What is ApeCoin (APE)?

ApeCoin, commonly referred to as APE, is a crypto inspired by one of the most well-known and priceless NFT collections – the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). BAYC happens to be the talking point in the NFT-crypto space for the last two years and is certain to live up to its frenzy in the coming times as well.

BAYC has evolved into much more than just another PFP (Profile Pic) NFT collection—with the launch of ApeCoin, BAYC is working to transition into a high utilitarian value with a community-centric focus.

APECoin is the BAYC ecosystem’s native cryptocurrency. It serves as the decentralized protocol layer for a number of community-led initiatives.

Key Takeaways
  • APE is an ERC-20 token and decentralized protocol layer that strives to empower the APE community and encourages the growth and diversification of the APE product line into the Web3 era. 
  • Yuga Labs, the producer of the BAYC is also the owner of the CryptoPunks intellectual property rights.
  • The NFT collection from Yuga Labs, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), uses ApeCoin (APE) as its governance token. APE is also the primary unit of account of medium of exchange for all goods and services in the APE ecosystem.
  • This ecosystem is ruled by the ApeCoin DAO which allows the APE community to influence the ecosystem’s future course by voting.
  • APE holders have access to additional benefits including games and events.
  • APE has a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. Once this cap has been reached, no more tokens can be produced. Furthermore, ApeCoin will not employ the “token burning” paradigm. As a result, there won’t be a drop in the supply of APE.
  • The three main focuses of ApeCoin are: culture, gaming, and business. ApeCoin can be incorporated into businesses, games, and other ventures by developers to take part in the ecosystem.
  • APE is listed on some of the largest exchanges, including Binance, FTX, Huobi, KuCoin, Bybit, and Kraken.
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A Brief History of ApeCoin

Before we proceed to understand the making and development of the APE token, we need to take a look at the key organizations involved in its journey.

The ApeCoin DAO
The DAO was established under the ApeCoin Improvement Proposal-1 (AIP-1) submitted by the co-founder of Cartan Group LLC, a consulting firm based in the Cayman Islands. The ApeCoin DAO offers decentralized governance for the APE ecosystem and makes decisions regarding fund allocations, governance rules, projects, partnerships, etc. 

 

The APE Foundation
The legal organization responsible for carrying out the choices made by the ApeCoin DAO, the APE Foundation, is the actual steward of ApeCoin. It acts as the base layer on which ApeCoin holders in the ApeCoin DAO can build. 

Board members of the APE Foundation include:

Reddit —Co-Founder, Alexis Ohanian

FTX — Head of Gaming, Amy Wu

Sound Ventures — Principal, Maaria Bajwa

Animoca Brands — Chairman and Co-Founder, Yat Siu

Horizen Labs — President, Dean Steinbeck

 

Yuga Labs
A prominent name in the APE ecosystem, Yuga Labs have adopted APE as their primary token for projects. Established in February 2021, Yuga Labs owns three NFT collections – BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC – that have helped it generate $127 million in income in 2021 alone. The company is headed by CEO Nicole Muniz, a former partner at the advertising firm B-Reel and the founder of her own boutique consulting firm.

In March 2022, the APE token was made available and distributed to the APE ecosystem NFT holders, the ApeCoin DAO Treasury, and additional stakeholders under the direction of the ApeCoin DAO. The token was introduced as the fundamental building block for the Ape ecosystem.

Although Yuga Labs, the firm that created BAYC, does not have ownership over ApeCoin, its founders did acquire a sizeable share of the coin’s supply upon launch, and the business is identified as a major contributor to the project.

ApeCoin trading began in the early hours of March 17, 2022. On its launch day, the token started trading across 15 of the most popular exchanges worldwide, including Binance, FTX, KuCoin, etc. The first tokens were given to Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders, who received roughly 10,000 and 2,000 tokens, respectively. 

Within 24 hours after the introduction, the token price fluctuated around $10 after reaching a high of $39.40.

Since its debut, popular projects like Animoca Brands and nWayPlay have collaborated with ApeCoin to incorporate it as one of their in-game currencies.

Coinbase is (or was) also producing an interactive film in partnership with BAYC and ApeCoin.

What are the Benefits of ApeCoin?

Bringing Utility to NFTs
The ApeCoin is a fascinating illustration of how NFT collections can be used to introduce new utility concepts. The creators of ApeCoin list four key objectives of APE:

  1. Governance
  2. Unification of Spend
  3. Access
  4. Incentivization 

Focus on Community and Decentralization
One of the biggest benefits of ApeCoin is its empowerment of the community on the principles of decentralization. An essential component of the Ape ecosystem, the ApeCoin DAO helps maintain decentralized governance and fosters the expansion of a globally distributed community.

Everyone who owns an ApeCoin is eligible to join the ApeCoin DAO, without barriers.

The DAO further enables its members to make crucial decisions about the Ape ecosystem fund allocations, initiatives, governance guidelines, and alliances. With the APE Improvement Proposal Process in place, the ApeCoin DAO also creates optimal precedents for improvement with the community’s involvement and input.

Unification of Spend
ApeCoin provides all its users with a common and open currency that can be used without the involvement of intermediaries or centralized organizations. In fact,  ApeCoin was created as a decentralized system that incorporates the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) culture into the metaverse experience as the Web3 economy develops beyond the physical world into the metaverse. 

Accessibility
With ApeCoin, token holders now have access to several ecosystem components that you would have had a lot of difficulties getting to without the ApeCoin protocol. The crypto ApeCoin, for instance, can be used as a gateway to premium services, games, events, and goods.

