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Trippin' Ape Tribe: The Next Rise Of Solana NFTs

Intermediate
NFT
Jun 3, 2022
13 min read

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Not only is the world of NFTs quickly exploding, it’s also changing faster than many traders can keep up. Solana has become an increasingly popular blockchain, and Magic Eden is now competing with OpenSea for primacy among NFT marketplaces. Trippin' Ape Tribe, an exciting PFP project, perfectly encapsulates this trend.

In this article, you’ll learn about what sets Trippin' Ape Tribe apart and how it fits into the general NFT landscape. You’ll also receive some key advice about the future of the project, and learn whether the tokens represent a sound investment. In a world that’s evolving so rapidly, this is the type of information you need to make informed decisions.

What Is the Trippin' Ape Tribe?

The Trippin' Ape Tribe is a community-based PFP project on the Solana blockchain. Similar to other NFT projects on Ethereum, this collection of artistic, psychedelic images represents a major step in Solana’s rise to prominence.

The images released by the Trippin' Ape Tribe are meant to be used as profile pictures on social media platforms, which is what makes the movement a PFP project. 

More than a simple investment, the psychedelic images represent an aesthetic statement and membership in an exclusive club. Trippin' Ape Tribe employs all sorts of unique language to reinforce the notion of in-group membership and generate excitement from potential investors.

Trippin' Ape Tribe combines unique aesthetics, brilliant storytelling and community building, all with an eye toward developing a lasting project. The movement’s founders have their roots in the music festival industry. They’ve chosen to remain anonymous, using only pseudonyms while communicating through online channels. 

Chorles, the principal founder, has been joined by Lysergic and Danny Devitoken, shadowy online figures who perpetuate the storytelling behind the phenomenon. An artist called Fig, meanwhile, produces the images that serve as the actual non-fungible tokens.

The immediate success of the Trippin' Ape Tribe has attracted attention throughout the crypto world. This is the second Solana NFT project, after Okay Bears, to achieve record-breaking trading volume. This represents a major shift in the general NFT landscape

Previously, NFT projects of large scope, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, had all appeared on the Ethereum blockchain. The success of Okay Bears and the Trippin' Ape Tribe shows that Solana has come into its own as a significant blockchain for PFPs and other NFT projects of mainstream cultural significance.

The Story of Trippin' Ape Tribe

With its anonymous founders and obscure origins, much of what’s known of the Trippin' Ape Tribe’s backstory stems from the project’s own creative storytelling. The Trippin' Ape Tribe website tells of a mystical founding that seems more like a religious origin story than the history of a business endeavor. 

According to the site, Chorles and his friends, described as apes, began dabbling in psychedelics in the wake of a music festival. This led to an expansion of consciousness and the creation of a “tribe,” which outsiders are welcome to join by purchasing tokens.

This strange mix of myth and truth encapsulates the general feeling of the NFT project’s storytelling. Everything about the NFT project, from the identities of its founders to the reason for its existence, is presented through mythology and inside jokes. 

Much of the mythology revolves around Chorles, the undisputed leader of the tribe. The other founders and all subsequent members are clearly described as ascribing to the leader’s vague mission. 

The project’s website repeatedly states that the movement isn’t a cult, but the jocular insistence on this point seems to suggest that it might be a cult after all. The NFT project’s marketers make tongue-in-cheek references to the lack of a road map or ultimate goal. They do, however, lay out some basic principles. 

One is a commitment to the idea of community. Through brilliant marketing, appealing aesthetics and excellent storytelling, the group hopes to attract new members and become a powerful force on the blockchain.

Trippin' Ape Tribe is also committed to identity, building a brand for self-described degens (degenerates) that can lead to further strategic partnerships in the future. A final commitment is to innovation, and the founders promote trust in a process that they hope will push the group to the forefront of the Solana ecosystem.

Trippin' Ape Tribe’s Launch to Fame

The Trippin' Ape NFTs were launched to great fanfare in May 2022 on the Hydra Launchpad. The success of the NFT project launch shows that the project’s initial marketing and storytelling were effective. Now, investors will be eagerly watching to see whether this early euphoria translates into long-term success.

