Leonidas urges calm as Magic Eden delists Bitcoin Apes & BIT APES collections
Digital asset expert weighs in with an opinion which suggests BAYC-related collections may eventually return
Roughly two hours ago, Magic Eden, currently the leading Ordinals marketplace by trade volume, delisted the popular Bitcoin Apes and smaller BIT APES collections. The far smaller Ordinal Apes listing remains active, for now.
Given that both delistings happened simultaneously, speculation is rife that Magic Eden removed the collections at the behest of Yuga Labs. The largest NFT company, Yuga created the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) on which the Ordinals collections are based. CM Ice, a moderator on the Magic Eden Discord, confirm the speculation by stating, “the collection was delisted after we received a Trademark complaint from Yuga Labs.”
According to WizOrd.io, Bitcoin Apes’ floor price is down 31.25% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading at 0.011 BTC, a significant drop from the 0.0164 recorded this morning. The BIT APES floor price currently stands at 0.0125 BTC. For true believers, this event might represent an opportunity to buy the dip.
Bitcoin Apes price chart, courtesy of WizOrd.io – their full price charts are now live,
click any collection for more info and the chart.
Leonidas Weighs In
Speaking in the Bitcoin Apes Discord channel, renowned NFT collector and expert, Leonidas, deflected blame from Magic Eden with the following calming statement:
“Will just throw my two cents in here. Have seen many instances of DMCA takedowns now and basically if a marketplace is operating in the US they legally have to comply with the takedown otherwise Yuga can essentially sue them into oblivion. I never blame the marketplaces when this happens. Their hands are tied and they get hundreds of these a year. It’s not practical to think that they will take on a legal battle on behalf of all of those collections. With V1 punks it was ultimately up to the V1 community to submit a counter-DMCA. I honestly wouldn’t use ME as a punching bag here. It’s good for the space that they are here and everything I have seen is that they have good intentions. Any other marketplace in the space could be served the same
– Leonidas.og in the Bitcoin Apes Discord chat
Shaky Legal Ground?
The DMCA website states that takedowns occur “when content is removed from a website or internet platform at the request of the owner of the content.” However, it’s unclear from a legal perspective that Yuga Labs does indeed own the content in question. In January of this year, Yuga Labs stated in a court filing that it does not own “copyright registrations” for the artwork contained in the BAYC collection. If Yuga did indeed file a DMCA based on ownership of the images contained in the relevant Ordinals collections, that decision may be challenged in future.
There are distinct similarities to the US court case between Yuga Labs and artist Riley Ripps, which began with a similar takedown of Ripp’s project, “RR/BAYC,” which was also based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club project. Yuga then sued Ripps, filing a complaint accusing him of false advertising, trademark infringement, cybersquatting and other offenses. The founder of an NFT marketplace was also named in the complaint.
Whatever the eventual outcome, the shock move will bring further attention to the collections concerned via the infamous Streisand Effect, and possibly greater attention to the entire Ordinals space.
Marketplace Effects
Magic Eden’s market leading position in terms of volume traded may also be in jeopardy as Ape-related trading shifts to other marketplaces. Bitcoin Apes are still trading on the Ordinals Market, OrdSwap, Ordinals Wallet, and Emblem Vault marketplaces. The BIT APES collection is harder hit by the delisting as they’re not currently trading on any other marketplaces and will have to fall back on OTC trading on platforms like Discord.
Update: BIT APES are now trading on Ordinals Wallet! They announced the new listing on their Twitter.
Bitcoin Apes accounted for a large portion of Magic Eden’s trading volume, with some commentators estimating that Bitcoin Apes constituted the majority of their recent trade volumes:
