Is Apecoin-APE Really Worth It?

People are getting over one hundred thousand dollars in free crypto that’s exactly what happened recently to holders of bored ape nfts as millions of dollars’ worth of apecoin tokens were just airdropped to bored ape yacht club members. 

But are these tokens really worth that much and do they have any potential? 

This article will discuss why Apecoin has been all the rage a quick bit of background on the NFT collection in question as it is known by now the Bored Ape Yacht is one of the most influential NFT projects in existence. 

Second only to the Crypto Punks when it comes to profile pictures PFP collections. The BAYC was arguably responsible for kicking off the 2021 NFT avatar craze. Not only that but it initially gave thousands of collectors an affordable alternative to punks at least when the collection first launched last April as well as a vibrant dynamic virtual community to call home. 

Few people won’t have noticed the apes popping up all over twitter and both the crypto and mainstream media. 

The token is free to claim for NFT holders and some 125 million ape tokens have already been snapped up by almost 14000 unique addresses. 

While current Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders will initially benefit most given that they all get a free stack of valuable tokens that they could potentially sell anyone can now buy ape on most big exchanges. 

Is it worth it though? 

According to the team behind apecoin they have big plans for the token naturally. Plans that might quite possibly include access to exclusive games additional airdrops and Metaverse experiences. Therefore if anyone is thinking of aping into this new buzzy token here’s a look at; how apecoin functions, who is eligible to claim it, and many uses that the apecoin DAO has in store for it.

According to Nicole Moniz, CEO of Yuga labs “Ape is a reflection of the community growing desire for decentralization”. A sentiment that she sees it has been brewing in the backwaters of the Bored ape swamp for quite some time now. 

In line with this and what’s of particular interest here about apecoin is that the token was not actually created by Yuga Labs, the developer behind the BAYC. 

Instead ape is officially the creation of apecoin DAO, a new decentralized autonomous organization created to govern apecoin and shape its roadmap. 

Now based on tweets from Yuga labs and apecoin board members, there was clearly quite a lot of attention placed on precise and uniform messaging potentially due to regulatory concerns.

Defined as a fungible token designed in association with Yuga labs, Ape sports, the staple BAYC skull logo which further reinforces the links between Yuga and the apecoin DAO. 

As well as this apecoin DAO has recruited a number of additional prominent individuals from around the block-chain community to serve on its initial board. 

The list includes among others reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, FTX’s Amy Wu, sound venture’s Maaria Bajwa, and animoca brand’s Yat Siu. They will first serve apecoin DAO for six months before ape holders vote for the next lineup of members on an annual basis. 

This is primarily because the apecoin DAO was formed to give ape token holders, a vote on fund allocations, governance rules, project partnerships, and beyond. 

And holding ape is the only requirement for membership of the apecoin DAO. But unlike some DAOs where NFTS can be used as votes within an organization’s governance, the apecoin DAO only requires a member to hold an apecoin token in order to participate in voting and community-based governance. 

Apecoin DAO is supported by the so-called ape foundation. The ape foundation appears to be structured as an entity that doesn’t technically oversee ape. Rather it acts more like a steward of the token and of the apecoin DAO ecosystem as a whole. 

In order to operate effectively and in line with the DAOs primary ethos, the ape foundation will leverage the ecosystem fund which is controlled by a multi-signature wallet. 

And this is inherently because yes apecoin is designed to be both a utility and governance token. 

But it also embodies the DAO’s aspirations to reach not only greater decentralization structures but to also foster higher levels of mainstream adoption. 

Ape is architected as a decentralized erc20 token that can be used for payments and transactions within apecoin compatible web3 applications of all sorts. Even those that are not technically created or controlled by Yuga labs or natively correlated to the bored ape yacht club. 

For instance on march 16^th, game developer nWay announced that it will be implementing ape in an up-and-coming play-to-earn gaming protocol based on the BAYC. 