While Trippin' Ape Tribe’s popularity is a remarkable story in its own right, it also represents part of an even larger trend. For years, the Ethereum blockchain has been the major host for PFP and NFT projects. Ethereum NFTs like the famous Bored Apes have set the tone for what non-fungible tokens can achieve on a cultural and financial level. Now, the Solana blockchain is emerging as another thriving marketplace for NFTs. Magic Eden, a marketplace for Solana NFTs, has overtaken its Ethereum equivalent, OpenSea, in popularity. This represents a major shift in the world of NFTs, something all crypto investors should be following closely.

Why Are Trippin' Ape NFTs So Popular?

It’s no coincidence that Trippin' Ape has become such a powerful cultural and financial force in such a short time. The combination of effective storytelling, creative marketing and pleasing imagery has attracted users and produced a compelling narrative. While the staying power of the movement remains to be seen, there can be no denying the resonance and cogence of the initial hype.

Effective Storytelling

Storytelling has long been essential to digital marketing. Facts and figures might help investors make a detailed analysis, but they don’t generate mainstream excitement. To really hook potential consumers, a brand needs to set itself apart and tell its own story. The Trippin' Ape founders understood this dynamic and responded accordingly.

The Trippin' Ape brand is both comfortingly familiar and fascinatingly distinct. By making apes the centerpiece of the NFT project, the founders are playing off tropes that are already common in the NFT culture. The Bored Ape Yacht Club was the first NFT to become culturally significant at a mainstream level, and the Trippin' Ape creators pay obvious homage to their predecessors.

Strong Social Media Presence

Trippin' Ape Tribe draws other ideas from earlier NFT projects. By inviting members to join an active community, the founders are playing to people’s desire for in-group participation. Additionally, the strong social media presence preceding the launch attracted hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers, and the constant communication is producing a genuine cultural phenomenon. All of these factors have attracted the attention of people throughout the crypto community and beyond.

While Trippin' Ape Tribe owes much of its success to ideas developed by predecessors, there are certain areas where this NFT project surpasses successful NFT projects from the past. The storytelling is uniquely compelling, and the explicitly cult-like presentation only heightens the curiosity of potential investors. The images themselves are gorgeous, increasing the interest people will have in using them as profile pictures for social media accounts. 

With one foot in the existing NFT culture and the other in a zany world of their own, the founders of Trippin' Ape Tribe have placed themselves in a remarkably advantageous position.

Trippin' Ape NFTs Breakdown

The Trippin' Ape Tribe NFT project includes 10,000 unique images of apes, each with its own array of psychedelic features. 

Some have headgear like hats, hoods and helmets, while others appear bare-headed. Colors include greens, purples and blues, and many are dripping in classic psychedelic style. The rarest apes of all have hoods, green laser eyes and open mouths. While some traits are rarer than others, each image is completely unique.

The project got off to an incredible start by generating more than $24 million in sales during the first 24 hours after the launch. This incredible introduction to the market helped place Solana NFTs above their Ethereum counterparts for that particular 24-hour cycle. While such remarkable sales figures were unsustainable, they demonstrate the remarkable enthusiasm that the Trippin' Ape Tribe has produced.

The popularity of the Trippin' Ape Tribe NFT project has also created a thriving secondary market. In the hours and days after the initial minting, traders sold large quantities of the tokens to secondary buyers. While the eventual value of the tokens remains to be seen, the immediate cultural resonance of the tokens could sustain a higher price.

With only 10,000 tokens minted, the project has a limited supply. In theory, this will create higher prices if demand increases. As of now, the top sale was at 310 SOL. The token’s market cap is yet to be reported, but you can expect more insights into the financial particulars of the movement in the weeks and months ahead. 

As always, conditions remain volatile in the first days after a launch. In any case, significant early sales suggest the Trippin' Ape Tribe NFT project will remain an interesting phenomenon for traders to keep an eye on.

Trippin' Ape NFT Floor Price

While the Trippin' Ape NFT project got off to a hot start, prices have actually been falling in the days since the launch. With an initial floor price of 58 SOL, the Solana NFTs were in remarkably high demand. Unfortunately for early investors, the floor price dropped to 51.69 SOL in the next few days and then plummeted to 31.5 SOL at the start of the following week.

Floor price is a measure of the lowest price at which the holders of an NFT are willing to sell tokens. 

It’s worth remembering that these tokens are, by definition, unique, and the floor price doesn’t necessarily represent price fluctuations among the more popular tokens in a particular collection. All the same, the measure gives investors an idea of the general health and popularity of a token. The increasing popularity of Solana NFTs bodes well for the Trippin' Apes, but the dropping floor price will make investors wary.

