NFT Boom & Bored Ape Yacht Club
The 2021–2022 NFT mania — profile-picture projects, celebrity mints, and Bored Ape Yacht Club as the face of JPEG speculation before the crypto winter.
Overview
When Ethereum NFT trading surged, Bored Ape Yacht Club became the status symbol: cartoon apes as identity, Discord as country club, celebrity flips as headlines. Right-click save became the dominant joke; skeptics mocked environmental cost and speculation. The boom tied internet culture to wallets and influencer shilling — then the 2022 crypto collapse wiped much of the floor-value hype while leaving legal and tax questions behind.
Cultural scores
Editorial estimates of cultural weight — Current Popularity tracks how much people are posting about this now, not historical fame.
Current Popularity = how actively people are posting about this today. Influence = lasting footprint. Cringe = online reception. Brainrot = absurdist energy. How scoring works
Timeline
1
April 2021: Yuga Labs launched Bored Ape Yacht Club on Ethereum
2
2021 peak: celebrity purchases and ape avatars flooded Twitter profile pictures
3
"Right-click save" meme encapsulated mainstream skepticism of NFT ownership claims
4
NFT market cooled sharply after the 2022 crypto collapse and FTX fallout
Media
Bored Ape — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_Ape
Related entries
Culturally linked — not random recommendations.
Crypto Collapse & Scandals
EventThe 2022–2023 cascade of crypto bankruptcies and fraud cases — FTX, Terra/Luna, Celsius — that turned "Web3" hype into cautionary memes and congressional hearings.
GameStop / WallStreetBets
EventThe January 2021 GameStop short squeeze — Reddit's r/WallStreetBets vs. hedge funds, memes, and retail-trader chaos.
Twitter → X Transition
EventElon Musk's takeover and rebrand of Twitter into X — layoffs, blue checks for sale, and a platform identity crisis.
Influencer Culture
TrendThe internet habit of treating followings as social power — lifestyle curation, parasocial fame, and the soft sell of everyday aspiration.
References
Sources behind this entry. Prefer primary reporting and established culture archives over rumor.
- Bored Ape — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
- NFT bubble — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org