M&M’s Unveils Latest NFT Craze – Bored Ape-Inspired Candy

Owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have used their permissive merchandising rights to transform their monkey images into anything from clothing to toys. Now they can enjoy their very own M&M’s.

Confectionary giant Mars has revealed that it has entered into an agreement with Universal Music Group’s (UMG) label 10:22PM to develop limited edition boxes of M&M’s based on KINGSHIP, its virtual band made up of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape avatars.

KINGSHIP was launched as a metaverse band created from NFTs by investor and entrepreneur Jimmy “j1mmy” McNelis. The label created personalities around the Bored Ape illustrations and is developing original music for the group – following in the footsteps of virtual band Gorillaz – which will perform concerts in metaverse worlds.

As part of the deal, Mars has released limited quantities of the branded candies, which feature images of the Bored Apes and KINGSHIP on them. Mars will sell 10,000 packages between gift boxes and gift jars.

The firm has also launched its own NFT key cards, which provide numerous benefits to holders of the card. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most popular NFTs in the business. CryptoSlam data shows that Yuga Labs’ NFT portfolio has generated over $2.4 billion in secondary trading volume thus far.

Market for NFTs still growing

Since the inception of NFTs in 2021, the market has experienced increasing trading volumes and a rising number of participants from all sectors.

Obtaining digital artwork is difficult, as they are rare and unique. Not many people know about them or have easy access to buy them. This results in a lot of disappointment for buyers who don’t get what they want, since the market for these pieces is still developing.

The competition for blockspace is quickly creating brief and enticing surges in gas price, while the whitelist selling strategy is often condemned for being centralized, with no transparency or immutable record for the community to hold the team accountable – these factors, in addition to the slow speed of transactions.