Meanwhile Animoca brand’s unaffiliated benji bananas game will also seek to leverage apecoin for its in-game token rewards system. But there is potentially so much more on the horizon too. It is referred to the actual integration of apecoin into everyday transactions, traditional, businesses, and companies. 

For instance E11EVEN residences in Miami announced its decision to accept payments in ape for purchasing condo units, effective immediately. 

Florida based saltwater brewery also announced that it’ll offer customers a 50% discount on their beer if they pay with apecoin.

Apecoin is trying to position itself for adoption by a wide array of businesses and this seems to be the main goal for the apecoin DAO that is to create a culturally relevant form of value that can be transacted across web3 and Metaverse ecosystems and used as a payment method in the real world.

Perhaps even more interesting however is that according to apecoin DAO, there will also be some future functionalities reserved exclusively for apecoin holders; access to BAYC-inspired games and services and may be even another airdrop exclusively for token holders.

Yuga labs latest teaser video showcased a few possible introductions to a new project set to launch in April of this year in partnership with animoca brands. But what’s of key importance here is that regardless of what the project turns out to be. It will reportedly be powered by apecoin.

Now there is plenty of speculations at the moment as regards how the token will intertwine with the game mechanics and its economy. 

Hype and speculation began on twitter earlier this month when tweets of a supposedly leaked yugalabs pitch deck suddenly emerged. 

And within the long twitter thread there were many exciting details on the company’s current positioning, direction, past achievements, and future roadmap. 

According to the pitch deck, one key focus is to build something that expands the BAYC universe including the NFT community at large. 

And all signs point to a gaming Metaverse called Meta RPG that will be compatible with a host of NFTs. This is all very speculative but assuming this pitch deck is legit. Yugalabs is set to build a brand new gaming experience where players can use their own NFT characters as in-game assets. 

There will allegedly also be a system described as an in-game app store that will allow players to create characters using NFTs they own or from scratch outfit them with NFT wearables and use them in games. 

However another crucial component of the proposed world is its in-game currency and apecoin could in fact be it. 

This means that apecoin will most likely be used to make purchases and execute transactions within the yugalabs and animoca-based virtual world. There are also plans to kick start this Metaverse endeavor with a sale of virtual land plots in the form of NFTs.

So who is eligible to claim ape tokens and how can they do it. 

The apecoin air drop follows a reward system similar to the one used previously by yugalabs for their mutant ape yacht club and their bored ape kennel club NFTs. 

If you hold a bored ape or mutant ape NFT in your wallet, then you can claim a certain amount of free tokens from the official apecoin website. Now each NFT draws its own allocation of ape. 

Now original bored ape owners are entitled to a claim of 10,094 tokens per NFT, whereas mutant ape holders are entitled to 2,042 apecoin tokens per NFT. As it currently stands these allocations equate to approximately 100,000 and 20,000 dollars respectively. 

If you hold one of these NFTs, then do make sure you claim in time because the window for claiming is only open for 90 days.

Apecoin is currently hovering around the $11 mark with a market capitalization of approximately 2 billion dollars and a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens. 

But all told only 15% of this 1 billion supply that is 150 million tokens will be allocated to NFT holders. Another 47% of the supply will be granted to the DAO treasury and resources with the majority of this allocation subject to vesting over the next four years. On top of that 15% will be allocated to yugalabs, another 8% will go to the four founders of Yuga, and 14% will go to other eight coin contributors. 

In addition, 1% of total supply will be donated to the Jane Goodall Legacy foundation to benefit real apes. 

And for those who don’t own a bored ape NFT, there’s now a second chance to get in on the action and join the party. 

Ape is now currently listed on some of the world’s top exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, FTX, Gemini, kuCoin and others.

According to data from June analytics, out of the 150 million apecoin tokens claimable by NFTs holders, only 83.4% of ape has been claimed thus far with over 90% of entitled addresses have received their tokens. 

