BAYC’s native token (Apecoin) gained 7% during Wednesday morning’s trading session to exchange hands at $19.15. Thus, gaining nearly 23% in the last seven days. The gains in the price of Apecoin are linked to Yuga Labs’ proposed launch of the Otherside metaverse on April 30.

Yuga labs, which owns BAYC NFT collections, further announced that the Apecoin token would also be the governance token of the Otherside metaverse. Apecoin’s price increased following that announcement, and its overall evaluation is now higher than that of MANA, SAND, and AXS.

You’d recall that Apecoin (APE) is also the native token of the BAYC community. Asides from overtaking other metaverse tokens to be the number one metaverse token, it has also performed impressively compared to the top 100 cryptos listed on Coinmarketcap. Apecoin’s overall evaluation of approximately $5.6B makes it rank among the top 30 digital assets.

BAYC Users Lose $2.6M Worth Of Nfts To Hackers Following An Instagram Hack

Per a Coindesk report, hackers siphoned nearly $2.6M worth of NFTs after hacking BAYC’s Instagram account. After gaining control of the Instagram account, the hackers posted a phishing BAYC web link which allowed them to siphon $2.6m worth of NFTs from unsuspecting users. The report also stated that the hackers didn’t just steal BAYC NFTs; they also stole other expensive NFT collections such as Mutant Apes and Kennel Clubs. 

Part of BAYC’s official statement regarding the incident states that it is still surprising that their Instagram account was hacked because it is run with the best security practices, especially the widely acclaimed 2-factor authentication. The hack proves that 90% of unannounced airdrops are possible scams and NFT traders need to be careful to avoid losing valuable digital assets to cyber thieves.

A Cosmos-Built Token Is Also Performing Excellently

Besides ape, another top 100 token with an impressive performance during this morning session is the secret network’s native token, SCRT. The native token of the cosmos-built secret network (SCRT) gained 10% in the last 24 hours.

In other metaverse-related news, two Web3 platforms, ALTER and Huddle01, have announced a collaboration over developing a decentralized alternative to meeting apps like google meet and zoom. The two platforms aim to develop this alternative via the Secret protocol.

In the meantime, the wider crypto market remains on the decline, losing 2.5% in the past 24 hours based on the recent Coinmarketcap data. The price of the top two digital assets (BTC and ETH) dipped by 2.5% and 2.7%, respectively, in the past day.

More Brands Launch On The Metaverse

Many brands are starting to launch on the metaverse space as the web3 space continues to expand rapidly. Also, many of them are moving there to gain the first-mover advantage, which proved to be a big advantage during the early days of social media. It is often easier to stand out and learn during the early stages of any network since there is little or no competition.