Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is known as the most alpha brand in the NFT space. Now the brand has taken things a step further with the launch of ApeCoin, BAYC’s new token.
ApeCoin (APE) is BAYC’s token used for culture, gaming, and commerce. ApeCoin serves as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture into the metaverse. It’s owned and operated by the ApeCoin DAO, where APE holders can vote on governance and use of the Ecosystem Fund.
What is ApeCoin?
APE is a token created by Yuga Lab’s Bored Ape Yacht Club to support its future venture as a brand. Ape is controlled and built-on by the community and will serve as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives and aims to drive culture forward into the metaverse.
The possibilities for blockchain technologies’ impact on culture are significant, but it can’t all be predicted just yet. However, ApeCoin will be used to propel the web3 economy further into art, gaming entertainment, and events.
How to buy ApeCoin
You can buy ApeCoin on several popular cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, Kraken, eToro, and Voyager Digital VYGVF. To view a complete list of exchanges where you can buy ApeCoin, visit ApeCoin.com/exchanges.
What is the Ape Foundation?
The Ape Foundation facilitates decentralized and community-led governance and is designed to become more decentralized over time. The Foundation is tasked with administering decisions of the DAO and is responsible for bookkeeping, project management, and other tasks that ensure the success of the DAO.
One of the main goals of the Ape Foundation is to manage the growth and development of the APE ecosystem in a fair and inclusive way.
The Foundation pays its expenditures as ordered by the ApeCoin DAO using the Ecosystem Fund, which is held by a multisig wallet and offers an environment for ApeCoin holders to engage through open and permissionless governance procedures.
What is the ApeCoin DAO?
ApeCoin DAO exists because decentralized governance is essential for developing and maintaining the APE ecosystem. ApeCoin DAO members can make choices on Ecosystem Fund allocations, governance rules, initiatives, partnerships, and more through the APE Improvement Proposal Process (see Governance).
To become a member of the ApeCoin DAO, all you need is to hold ApeCoin tokens.
Who are the board members of the ApeCoin DAO?
The ApeCoin DAO Board’s mission is to oversee DAO proposals and serve the community’s vision. It meets to discuss ideas that require administrative review under the ApeCoin DAO regulations. The inaugural Board will spend a six-month term, following which DAO members will vote for Board members yearly.
Members of the ApeCoin DAO’s Board include:
- Alexis Ohanian: Co-founder of Reddit; General Partner & Founder of Seven Seven Six
- 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
What is the ApeCoin Protocol?
As the open-source protocol layer of the APE ecosystem, ApeCoin serves several purposes:
Governance: ApeCoin allows ApeCoin holders to participate in the ApeCoin DAO.
Unification of Spend: ApeCoin acts as the APE ecosystem’s utility and governance token. This means that all participants have a shared and open currency that can be used without centralized intermediaries.
Access: ApeCoin provides unique access to specific parts of the APE ecosystem that are otherwise not available, including exclusive games, merch, events, and services.
Incentivization: ApeCoin also acts as a tool for third-party developers to participate in the ecosystem by incorporating ApeCoin into their services, games, and other platforms.
How does the ApeCoin allocation work?
The total supply of ApeCoin is fixed at 1 billion tokens. The total supply can never be increased because the contract interface doesn’t have the ability to create more tokens. Likewise, the contract doesn’t allow for the burning of ApeCoin, ensuring the total supply can never be decreased.
There is how the ApeCoin allocation works:
8% to the founders of Bored Ape Yacht Club
16% to the Yuga Labs team (a portion will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute)
14% to “launch contributors” made up of Yuga partners and investors
15% to owners of Bored Apes and Mutant Apes collections
47% will be released over time as part of the DAO’s “ecosystem fund”
Starting on March 17, 2022, locked tokens will be unlocked over the next 48 months in accordance with the predetermined unlock schedule in the chart found on apecoin.com
Bored Ape Yacht Club ApeCoin Airdrop
To claim your ApeCoin tokens if you’re a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) or Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) holder, you can do so via the claim page on Apecoin.com starting on March 17, 2022.
To provide a fair ApeCoin launch to BAYC and MAYC NFT holders, the allocation is dictated by the difference in floor price between each collection of NFTs, about a month before the token claim launch (02/07/22 to 03/08/22). Each Bored Ape or Mutant Ape NFT with a companion Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT will be able to collect the ApeCoin amount mentioned below.
15% of the total ApeCoin token supply allocated to BAYC and MAYC NFT holders to claim will be transferred to a smart contract. Ownership of the contract will be transferred to a multisig wallet, which will be responsible for:
- Starting the BAYC/MAYC/BAKC claim period
- Ending the claim period 90 days after launch
- Taking ownership of all unclaimed APE tokens at the end of the claim period
- Transferring these unclaimed tokens to the Coinbase Custody wallets that constitute the Ecosystem Fund
NOTE: The ApeCoin airdrop associated with any NFT can only be claimed once. You will be able to check whether a certain BAYC, MAYC (or BAYC or MAYC with a companion BAKC) has claimed its tokens once the claiming period has started. Check your NFT on Apecoin.com.
From Bored Ape Yacht Club’s purchase of CryptoPunks and Meebits to the launch of ApeCoin—which promises a cultural shift into the metaverse—BAYC is setting the bar extremely high and continues to be an innovator in the NFT and web3 space.