While I answer the question that gave rise to this article and unveil what ApeCoin is, a new coin launched into the crypto-universe, I will try to talk about a hot topic.
Within the crypto ecosystem, a heated discussion has been going on since the middle of last year. Is it necessary for all projects to have their own token?
The different answers to this question are usually closely related to the place that the interlocutor occupies in the world of cryptocurrencies and the debates escalate rapidly.
Anyway, let’s first review what ApeCoin, the token of the famous Bored Apes, is all about.
ApeCoin: the token of Bored Ape Yacht Club
ApeCoin is a governance and utility token, created under the Ethereum network’s ERC-20 standard, that will be used within the APE ecosystem to empower the building of a decentralized community at the forefront of the Web3 movement.
It is evident that ApeCoin has a direct relationship with the famous NFT project, hosted in the same network and called “Bored Apes“. The furor that surrounded them led them to be the NFT project with the highest volume of transactions, surpassing even the pioneers CryptoPunks.
The launch of their governance token generated a great stir in the ecosystem, while many wallets were filled with even more money and Bored Apes holders had new reasons to smile.
Anyway, there is a proposal behind this token and it is time to start reviewing it.
The proposition behind ApeCoin
This new cryptocurrency was conceived so that its “holders” can participate, with voice and vote, within a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) that intends to take an interesting role in the Web3 universe. It is important to have loud but organized voices in a world in which “everything is yet to be built”.
Now, let’s analyze a little bit, what is the proposal behind ApeCoin and what possibilities it will open to those who own it, which are nothing more than the reasons why it was created.
Governance
As I have anticipated, we are in front of the governance token of a DAO or, better said, of an ecosystem. The simple possession of this coin allows its holders to participate in the ApeCoin DAO. But what is this DAO about?
This DAO sees the light, because behind the vision of its creators, a decentralized governance is critical to build and manage a globally dispersed community. If you’re wondering, what community are they talking about? The APE community and its own ecosystem.
Those who own these cute apes in NFT format have access to clubs, parties and various benefits, whose coordination is not simple, as the holders are scattered all over the planet earth. Thus, through the DAO, the community or ecosystem can decide its own course in an orderly and traceable manner.
The Ape DAO, like many others, has a discussion forum, where interested parties submit their proposals and these are discussed. Those that have the necessary consensus will advance to the next step and voting is only available to ApeCoin holders. With a simple and well-known method in the crypto world, this Autonomous and Decentralized Organization has great plans for its future and that of the entire Web3 universe.
Means of payment of the ecosystem
The second point behind the ApeCoin proposal is to be a utility token within the Ape ecosystem. Although this point is still not as clear as the previous one, it is evident that all the necessary expenses within the ecosystem will be paid with a single means of payment. It is obvious which cryptocurrency will fulfill this role.
Access
ApeCoin will provide exclusive access to certain benefits related to the APE ecosystem. We can list the following:
- Exclusive games
- Merchandising
- Events
- Services
Incentives
The APE ecosystem, in order to achieve its objectives, needs to have a way to incentivize those who will contribute to its development. This is one of the most important reasons why ApeCoin was created.
This token will be the tool by means of which both developers and all those collaborators outside the ecosystem that may be necessary to build a thriving community within the APE ecosystem can be enticed, from an economic point of view.
ApeCoin, distribution and its effects
As for ApeCoin tokenomics we have certain certainties. The total supply of tokens is one trillion and not one more ApeCoin can be created, burned or deleted, as the ApeCoin contract does not have this mechanism.
The distribution of this coin was divided into four main groups, which I will detail below. Obviously, all this implementation is verifiable through an Ethereum network scanner, such as Etherscan.
Ecosystem
Two groups accounted for 62% of all tokens:
- Bored Apes and Mutant Apes NFT Headlines
- DAO Treasury
The first group was allocated some 150,000,000 tokens, which were claimed on March 17. Each holder of a Bored Ape received an airdrop of about 10,094 ApeCoins, while holders of Mutant Ape, a later collection from the same creators, received about 2,042.
