According to people familiar with the matter, the terms are subjected to changes, and the talks may not necessarily lead to a deal. However, the sources also said that creators of the NFT project could potentially issue crypto tokens to the existing holders of BAYC.
Should the deal go through, it would mark the first institutional investment into Yuga Labs, led by anonymous founders Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, No Sass, and Gargamel, who set up the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project a little over a year ago.
Andreessen Horowitz is a US-based venture capital firm and was an early investor in several top performing tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb. However, recently the firm has turned towards crypto investments, revealing a $4.5 billion crypto fund. The venture capital firm also has majority stakes in crypto exchange Coinbase and NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs built on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched by a group of anonymous developers, the NFT project went on to become the most expensive collection in terms of floor price as of January 2022.
As of February 3, the floor price for a Bored Ape NFT is 99.3 ETH about $274,500. The company has also introduced several spinoff projects, including Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Kennel Club.
Holders of BAYC includes Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon, Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber, Gweneth Paltrow, Justin Biebers among others.