CryptoPunks Briefly Flip Bored Apes as NFT Prices Continue to Crater

The floor price for CryptoPunk non-fungible tokens (NFT) briefly passed that of rival blue chip collection Bored Ape Yacht Club on Monday, highlighting the battle for top dog in the cooled off NFT market.

The event is one of the many “flippenings” to happen in the crypto world, with both communities having long desired to be the most valued PFP in the digital collectible space.

Floor prices are the lowest price for which an individual NFT in a collection can be purchased. High floor prices indicate growing demand.

Read more: How to Make, Buy and Sell NFTs

This flip didn't hold for long. By late morning New York time, Bored Apes had retaken the lead on trading venue OpenSea, where both collections' floors hovered in the 66-67 ETH range, around $104,000.

It’s not the first time Punks have found themselves on top, or at least close to it. The early NFT project held the title of most valuable PFP collection from 2019 until last December, when Bored Apes overtook them.

Unlike last winter, when the price of ETH was pushing $4,000 and trading volumes were at all-time highs, this flippening comes as the rival collections’ prices are on the way down. The Bored Ape floor price is down almost 40% in the last month, with CryptoPunks down 24%, according to data from NFTPriceFloor. When the Bored Ape floor price passed that of CryptoPunks last time around, the cheapest editions from both collections were valued 55 ETH, at the time worth $215,000.

Read more: Many Bored Ape NFTs Are in Danger of Getting Liquidated as Borrowed Money Comes Back to Bite

“Apes have not had their 50% drop yet from peak (in ETH) terms. Every other collection has, and will over time,” Nikolai Yakovenko, founder of the NFT valuation site DeepValueNFT, said of the flip. “Punks have, Fidenzas have, it was pretty unlikely that Apes would not have a drop like this.”

The race to the bottom may not be over. Between cascading loan liquidations and the recent declines in NFT trading volumes, both collections could continue losing value before an eventual rebound.

Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, purchased the CryptoPunks collection in March. The ape stewards then assembled a Punks-focused development and marketing team in an effort to revitalize the brand.

The co-founders of Yuga Labs have publicly downplayed the importance of floor prices. In a recent interview they said Yuga is more focused on bringing utility to its community than keeping prices high.