Incentives
The facility of incentives is the next significant benefit of the ApeCoin protocol that you may observe. It is an advantageous platform that enables even external developers to enter the ecosystem. APE incorporation in new games, projects, or other services might earn developers incentives.

For instance, in Benji Bananas, a play-to-earn mobile game created by Animoca Brands, APE is used as a form of incentive for players. In order to gain special tokens when playing Benji Bananas, Benji Bananas offers a Membership Pass (also known as the “Benji Pass”). These tokens can then be exchanged for ApeCoin.

How Does it Work?

ApeCoin Governance
Built on Ethereum (ERC-20), APE was created as a decentralized system that incorporates the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) culture into the metaverse experience as the Web3 economy develops beyond the physical world into the metaverse. 

The protocol is run by ApeCoin, ApeCoin DAO, the Board, and the Ape foundation to support this objective.

The Web3 firm Yuga Labs, best known for founding the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has adopted APE as its primary token across projects. It also participates in the ApeCoin DAO as a community member. 

The legal organization responsible for carrying out the choices made by the ApeCoin DAO, the APE Foundation, is the steward of ApeCoin. The ApeCoin DAO, on the other hand, is a decentralized governing body that makes decisions about the distribution of Ecosystem Funds, governance principles, initiatives, alliances, and other things. All ApeCoin owners are eligible to join the ApeCoin DAO.

The ApeCoin Protocol
The APE token is an ERC-20 governance and utility token that supports the Web3-centric decentralized community. It fulfills a number of functions as the ecosystem’s open-source protocol layer, including Governance, Unification of Spend, Access, and Incentivization.  

ApeCoin Tokenomics
ApeCoin ApeCoin (APE) is the foundational currency that enables anyone to gain access to the ApeCoin DAO by buying a few APE tokens. With it, every token owner will have a part in the company’s future and be able to help it expand.

APE’s function as a governance token enables its owners to take part in ApeCoin DAO, where they can propose, support, and vote on policies that direct the APE ecosystem. Users are given access to premium features in the ecosystem, such as games, merchandise, events, etc., thanks to the utility obtained from having APE. 

They can also use the token as money to speed up transactions within the network. Developers and third-party projects are preparing to incorporate ApeCoin for use as in-game money or as a form of service payment.

The total number of ApeCoin tokens is set at 1 billion for all time. The overall supply will never rise because the contract interface does not expose any minting capacity. The overall supply will never decrease because the contract interface does not expose any ability to burn tokens.

As is customary, some of the tokens allocated to project contributors were initially locked. These locked tokens are being released over the course of 48 months, under the planned unlock timetable, beginning March 17, 2022.

A Smart Contract was set up to receive 15% of the entire supply of ApeCoin tokens allotted to BAYC/MAYC holders for the claim. The ratio used to distribute ApeCoin to NFT holders was based on the floor prices of BAYC and MAYC one month or so prior to launch.

The Future of ApeCoin

Given the brilliant media exposure ApeCoin has received in recent times, it may have been one of the trendiest cryptocurrencies to invest in 2022, and that trend could continue in an upcoming bull market. 

Besides, the many partnerships it has in the pipeline are adding feathers to its cap. A planned project by Animoca Brands, one of ApeCoin’s original backers, appears likely to employ APE, which will help boost demand for the token.

Popular play-to-earn (P2E) mobile game Benji Bananas have also incorporated APE and given gamers the option to earn the token through strategic gameplay. Use cases like these open the door for more instances of this kind in the future.

More community members’ ideas are expected to emerge over time, which could have a favorable effect on the token’s market prospects.

Aside from the previously discussed issues of governance and game integration, ApeCoin can also be used to pay vendors. For instance, SaltWater Brewery will start taking ApeCoin as payment, opening the door for other businesses to do the same.

In the longer term, once ApeCoin establishes a reputation for utility rather than speculation, success may become more obvious. The ApeCoin DAO may pursue various options, including entering the metaverse. By previously publishing “The Otherside” and promoting additional planned projects, Yuga Labs has demonstrated that this is already happening.

Additionally, Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs has strong support from investors and celebrities who have a stake in APE’s success given their sizable stakes. Retail investors might also invest in the coin if well-known holders promote the initiative further. 

ApeCoin might end up becoming one of the top metaverse coins…. if NFTs keep growing in acceptance and BAYC continue to dominate the market. 

Then again it might not.

A lot can happen in a short time — especially when it comes to crypto and NFTs.

Conclusion

ApeCoin is a great example of how the ERC-20 token standard can be used to create highly fungible and useful tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, bringing real utility to the community. The fact that ApeCoin is already listed on a number of significant exchanges is one of the main factors driving up the price of the coin in recent times. 

This is a significant accomplishment because many centralized exchanges have high entrance hurdles that are challenging for new projects to overcome. ApeCoin and other cryptocurrencies may currently be bought on Binance, Huobi, Coinbase, KuCoin, and other platforms.

Besides, the popularity of the Bored Apes NFTs, and its association with many famous celebrities, will ultimately benefit the adoption of ApeCoin as well, since they are part of the same APE ecosystem. Over time, it would be interesting to observe APE’s roadmap and what further utility it brings for the community.

Sources

https://apecoin.com/

Social

Twitter

 

Currency Information

CoinGecko

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/apecoin

 

Further Reading;

What is ApeCoin? (APE) – Bitstamp

A Beginner’s Guide to ApeCoin (APE) – 101 Blockchains

What is ApeCoin and Who Is Behind It? – Coindesk

The Real Story Behind ApeCoin – The Motley Fool

Benji Bananas goes play-to-earn with ApeCoin