Investor Logan Paul: The Era of Calling Bored Apes Blue-Chip Cultural Assets is Over

This drop from $700,000 to about $20,000 is not just an individual "buying story" but a reflection of the entire NFT blue-chip narrative breaking down. The core logic of so-called "blue-chip NFTs" was to view avatars as a composite asset that serves as an identity symbol, community ticket, and future IP revenue share, with valuation relying on "cultural premium" and "scarcity narrative," rather than stable cash flow and verifiable business models. In an environment of loose liquidity and a crypto bull market, such purely narrative-driven assets can easily be pushed to extreme prices, and once the macro environment and sentiment reverse, the price will also return at an extreme pace.

The "blue-chip" label mentioned by Logan Paul essentially transplant traditional stock market language onto an asset class that has yet to establish profit and dividend mechanisms. Traditionally, blue-chip stocks rely on stable profits, dividend records, governance structures, and industry positions, while most NFT projects lack these supports, relying more on airdrop expectations, IP licensing possibilities, and social media popularity. This "concept appropriation" amplified FOMO during the bull market, attracting many non-professional investors to enter at high levels, and after the bubble burst, these labels became evidence of overvaluation and risk misjudgment.

Structurally, the significant drop in the BAYC floor price has exposed the limitations of "strong community, strong brand" when there is no sustainable cash flow to support it. NFT prices are largely driven by a few large transactions and over-the-counter financing, with the number of buyers able to exit at market prices far fewer than the "holders" on social media; when incremental funds retreat and narratives shift to new tracks like AI, even if the community remains active, prices are hard to maintain at previous highs. This indicates that the "financialization of cultural assets" at this stage still heavily relies on the liquidity environment, rather than establishing a stable revenue structure similar to music copyrights or sports copyrights.

From a longer historical perspective, this round of NFT bubble has provided an expensive experiment for pricing digital assets: the market has rapidly transitioned from "any JPG can be worth millions" to "only on-chain assets with sustainable cash flow or functionality have a pricing basis." In the future, there may still be truly long-term valuable on-chain cultural assets, but they will certainly be closer to "copyrights and IP tools with clear business models," rather than solely relying on celebrity endorsements and social narratives—Mike Majlak and Logan Paul's phrase "blue-chip NFT, part of culture" is being re-evaluated by the market through price.