Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs featuring a trilogy initiative of the leading US crypto exchange Coinbase, comes to an end. The project was announced in April this year and also released its first installment in July. But now the crypto firm behind the NFT trilogy signaled to step back and shut down the project.
Bored Ape NFT Short Film Series Discontinued
Coinbase is reported to discontinue the ‘The Degen Trilogy’ project and without disclosing the clarification behind doing so. Coinbase spokesperson said that the company is evolving their content strategy and this made them stop the production of remaining two parts of the promised films. Meanwhile, the company is looking for the best creative path forward and “continues to focus on more immediate creative endeavors”, he added.
Although the reasons were not cleared by the company, many within the crypto community cited the decision to be right. The first part did not perform well and was not up to the expectations. It received a lot of criticism from the community. The broader NFT market has also been tanked since then.
Coinbase NFT Promotion Leveraging BAYC Popularity
Coinbase announced the launch of its own NFT platform named Coinbase NFT this year. Since the start of this year, the digital collectible space has seen significant growth. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection remained no exception and the crypto exchange announced ‘The Degen Trilogy’ featuring the disinterested looking apes.
The company initiated the short film project with enthusiasm and BAYC creator Yuga Labs was also excited. The former also showed the consent for using the Bored Ape NFTs of the respective owners.
The crypto firm promised about 10,000 USD worth Bitcoin (BTC) and ApeCoin (APE) to the owners of BAYC featuring in the movie.
Decision Backfired for Coinbase
Even at the time of announcement of ‘The Degen Trilogy’, the company got criticism for the decision given the embattling condition at the time. Moreover, the company laid off about 1,100 employees in June and around the same time it was also facing regulatory complications with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Along with this, the movie was also not up to the mark in many cinematic references. People called out its confusing storyline and lengthy credit scene during the film. It did not even justify the entry and presence of Bored Ape within the movie.
In addition, the crypto market crash in May 2022 also heavily impacted the NFT market. Even once the prominent non-fungible tokens have seen their floor prices actually reaching to the floor. This turned down the excitement within the NFT space and potentially be the reason for the short film getting discontinued.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/12/03/bored-ape-nft-trilogy-from-coinbase-canceled/