London, United Kingdom, October 16th, 2026, Chainwire
The 10,000-piece collection will debut immediately after ApeFest, amid renewed discussion about liquidity and long-term value in the NFT market.
A fresh troop of Apes is heading into Web3, and their entrance makes it clear they have no intention of arriving quietly.
The timing places Liquid Apes alongside a wider conversation about the future of NFTs. The sector continues to evolve following the dramatic market expansion and subsequent correction of recent years, while also tackling something the NFT market has long lacked: real underlying dollar liquidity.
Liquid Apes, a collection of 10,000 original, hand-drawn NFTs, will begin minting on October 21, with public access opening the following day. The project is backed by an international team including Nathan Hill, CEO of the CMC Group of Companies, whose portfolio features *The Crypto Magazine* and the award-winning Liquid NFTs marketplace.
While the technology behind the collection is serious, the team has embraced plenty of playfulness in its rollout.
10,000 Reasons to Get Noticed
Back in September, the team quietly deployed 10,000 NFTs onto OpenSea.
These were not the actual Liquid Apes, of course.
NOT THE LIQUID APES functioned as a deliberately cheeky parody collection that was free to mint. It consisted of 9,000 NFTs offering nothing at all, alongside 1,000 that hid a guaranteed opportunity to join the whitelist for the real collection.
Ten thousand marketing pieces were planted directly inside one of the world’s leading NFT marketplaces without any conventional advertising campaign—relying purely on curiosity, mischief, and a very deliberate strategy.
And that was only the beginning.
Was the timing a coincidence? Not remotely.
With ApeFest bringing the global NFT community together this week, the team scheduled the Liquid Apes launch to follow immediately afterward.
Drawing on NFT history, Liquid Apes adopts two key characteristics from the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) launch in 2021: a supply of 10,000 NFTs and an initial mint price of 0.08 ETH (equivalent to $236 at the time of the final BAYC mint). Bored Ape Yacht Club emerged as a defining collection of the NFT boom, achieving substantial secondary market valuations and establishing NFTs as a mainstream cultural phenomenon. Although trading volumes and valuations across the broader NFT market have fallen considerably from their peaks, BAYC’s influence on digital collectibles and community-led Web3 projects remains significant. The Liquid Apes team notes that sharing these numbers honors that history rather than attempting to replicate the original collection. The new project features exclusive hand-drawn artwork and launches using a distinct underlying economic structure.
Addressing the Question of NFT Liquidity
Beyond the collection itself, the launch serves as a high-profile showcase for the Liquid NFTs marketplace. The platform was created to solve a longstanding challenge associated with digital collectibles: the ability to realize value without depending entirely on secondary market demand. Unlike conventional NFTs, which typically require a willing buyer for an owner to exit a position, NFTs minted on LiquidNFTs.finance feature individual pools of underlying dollar-denominated liquidity. This proposition has already earned Liquid NFTs two European Global Business Awards for innovation in Web3 liquidity and next-generation NFT infrastructure. These pools supply holders with a redemption mechanism independent of finding another buyer, while the platform’s economic model enables underlying liquidity to grow through broader marketplace activity. While this approach does not eliminate market risk or guarantee returns, it introduces an alternative framework for NFT ownership and liquidity. Liquid NFTs, which launched publicly in May 2026, has received two European Global Business Awards recognizing its work in Web3 liquidity innovation and next-generation NFT infrastructure.
Nathan Hill, CEO of the CMC Group of Companies, stated:
“Bored Ape Yacht Club brought Ape-focused NFTs into mainstream consciousness, and that deserves recognition. We chose the same original supply and mint price as a nod to that history, but Liquid Apes is built around a different economic proposition. The market has changed significantly since 2021. Collectors are asking more questions about utility, liquidity, and the value behind digital assets. We believe those are important questions, and Liquid Apes gives us an opportunity to demonstrate how a different model can work in practice.”
Launch Schedule
Whitelist applications for Liquid Apes close at 12:00 UTC on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
The whitelist mint opens at 18:00 UTC on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, followed by the public mint at 18:00 UTC on Thursday, October 22, 2026. The fixed mint price is set at $236, with $118 locked directly into each Liquid Ape.
Further details regarding the collection can be found at https://LiquidApes.com, and information concerning the underlying marketplace is available at https://LiquidNFTs.finance.
About Liquid Apes
Liquid Apes is a 10,000-piece, hand-drawn NFT collection launching in October 2026 on the Liquid NFTs marketplace. The project is supported by an international team and the CMC Group of Companies.
About Liquid NFTs
Liquid NFTs is a multichain NFT marketplace built around individual NFT liquidity pools and holder-controlled redemption. The platform has received two European Global Business Awards for its approach to NFT liquidity and infrastructure.
Contact
Mr
Nathan Hill
The CMC Group of Companies Ltd
adele@thecmccompany.com
