Seth Green paid nearly $300,000 to get his stolen Bored Ape back

"Fred is back home."

That's what Seth Green wrote when asked about his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT that was recently stolen from him.

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According to Green, he has regained control of the Bored Ape that the actor lost after falling for a phishing scam just last month. Sarah Emerson of BuzzFeed News, who has been on top of the heist of Green's beloved Bored Ape, first reported on the blockchain transactions on Thursday that show Bored Ape #8398 being sent to Green's NFT wallet from the NFT collector known as "Mr. Cheese."

Mr. Cheese, who paid around $200k to the Bored Ape, previously said he had no interest in returning the Bored Ape back to Green. He also claims he was unaware the Bored Ape belonged to Green and that it had been stolen.

How did Green convince the NFT collector to return his stolen ape? The nearly $300,000 he paid probably helped. Blockchain records show Green sent 65 Ether to Mr. Cheese, currently worth around $297,000. That's $100,000 more than the NFT collector paid for the stolen Bored Ape weeks ago. Not a bad return on investment!

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For Green, getting his Bored Ape back was about more than the money. After all, he had other NFTs stolen in the phishing scheme, yet he didn't seem too focused on them. Green has been working on a new animated series called White House Tavern, which features characters from numerous different NFT projects. A trailer for the show was recently premiered at Gary Vaynerchuk's NFT convention. The star of the series? Bored Ape #8398. 

If Green did not regain his Bored Ape NFT, he would not have been able to use the Bored Ape's image in his show as the NFT holder is granted a license to the IP of the ape, according to Yuga Labs' licensing terms.

So, Green gets his ape back. The NFT collector makes a quick six-figure profit. And everyone, including Fred Simian, appears to go home happy. Our national nightmare is now finally over.