Yuga Labs and Bosen Ape Yacht Club’s ‘Golden Key Sewer Pass’ is less than a month old, but it has found a new home courtesy of an ambitious buyer this week. One of the more rare 7-figure NFT purchases today, the ‘Golden Key’ acquisition comes with a price tag of 1,000 ETH.
As we look back in retrospect, will the move mark a major inflection point in web3 culture and gaming?
Let’s take a look at the details of buying individual NFTs.
If It Glitters, It’s Gold
We first highlighted the ‘Golden Key’ story when we covered Yuga Labs’ game ‘Dookey Dash’ in late January. The Yuga Labs title requires the Bored Ape (or Mutant Ape) Yacht Club NFT to purchase a “Sewer Pass” to play (although the secondary market does that, commanding 2-3ETH), and many pro and semi-pro esports players are (and have been) offers a ‘boost’ service to help more casual players achieve better scores.
At that time, professional esports player Mongraal – who has long been a tier 1 pro in the EU Fortnite region – made a splash racking up crazy scores in the game Dookey Dash. When the initial period closed in February, Mongraal had the highest score on record – and was the rightful winner of the golden key.
Over the past few weeks, genuine NFT collectors have been posting multiple bids for what they believe to be ‘one of the right’ Yuga Labs NFTs. The winning bidder, was NFT collector Adam Weitsman with a bid of 1,000 ETH – worth approximately $1.6M at the time of sale. The sale reinforces the continued confidence in Yuga Labs – from both the buyer and the seller. Mongraal’s skill and commitment to the game over the past few weeks, and the financial value Weitsman has placed on NFT – it’s clear there are plenty of bullish perspectives still in the NFT space.
Esports professional Mongraal sold his Yuga Labs 'Golden Key' NFT for 1,000 ETH this week. | Source: ETH-USD on TradingView.com
The Golden Key: How to Measure
Mongraal confirmed the sale of the key in a tweet on Friday, and you can find the OpenSea link here to see the NFT and it’s transaction log.
I have agreed to sell the keys for 1000 ETH for @AdamWeitsman. Very nice guy and happy to sell with him.
Special thanks for @yugalabs for hosting an incredible competition. I hope to compete in future events. Royalties will be paid in full.
1/2— Mongraal (@Mongraal) February 27, 2023
The sale represents what could mark a major turning point in the game – albeit one that will take some time to fully digest. Epic Games – the creator and owner of Fortnite – is slowly reducing payouts from competitive Fortnite tournaments; if Yuga Labs and other web3 mainstays can develop a GameFi ecosystem that rewards players, it can draw the eyes and ears of players (and viewers) away from today’s traditional competitive titles.
Don’t expect CS:GO to go anywhere anytime soon. But it’s a small step can big waves – and there are many fish pushing to do small but useful things in this place.