SOLANA
OpenSea
Even during a crypto bear market when non-fungible token sales are down, the price of one Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT still remains above six figures while Bored Ape holders party at Ape Fest and NFT.NYC this week.
But for all the hype around the digital assets, 18-year-old Ricky da Luz discovered how to tap into the space with physical items. A passionate toy designer, he began messaging Bored Ape NFT holders on Twitter, offering to make them toy replicas of their Apes for free.
Before launching IsmToys, he saved about $10,000 mowing lawns and used that capital to make the initial free toys to give to people in the Bored Ape community, da Luz told Insider at the NFT.NYC conference Thursday.
His first Bored Ape toy was commissioned in January for about $400. Fast forward today, and he is the founder of IsmToys, which he runs with his dad, Tony da Luz, and a team of six staff.
“We’re tripling down on helping Web2 companies enter the Web3 space, while also converting their audience into Web3 people,” the younger da Luz said. “We link the toys to actual NFTs and the digital assets act as authenticators for the toys.”
He said his company so far has cleared over $700,000 in toy revenue, which comes from a combination of commissioned, one-of-a-kind creations that sell for an average of $700 (though some can be as much as $2,400) and various other toys that can range from $50 to $200.
Da Luz said 99% of IsmToys’ transactions are done in ethereum. Transaction receipts were reviewed by Insider on Etherscan.
Since January, IsmToys has received commissions for more than 300 one-of-a-kind toys, but the NFT.NYC conference has bolstered prospects. For the next month alone, they have over 200 orders on deck.