At the same time, it is also important to note that the Trippin’ Ape NFTs were launched during an incipient bear market, which could have caused the prices to be affected. 

Where to Buy/Mint Trippin' Ape NFTs

As the Trippin' Ape NFT project continues to grow as a token and a cultural phenomenon, there are multiple ways to buy or mint a token of your own. OpenSea, long considered the world’s largest NFT marketplace, has Trippin' Ape NFTs available for purchase. 

Once you connect a digital wallet to the OpenSea platform, you should have no problem making offers for the Trippin' Ape NFTs that are available. Once you’ve made the purchase, you can turn the image into your profile picture on social media or use it for any other purpose that seems appropriate. As a unique, non-fungible token, it will be yours to employ as you see fit.

As a special marketplace for Solana NFTs, Magic Eden is another place to obtain Trippin' Ape NFTs. The exchange is already rivaling OpenSea for supremacy among NFT marketplaces, and it’s extremely simple to use and easy to navigate. As the only NFT marketplace built on the Solana blockchain, Magic Eden is a sensible place to invest in a Solana-based NFT.

Trippin' Ape also makes tokens available through whitelist (WL) giveaways. In the days leading up to the initial minting, the project gave WL members early access to tokens. Not only has this strategy helped produce committed fans, but it’s also allowed the founders to further consolidate a community around the project. Getting on these whitelists by communicating directly with the founders on social media is a great way to access NFTs during the early minting stages.

Are Trippin' Ape Tribe NFTs a Good Investment?

After learning a bit about the Trippin' Ape Tribe, the next question is whether or not their NFT project represents a sound investment. 

While crypto investments and NFT prices are never certain, there are ways to analyze a situation and determine whether a token is especially worth consideration. In this case, the market conditions and popularity of the Trippin' Ape Tribe suggest that the tokens could increase in value, but that considerable risk remains.

When considering the potential of Trippin' Ape Tribe, it’s important to remember the wider context of Solana’s steady rise. Solana NFTs once played second fiddle to their more popular Ethereum counterparts. Okay Bears and Trippin' Ape Tribe have changed that dynamic, making Solana a serious player in the world of NFTs. The general popularity of the blockchain means that the Trippin' Ape NFT project will have a steady logistical foundation.

Trippin' Ape’s fantastic marketing and storytelling also suggest the token will maintain its popularity. Few tokens have generated such excitement, and there’s every reason to believe fans of NFTs will continue to value the trendy, unique images. 

With a strong social media presence and a powerful Discord server, the Trippin' Ape Tribe has laid the groundwork for a lasting community. If the project can continue accruing cultural significance, the price of its tokens could rise dramatically.

On the Flip Side

Against these positive signs, traders should weigh the Trippin' Ape NFT’s decreasing floor price. Clearly, some investors have already decided that the tokens aren’t worth as much as the early hype would have suggested. The floor price could level off and even rise in the weeks and months ahead, but savvy investors might want to take a wait-and-see approach.

NFTs like the Trippin' Ape Tribe tokens are often more about hype and culture than they are about pure financial considerations. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are meant to serve as money, the images from the Trippin' Ape Tribe are pieces of art with an intangible cultural and aesthetic meaning. That means their value might be greater to you than it would be to someone else. 

If you’re attracted to the community that Trippin' Ape Tribe represents, then you shouldn’t hesitate to buy the tokens as an investment in your interests. If, on the other hand, you’re focused solely on potential returns, then the Trippin' Ape Tribe NFT might not be the best option. After all, there’s no way to guess where the price of such an inherently volatile asset could go in the future.

One option is to make Trippin' Ape Tribe only a small portion of your general investment portfolio. That way, you give yourself a chance to access significant returns without risking too much capital. Putting all your funds toward the tokens, meanwhile, would represent a risky and unwise investment. In markets as unpredictable as today’s, prudence is always warranted.

Closing Thoughts

Solana NFTs, widely available on Magic Eden, are quickly gaining in popularity. Shortly after Okay Bears broke sales records, Trippin' Ape Tribe followed suit. 

While it’s too early to tell whether these latest tokens represent a sound investment, it’s clear that Trippin' Ape Tribe has become a cultural force on the crypto stage. Whatever happens, you can expect to hear plenty about Trippin' Ape Tribe NFTs in the weeks and months ahead.

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