What is ApeCoin? - Deep Dive

$APE, otherwise known as $ApeCoin, is one of the most well-known social tokens in the market right now. However, what exactly is $APE, and what does holding $APE do for you? 

This article will dive deeper into $APE and the APE Ecosystem and help you decide if this is a social token worth buying.

APE Ecosystem

ApeCoin, also known as $APE, is the governance and utility token that serves the popular APE ecosystem. The APE ecosystem comprises of the ApeCoin community and all products and services that use $APE.

Let’s break down the critical NFT projects associated with the APE ecosystem.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) 

Bored Ape Yacht Club Community (BAYC). BAYC is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs - unique digital collectibles - living on the Ethereum blockchain. These NFTs were valued at around $250,000 before Ethereum crashed. As of September 5, 2022, the price floor is about 76ETH, equating to approximately $126,000.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club gained popularity over the past year when celebrities such as Justin Beiber, Eminem, Neymar Jr, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and Logan Paul purchased a Bored Ape NFT. These Bored Apes have become a status symbol in the NFT world, and owners don’t seem willing to sell them. One recent story involved actor and comedian Seth Green losing his Bored Ape to a phishing scam. Seth Green had to pay around $260,000 in a ransom to retrieve his stolen Bored Ape. For Seth Green, retrieving the Bored Ape was more about getting back his money. Seth has a new animated T.V. series, White House Tavern, in which the stolen Bored Ape  #8398 was to be a featured character on the show. If Seth didn’t retrieve the Bored Ape back, he would not have had the IP rights to use the Bored Ape on the show.  However, many people don’t see the value in the NFT and can’t justify its price. Billionaire Bill Gates recently blasted the Bored Apes and NFTs in general, saying that NFTs are “100% based on greater fools theory.”  When asked about Bored Apes, Bill Gates laughed, "Obviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely,"

Yet despite the criticism, the BAYC continues to grow. The rapid success of the BAYC has expanded the NFT collection into a full-on brand that only gets bigger. BAYC has expanded into fashion, entertainment, and even movies. To help with these endeavors, Yuga Labs - the creators of Bored Yacht Club - signed veteran manager Guy Oseary, the manager of U2 and Madonna and co-founder of a Venture capital that has invested in OpenSea and Dapper Labs. Mr. Oseary has played a huge part in the marketing efforts of bringing BAYC to the mainstream. 

Recently, BAYC released the first installment of the “Degen Trilogy”  - a series of a three-part interactive film series -  at NFT NYC back in July. At NFT NYC, BAYC also decided to host Apefest, an annual event for BAYC and Mutant Ape Holders, which was highlighted by live performances by Eminem and Snoop Dogg. 

Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) 

The Mutant Ape Yacht Club is an extension of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. MAYC is a collection of 20,000 apes that have undergone mutations since the original BAYC apes were created. Original BAYC NFT holders were given 10,000 mutant serums in three tiers via airdrop to add the rarity of traits. There were also 10,000 mutants available for public purchase after the initial airdrop. 

MAYC was a way to reward existing Bored Ape Holders while opening up the ape ecosystem to new members. The Mutant Ape Collection auctioned off for $96 million in an hour. 

Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) 

The Bored Ape Kennel Club is a collection of 9,602 cartoon dogs given to existing BAYC members for free (minus gas fees). These dogs, like the BAYC, comprise a wide variety of traits. 

Otherside Metaverse

The metaverse platform will combine elements of MMORPGs ( Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game)  and Web3-enabled virtual worlds.  To join and build on the platform, people need an “Otherdeed” (Non-fungible token). An Otherdeed serves as a utility token that will allow users to participate in the Otherside and build and own their piece of land.

ApeCoin is Launched

On March 16, 2022, with the help of ApeCoinDAO, ApeCoin was officially launched as a “token for culture, gaming, and commerce” and a way to expand the APE ecosystem. A portion of these tokens was airdropped to NFT holders of various Yuga Labs collections. ApeCoin holders were automatically enrolled into the ApeCoin DAO. 

To help administrate the activities of the ApeCoin DAO and other ApeCoin activities is the APE Foundation - otherwise known as the steward of ApeCoin.  The ApeFoundation consists of a special council that comprises some of the top names in the crypto space as shown here. 

  • Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of Reddit 
  • Amy Wu, Head of Ventures & Gaming at FTX
  • Maaria Bajwa, Principal at Sound Ventures
  • Yat Siu, Co-founder & Chairman of Animoca Brands
  • Dean Steinbeck, President & General Counsel at Horizen Labs

How Does ApeCoin Work? 

ApeCoin is an ERC-20 governance and utility token used within the APE ecosystem. To this day, the utility of the token continues to grow. Owning ApeCoin enables 4 main purposes, which include the following:

Governance: APE owners can participate in the ApeCoin DAO, where members can vote on protocol-related proposals that include the allocation of funds and project ideas. For instance, recently, there was a proposal for the community to stay within the Ethereum network. In a tight round of voting, the ApeCoin community voted to remain on Ethereum. 


Access: The token also enables access to parts of the APE ecosystem that otherwise wouldn’t be available such as games, exclusive merchandise, events, and services. Purchasing ApeCoin is also a perfect opportunity to open up the APE ecosystem for those that believe in the vision but can’t afford the expensive NFTs. 

Incentivisation: ApeCoin also is used as a tool to incentivize third-party developers to incorporate ApeCoin into their projects, games, and services. For example, Benji Bananas, a mobile game, adopts $APE as an in-game currency. Owners can earn PRIMATE tokens (game tokens) and swap them for ApeCoin. 

Unification of Spend: The structure of ApeCoin enables token holders to use ApeCoin as an open currency without any centralized intermediaries. Gucci and TAG Heuer recently expanded their crypto payment options to include ApeCoin.

ApeCoin Allocation

The total supply of $APE is fixed at 1 billion tokens, with currently more than 300M in circulation (314,218,750 in circulation). There are no capabilities to mint further tokens through its contract interface, and this supply should never increase. Moreover, there is no burning capability so the supply won’t decrease either.

ApeCoin was distributed among four main groups. 

62% went to the Ecosystem fund, which includes tokens to the Apecoin DAO Treasury and resources. 

16% went to Yuga Labs, and also to charity. 

14% went to the companies and people that contributed to the launch of this project. 

And 8% went to the four founders of Yuga Labs and The Bored Apes. 

Closing Remarks

The creation of $APE is a part of Yuga Labs' mission to build a digital economy around the Ape ecosystem that is not constrained by any geographical boundaries. The launch of ApeCoin is a tremendous step in the ecosystem that has set a benchmark for other NFT projects to follow. 

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