Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The crypto market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $2,17 trillion. Bitcoin continues to trade at around $62,300. Ethereum experiences no changes and stagnates at around $2,400. XRP is down by 2%, Solana by 1%, and Dogecoin by 3%. Almost all altcoins are trading in the red, with very few exceptions. The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around…
Tron Version Of ‘Bored Ape’ Bought for $15 Million By Tron Founder
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An ape NFT from “Bored Ape Yacht Club Tron,” a Tron network “homage” to the original Bored Apes, sold for $15 million dollars. The person who bought it was none other than Tron network founder Justin Sun.
Sun, a Chinese-American tech entrepreneur is also the CEO of BitTorrent, a popular torrenting app and a Chinese messaging app Peiwo.
He claimed that his Joker-themed NFT, number 6666 in the Bored Ape Yacht Club Tron (BYAC Tron), is the most expensive Twitter avatar NFT.
Crypto Punk #NFT became the most expensive @Twitter avatars worth $10M! But today, the world record has been renewed again.
I bought a new Ape avatar with $15M worth of #TRX today!
After all, the art of the #NFT avatar is the new artistic showcasing for our generation. https://t.co/Jmam6rv2Xb
— Justin Sun ?? (@justinsuntron) November 30, 2021
However, this did not impress everyone. BAYC Tron does not have any connection with the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). In fact, it says so in a legal disclaimer on the bottom of the BAYC Tron site.
Moreover, like with many other NFT projects, the owners of the BAYC Tron are not public. That’s why some social media users joked that Sun likely bought the NFT from himself.
BAYC Trademark
It is unclear whether the project is within its legal rights to sell “homages” to the original BAYC. Potentially to avoid legal issues, the BAYC Tron site features the following legal disclaimer.
The BAYCTron project is an homage to the OG Bored Ape Yacht CLub and is not affiliated with Yuga Labs LLC
In May 2021, Yuga Labs, the original creators of BAYC, filed a trademark application for Bored Ape Yacht Club. We have reached out to Yuga Labs for comment and will update this article if they respond.
What is more, the individual owners of original Bored Apes have commercial rights to the art. That means that they have permission to use their apes for commercial purposes. This could conflict with BAYC Tron’s use of similar images.
Interestingly, at least several Bored Ape owners do in fact use those rights. One owner made a Bored Ape IPA, featuring his ape. Another owner said that he used his ape in an upcoming comic book.
What is more, BAYC Tron is just one of the copies of the original BAYC. There is also the Bored Ape Tron Club. The two projects apparently didn’t know about the other when they started.
Buffett Stunt And Trouble With China
Tron founder Justin Sun does not shy away from spending a lot of money on publicity. In 2021, he bought $100 million worth of art. However, that is nothing compared to a stunt that involved famous investor Warren Buffett.
IIn 2019, Buffett offered to have lunch with the person that won a charity bid. Sun won, spending $4.6 million for the privilege.
He acknowledged that the lunch was also an attempt to promote the blockchain industry. Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger have rather negative views on crypto. In 2019, Buffett called Bitcoin a “gambling device” and a delusion that “attracts charlatans.”
While Sun did not change Buffett’s mind, the stunt managed to get him the attention of Chinese authorities and state-owned media.
Sun abruptly canceled the lunch, citing health issues. An article in a Chinese publication claimed that the real reason was different. They claimed that Sun is still in China, detained by Chinese authorities!
This was supposedly due to his alleged legal issues due to his messaging app Peiwo. Chinese reporters claimed that Peiwo facilitates gambling, pornography, and other illegal transactions.
Sun denied the allegations, but these were enough to send Tron token tumbling. He later apologized to Chinese authorities for “overpromoting” the lunch meeting.
But my immature, naive, and impulsive conducts with my big mouth have turned it into an out-of-control and failed over-marketing hype and led to a significant series of unexpected consequences
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David Marsanic
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