Bored Ape Yacht Club imitations banned from OpenSea

Popular digital marketplace, OpenSea, has banned the PHAYC and Phunky Ape Yacht Club (PAYC) collections from their platform. The two projects appear to have an identical likeness to the Bored Ape Yacht Club avatars. This is the latest example of how the NFT space handles copied artworks.

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are some of the most exclusive and sought-after tokens on the market. Recently overtaking CryptoPunks as the highest-priced avatars, the cheapest BAYCs sell for about $217,000. However, much like other tokens, the images themselves can be easily copied and modified. Due to this PAYC and PHAYC seem to have mirrored the original artwork and are reselling them to unsuspecting collectors.

Both PAYC and PHAYC were launched this month and have been caught up in a social media war as to which is the authentic BAYC ripoff. Ironically, PAYC’s founder has referred to PHAYC as a “cash grab fraud project.”

A PHAYC community member has described the project as a “satirical take on the current state of NFTs and members of the NFT community who might be taking the NFT market a little too seriously.”

While the projects argue over which is the true ripoff, both have garnered significant sales numbers as PHAYC took in about 500 ETH ($1.8 million) and PAYC earned around 60 ETH ($225,000).

While the legal concerns surrounding the industry remain unclear, the projects’ main concerns are the token’s selling power. Theoretically, NFTs are meant to exist outside of privatized platforms. However, markets such as OpenSea have become bottlenecks due to its simplification of transactions.

Source: The Verge