BAPE is making a mockery of itself with its streetwear NFTs

BAPE, streetwear’s most devoted practitioner in spoiling a once-great thing, is making the entry into NFTs that everybody had to have known is coming.

The Japanese brand announced today that it’ll soon launch its own non-fungible tokens. A dedicated website and Instagram page for the “(B)APETAVERSE” have both gone live to tease the arrival of even more apes in the metaverse. While a release date for the NFTs has yet to be set, those interested can join a Discord channel to be kept abreast of all updates.

According to a moderator of BAPE’s Discord channel, “2D-3D PFP-styled” BAPE NFTs will be randomly generated and act as a key to provide access to the BAPETAVERSE. What exactly will go down in the BAPETAVERSE remains unclear, but 50,000 users have already joined the channel as of publishing.

A shallow match made in heaven — A shadow of its former self when Nigo was still running things, BAPE is the perfect streetwear brand to wade in the dubious waters of the metaverse. It never seems to see a collaboration it won’t embrace, no matter how weak the connection, and its NFTs can now join a long line of releases with justification for their existence in the mere fact that they’ll generate money.

Of course, the metaverse isn’t without brands in the space racing to cash in on the metaverse. Both Nike and Adidas have already taken their first steps into web3, although the former has done so only through a virtual world powered by Roblox and not yet NFTs. Adidas, however, has already launched two NFT projects, the first being a collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club. Last week also saw invitations extended to fans to create user-generated NFTs in collaboration with Prada.

Questions still remain as to what exactly BAPE’s plans are, but one thing is certain — we’ll soon have A Bathing Ape and Bored Ape Yacht Club pointing at each other in the metaverse like two Spider-Mans.