works in the collection.
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