What is ApeCoin (APE)? How Does It Work?

From the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the much anticipated ApeCoin ($APE) was finally launched in late March 2022 by Yuga Labs.

With a market cap of almost USD $2 billion on its first day of trading, ApeCoin definitely took the spotlight in the crypto space in recent weeks.

While the NFT holders of Bored Ape and Mutant will receive the initial airdrop of the tokens, anyone can technically buy $APE and add it to their portfolio – but why should you? 

In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about ApeCoin, how it works, and its planned purposes according to their creators at Yuga Labs.

Key takeaways:

• ApeCoin is a cryptocurrency that is affiliated by Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), and according to its creators, Yuga Labs, will be the de facto currency that fuels its metaverse economy.
• There will be a total of 1 billion APE tokens to be minted. The tokens follow a concept known as “locked tokens”, which will limit the distribution of the coins to prevent mass sell offs, or dumping, and disrupt the price of the token.
• Holders of the APE token are granted governance rights to cast votes, decide rules, partnerships, and other involvement on the network. However, the ApeCoin Foundation will be the one responsible to execute and act on the decisions.

New to NFTs? Read our guide on Non-Fungible Tokens.

What is ApeCoin (APE)?

Simply put, ApeCoin is the native cryptocurrency of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) ecosystem.

APE was launched by the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that acts as a governing body in which all ApeCoin holders are members. 

The purpose of the ApeCoin DAO is to facilitate and support the community-led proposals and ideas to become a reality for the holders.

What is an ERC-20 token? In short, these are simply tokens that are used on the Ethereum blockchain and act as assets that facilitate the various utilities and functions on the network. Learn more with our guide.

Tokenomics of ApeCoin

The total supply of Apecoin is permanently fixed at 1 billion tokens, there are no plans to mint further tokens and APE has been designed with no burning capabilities – essentially cementing this supply cap. 

They decided to distribute into four main groups. 

ApeCoin is designed for utility and governance. It’s a decentralised token that can be used for payments and transaction within Web3 apps. 

Coins vs tokens: Learn the difference between coins and tokens.

ApeCoin purpose and benefits

As mentioned above, ApeCoin holders are granted governance, meaning as a holder you are entitled voting rights on projects, partnerships, applications, and beyond. 

In addition to governance, ApeCoin has also been designed for utility where the token can be used for transactions and payments within Web3 applications. 

Below are ApeCoin purposes that have been outlined by the official website:

• Governance: empower ApeCoin holders to participate in the ApeCoin DAO.
• Unification of Spend: essentially bestows ApeCoin as a shared an open currency to be used without any centralised intermediaries. 
• Access: provides exclusive access to events, merch, services, and games that are otherwise unavailable. 
• Incentivisation: for ApeCoin to serve as a tool for third-party developers to experiment and participate in, and incorporate into their individual projects. 

Why ApeCoin?

ApeCoin is heavily linked to two popular NFT collections by YugaLabs, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC).

Both of these NFT collections are some of the largest on the Ethereum Blockchain. The average sale price of a Bored Ape (BAYC) NFT is $285,000 as of writing this article. Celebrity names such as Justin Bieber and Eminem are Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT owners.

These two NFT collections have had a large reputation in the cryptocurrency community, and especially in the NFT community.

To add to the popularity of these NFT collections, an airdrop to all holders of Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFTs took place. For each Bored Ape NFT, 10,094 tokens were allocated and for each Mutant Ape NFT, 2042 tokens were allocated.

With the launch price of ApeCoin hovering above USD$15, this means holders of these NFTs received between $30,000 – $150,000 worth of ApeCoin for free per NFT.

This gave the launch and airdrop event of ApeCoin more publicity and fame, as the community behind these NFTs became instantly involved in the project and coin.

Based on the data of ApeCoin Airdrop, there are 98.11% people already claimed.

Where to buy ApeCoin in South Africa

ApeCoin is already live on multiple blockchains. ApeCoin can be used and traded on both AVAX and BSC (BNB smart chain) using decentralized exchanges on both these blockchains.

We’re also pleased to offer ApeCoin (APE) right here at Easy Crypto!

How much for ApeCoin? Use the crypto converter tool to check the latest rates.

Buy ApeCoin (APE): Invest in ApeCoin (APE) today.

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Future of ApeCoin

As prefaced above, ApeCoin has been designed with the future in mind. Focusing on evolution of Web3 and blockchain technology to facilitate art, entertainment, gaming, and many more possibilities beyond.

While it is still too early to speculate on the potential growth of ApeCoin, the community is proactively engaging in the NFT space and have opened to doors for integration on other decentralised platforms.

Animoca Brands’ game Benji Bananas leverages ApeCoin in a play to earn style game. Also according to ApeCoin DAO, there will be future access to BAYC styled games, services and possible further airdrops. Animoca Brands and Yuga Labs have teased a Bored Ape secret project that would be powered by ApeCoin.

The possibilities with ApeCoin will likely continue to grow as the infrastructure and proposals continue to be improved upon by the community.

There is no way to predict the future, but if they truly envision the future of culture, art, and entertainment, then ApeCoin should be something you might want to keep on your radar.

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