The second group, in this section, received a total of 470,000,000 tokens. These were not available from day one, but were:
- 117,500,000 unlocked at launch.
- 7,343,750 will be distributed on a monthly basis for 48 months.
The DAO has a Board of Directors and I am going to briefly comment on them.
The DAO Board
The Board is a special council within the APE Foundation and is charged, at the direction of the Ape-DAO members, with overseeing the administrators of the Foundation.
The purpose of this Board is to administer the DAO’s proposals and fulfill the vision of the community.
With these objectives in mind, they will meet to work on proposals that require administrative review, in accordance with ApeCoin DAO rules.
The initial members of the Board have a six-month term. Once completed, the DAO members will vote on a yearly basis for Board members.
Yuga Labs and Charity
The company behind the creation of the Bored Apes was allocated 16% of the total supply of available ApeCoins. This percentage materializes in a number of 150,000,000.
It has been communicated that 6.25% of the tokens received by Yuga Labs will be donated to the “Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation”.
Jane is known worldwide for having dedicated her life to the care and dissemination of animals and their environment, but with a strong focus on chimpanzees. Established in Tanzania since the 1960s, through her foundation she plans to continue her legacy, even after she has left this world.
Investors
The companies and individuals who contributed with private investments, in order to carry out this ambitious project, will receive 14% of the total tokens.
We are talking about 140,000,000 ApeCoins that will be distributed as follows:
- 10,000,000 tokens upfront, 25,000,000 after 6 months, 25,000,000 after 12 months and 25,000,000 after 18 months.
- An initial block of 12 months, and then 757,575.76 ApeCoins will be unlocked, on a monthly basis, for 33 months.
- Another initial block of 1 year, after which some 833,333.33 will be unblocked for 36 consecutive months.
Founders of BAYC
ApeCoin has decided that 8% of the total of these coins will go to the four people who made this ecosystem possible. These are the founders of Yuga Labs and therefore, the creators of the Bored Apes.
These four innovators will receive a total of 80,000 ApeCoins, which will be progressively unlocked over 36 months.
The launching
Last March 17, the ApeCoin token was launched to the world, generating resounding rumblings in every corner of this planet. Shortly after its release, the price climbed from the initial $6.21 to some $17.17 per ApeCoin.
That was the “ATH”, an acronym that stands for “All Time High”, whose synonym in our language is, simply, historical maximum price. Profit-taking, following the buying frenzy driven by the famous FOMO, drove the token to a floor of around $9.
After climbing above $13, it even managed to climb above $15, the token began to achieve equilibrium and leave, at least temporarily, extreme volatility, to trade, at the time of writing, around $11.18.
If we do some quick math, as of today each Bored Ape holder received more than $113,000, while Mutant Apes holders received almost $23,000 in ApeCoin for each one. Definitely, we are in front of highly profitable collections.
Is ApeCoin necessary?
After reading this article and reviewing the proposal behind ApeCoin, it is possible to conclude that it is not just another token that came to the market only to capture value, be sold, fill the pockets of its creators and slowly get lost in the silent hell of failed governance tokens.
Reality has shown us that everything related to this “Ape universe” is usually a huge success. After only a few weeks of existence, the Ape DAO already has interesting discussions in its forum and five AIPs (Ape Improvement Proposal) being voted on.
The price, after the expected initial instability caused by the FOMO and the new news, has started to find something that we can call stability and it is from those floors where the future construction looks like something certain.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to conclude with a monosyllabic answer to the question of this section. As everything in this life, time will prove some right and leave others in evidence of their own mistakes.
From its birth, conception and proposal, the future of ApeCoin looks, at least, interesting. When we are in front of a DAO, we know that its success only depends on those who integrate it and the first steps have been taken firmly and surely. We will be attentive to the novelties of this universe that, since its conception, has not stopped growing.
