Spotlight: ApeCoin (APE)
The second feature on Polylstic’s ‘Spotlight’ series is the hugely popular DeFi governance and utility token, ApeCoin. APE is available via Polygon’s thousands of decentralized applications (dapps) and games, so it felt essential to cover this influential project and give some insight into its mission and roots.
ApeCoin’s Origins
To understand how ApeCoin came about, you’d first have to familiarize yourself with the history of the famed Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection and its creator, Yuga Labs.
Headquartered in Miami, Yuga Labs was founded in February 2021 by two friends who went by the pseudonyms, Gordon Goner and Gargamel. Two other founding members included software engineers who went by the handles No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup.
The team was very focused on the cultural aspect of crypto and has closely observed the impact that notable NFT (non-fungible token) collections such as CryptoPunks and Hashmasks had made in the crypto space and world of arts. They also recognized that NFTs constituted a new business model for intellectual property, given the verifiable authenticity that this type of blockchain technology offers.
In April of 2021, the ambitious team launched the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, featuring 10,000 unique apes that lived on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection sold out in about 12 hours for 0.08 ETH each, or roughly $190. The price of Bored Ape NFTs rose steadily until July when they spiked dramatically and demand for them became massive. From sudden influencer and celebrity involvement, the utility for members, community appeal, and mainstream potential, BAYC checked all the boxes of a now blue-chip NFT set. The floor price reached hundreds of thousands of dollars, and BAYC became a household name.
Bored Ape Kennel Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and many community events and engagements for holders followed. Simply put, Yuga Labs became a powerhouse in crypto and the BAYC name became synonymous with success and even celebrity status.
Following the tremendous success of the NFT collections, in March 2022 the BAYC launched its own cryptocurrency, ApeCoin. APE tokens were airdropped to BAYC and MAYC holders.
What Is ApeCoin (APE)?
ApeCoin is the governance and utility token of the APE ecosystem. ApeCoin is administered by a decentralized autonomous organization or DAO. Holders of the coin may cast their vote on relevant governance decisions. APE token holders may cast votes and decide on issues such as fund allocation, rule framing, partnerships, project selection, and other items.
ApeCoin also has other utilities, including use as a token used for payments or in-game earnings. Many third-party developers use ApeCoin to play a role in the ecosystem and incorporate the token into their services, games, and various projects. ApeCoin will also be integrated with the upcoming metaverse, Otherside. This will allow ApeCoin to be used as a transaction token on metaverse marketplaces.
Notable Partnerships
- BitPay — Leading cryptocurrency payment processor, BitPay has announced that it now supports the ApeCoin (APE) cryptocurrency
- Gucci — In 2022, Gucci announced that US customers would now be able to make in-store purchases using ApeCoin,
- TAG Heuer — First integrating BAYC NFTs into design elements of its Calibre E4 digital watch, the luxury watchmaker now allows clients in the U.S. to purchase timepieces using APE
- Google — Google recently joined Coinbase to accept ApeCoin for Google cloud services.
The Future of ApeCoin
ApeCoin is somewhat of a newcomer to the scene but has quickly established itself in the top 50 cryptocurrencies in the world at this time — an impressive feat. The team behind the token has used several incentives to promote its utility, such as allowing third-party developers to integrate the cryptocurrency into their projects and setting up an ecosystem fund to support the projects using the coin. While the market is unpredictable, and ApeCoin has faced some recent adversity, it seems the team and community are full-steam ahead and many more developments can be expected from this token.
In Closing
ApeCoin has a colorful history and big plans. This project has certainly made waves in the Polygon ecosystem and the cryptocurrency world will continue to watch this giant of a token closely.
This concludes the second Polylastic ‘Spotlight.” The Polylastic team hopes you enjoyed reading through this exclusive coverage of ApeCoin. Stay tuned for new editions of the Polylastic ‘Spotlight’ series, coming soon!
