Sales of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs jump past $1 billion amid heightened interest from celebrity collectors

• Sales of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs now total more than $1 billion.
• The milestone was reached a few days into the new year, according to data from CryptoSlam.
• Demand for the highly coveted digital apes has increased since it was launched in April 2021.

The sales of Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens have exceeded the $1 billion mark amid heightened interest from celebrity collectors.

The Block was first to report that total sales now stand at $1.03 billion. The milestone was reached a few days into the new year, according to data from CryptoSlam.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique ape NFTs that live on the ethereum blockchain. Ownership of a Bored Ape NFT also provides an exclusive membership pass to the community's various activities, such as access to The Bathroom, a collaborative graffiti board.

Demand for the highly coveted digital apes has increased since it was launched in April 2021. High-profile figures who own a part of the collection include NBA star Stephen Curry, who purchased one for $180,000, and most recently hip hop artist Eminem, who bought one for $462,000.

But it's not just individuals. Companies have also joined the Bored Ape bandwagon or "aped in." In September, Adidas purchased one for around $156,000.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club was created by four friends who "set out to make some dope apes, test our skills, and try to build something (ridiculous)," according to its website.

Since its inception, the collection has amassed around 11,000 unique owners, according to CryptoSlam. On average, an ape has sold for 84 ether or roughly $344,000 as of publishing.

It has since become one of the most popular NFT sets on OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace. In December, its floor price surpassed that of CryptoPunks, another coveted collection, for the first time.

NFTs -- digital representations of artwork, sports cards, or other collectibles tied to a blockchain, typically on ethereum -- have surged in popularity in the past year as investors from Wall Street and Hollywood continue to buy in the craze.

When people buy NFTs, they gain the rights to the unique token on the blockchain, not the artworks themselves. But the fact that the information on a blockchain is next to impossible to alter makes NFTs appealing, especially to collectors and artists.