A DAO has amassed a trove of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs worth millions— its members may vote to sell them to close estimated 50% valuation gap with their token

• A DAO has amassed a collection of 81 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, offering its token holders diversified exposure to the space.
• But the token has been trading at a sizable discount to the value of the DAOs underlying holdings.
• ApeDAO token holders are now voting on a measure to sell its NFT collection to close the valuation gap, and it looks like it's going to pass.
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A crypto DAO has amassed a collection of 81 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs but could be forced to sell them all due to a sizable valuation gap that has been plaguing the tokens issued to its members.

ApeDAO offers its token holders diversified exposure to a collection of popular NFTs like BAYC, CryptoPunks, Mutant Apes, and Cool Cats, among others. But since its launch in October 2021, the DAO's token has been trading at a valuation well below the implied value of its NFT collection.

After a failed proposal for the DAO to pursue a "comprehensive professionalization effort" to help close the valuation gap, a new proposal has been launched by members of ApeDAO to liquidate its NFT collection to close the discount and disburse the proceeds to its token holders.

"Given the current gap between $APED price and net asset value of DAO holdings, liquidating the DAO would generate substantial returns for $APED Holders," the proposal says, estimating that a conservative six to eight ether could be distributed for every 1,000 ApeDAO tokens.

That amount of ether would be worth between about $16,000 and $21,000 at current prices. At the same time, 1,000 ApeDAO tokens are worth only $12,000 at current prices, highlighting the wide gap between the tokens and the underlying NFTs they are meant to derive their value from.

According to various estimates — such as using the floor price of the NFT assets or the average price of the NFT assets — the valuation gap between ApeDAO tokens and its underlying holdings could be as much as 50%. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs in particular have seen a substantial rise in value over the past few months, rising from a floor of about 20 ether to about 100 ether today.

The prospect of swift gains for its holders has led to an overwhelming vote in favor of selling the NFTs and disbursing the proceeds to its holders in a pro-rata basis. At time of publication, 86% of the votes cast were in favor of selling. The voting period ends February 2.

ApeDAO tokens have soared more than 30% to a record high of $13 since the proposal went live on Sunday.