This makes others think that some NFT holders might not be willing to claim their tokens just yet, and might be curious to experiment with some price discovery for not only apecoin itself but also for their underlying NFTs assets. 

This sentiment could be fueled by the desire to preserve their bored ape and mutant ape NFTs as assets that still retain their full apecoin claiming powers which would inherently allow the NFT seller to increase their asking price for the NFT. However, remember that addresses holding an NFT which haven’t yet claimed their apecoin only have a three month window in which to do so.

But in NFT land that is arguably more than enough time for prices to skyrocket.                                

Thus far, apecoin has been all the rage because it constitutes one of the seemingly endless lucrative airdrops to BAYC NFT holders. 

However all that glitters is not gold and let’s discuss why? 

Principally the idea with apecoin was to give the bored ape community a hand in shaping the decentralized blockchain powered vision that is sometimes referred to as web3. The apecoin DAO will use the blockchain to enable and record votes on decisions related to how the community is managed. 

But the real question here is, how decentralized is apecoin DAO really?

Together apecoin and apecoin DAO have provided more weight to some of the harshest criticisms about the influence and power venture capitalists wield in the development of the web3 space. 

Typically the more tokens a participant possesses in the DAO, the more they have over the group’s governance. 

Unsurprisingly VC investors that helped with the launch including the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and animoca brands were some of the biggest recipients of ape, a whole 14% of ApeCoin’s supply to be precise. 

These token holdings grant these major VC’s substantial influence over the apecoin DAO, despite the fact that technically the group is meant to be decentralized at heart and with no specific entity in control.

It seems not easy to find any sort of disclosure as to whether any of these VC’s are under a vesting schedule. 

But if they aren’t subject to any sort of vesting requirements then that means they could easily sell their ape and given the amount they hold this selling pressure could lead to some serious price suppression.  

On top of that yugalabs and the four founders of the BAYC are entitled to 15% and 8% of the apecoin respectively. 

While on paper this would be a matter of concern for traditional DAOs. Yuga, nor the founders will be inclined to sell their tokens anytime soon, after all if they were to. This would have severe consequences for the brand’s image and play nicely into the hands of critics. So that’s less of a concern.

As previously mentioned the DAO treasury will be allocated a full 47% of apecoin which it will reportedly dedicate to the long-term growth expansion and adoption of BAYC inspired economies. 

Mutant apes are cherished but it’s also apparent that the recent apecoin airdrop sheds light on the growing and somewhat imperial influence that yuga labs has over the rest of their NFT market. 

Pair this with yuga’s recent acquisition of the crypto punks and meebitz’s ip rights as well as Andreessen Horowitz intentions to invest in yuga labs, they’re really does seem to be some form of NFT maximalism taking place. 

A sentiment that natively goes against the core fundamental principles of what web3 infrastructure and experiences are all about. 

These issues aside, it can be foreseen, a potentially bright future for apecoin. 

Firstly, in-game utility structure will come to fruition across the countless number of bored ape-inspired gaming protocols that are likely to emerge. 

Secondly, seeing traditional businesses small or large incorporate apecoin into their everyday financial transactions does put a smile on everyone’s face. 

Finally, apecoin can be seen as an ultimate reflection of what the grungy bored ape yacht club actually is and could become in the future. 

A Metaverse club that has been operating at the very cutting edge of web3 philosophy ever since it first sold out in April of last year. 

A social and cultural NFT community that brings Metaverse branding to the real world and inspires new ideas and business models igniting a whole new economy and value creation process that simply didn’t exist beforehand.

And while the BAYC ecosystem has felt restrictive and hyper elite for quite some time now due to its steep barrier to entry. Apecoin now grants an infinitely cheaper membership ticket to one of the most exciting and generationally transformative clubs, the Metaverse is likely to see for a very long time.

Having said that, there are some obvious volatility risks that come with any investment in crypto. So thinking of aping in and joining the club, it is better to always do your own research.