🦧 18-year-old recently made $700,000 selling tangible Bored Ape toys.

Even during a crypto bear market, when non-fungible token sales are down, the price of one Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT stays over six figures, even while Bored Ape holders party this week at Ape Fest and NFT.NYC.

Despite the excitement around digital assets, 18-year-old Ricky da Luz identified a way to enter the field using real objects. He started emailing Bored Ape NFT holders on Twitter, promising to build them toy duplicates of their Apes for free.

Da Luz told Insider at the NFT.NYC conference Thursday that before founding IsmToys, he saved around $10,000 mowing lawns and used that money to build the first free toys to distribute to members in the Bored Ape group.

In January, he received a $400 commission for his first Bored Ape toy. Today, he is the creator of IsmToys, which he operates with his father, Tony da Luz, and a team of six employees.

“We’re doubling down on assisting Web2 firms in entering the Web3 sector while also turning their audience into Web3 users,” added the younger da Luz. “We link the toys to genuine NFTs, and the digital materials serve as toy authenticators.”

He claims that his firm has made over $700,000 in toy income so far, which he attributes to a combination of commissioned, one-of-a-kind masterpieces that sell for an average of $700 (though some may go for as high as $2,400) and various other toys ranging from $50 to $200.

Da Luz claims that ethereum is used in 99 percent of IsmToys transactions. Insider analyzed transaction receipts on Etherscan.

IsmToys has received commissions for almost 300 one-of-a-kind toys since January, but the NFT.NYC conference has boosted chances. They have almost 200 orders for the next month alone.

IsmToys also issues NFTs, which serve as an authenticator for customers to acquire the corresponding actual toy. According to da Luz, IsmToys made 888 “Golemz” and made $300,000 in 96 seconds.

Last month, the business produced 400 Bored Ape chess sets and matching NFTs, which sold out in less than 24 hours.

Last year, he contacted 100 Twitter users who had Bored Ape NFTs as their profile images, and only approximately five responded.

@phibacka31, a Bored Ape holder, accepted da Luz’s free toy and then displayed it to other holders, spreading the word.

“IsmToys would not exist without the Bored Ape community,” da Luz added.

If you offered a toy to a celebrity on the conventional internet, it would go unnoticed. However, with Web3, more people are likely to take a chance on anything, according to him.

Members of the Bored Ape group, in particular, have an unusually deep affinity with the brand, according to da Luz, which is why he reached out to them first. Some people go by their internet identities, claiming that they identify more with their web names than with their birth names.

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