Hollywood is only too happy to show it off: owning a Bored Ape and being a member of the exclusive Bored Ape Yacht Club. Paris Hilton, known as a pioneer in the world of NFTs, discussed the success of these Bored Apes with Jimmy Fallon on the Late Night Show. So it’s no surprise that Jimmy Fallon himself also owns an anarchist monkey.
In one year, this BAYC has grown into a very exclusive online community that everyone wants to be a part of. Unfortunately, this community is unaffordable for many as you pay a minimum of 70 Ethereum for one Bored Ape.
But that is about to change! Yuga Labs, creators of the BAYC, are launching ApeCoin where anyone can be a part of this exclusive community. How? Discover everything about ApeCoin in this article!
What is ApeCoin ($APE)?
ApeCoin is an ERC20token launched by none other than the team at the wildly popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club. Famous names like Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber, and Paris Hilton are all in possession of an anarchist monkey. Without a doubt, the Bored Ape Yacht Club has become a reflection of the innovative nature of blockchain technology and the use of NFTs. An exclusive group of holders that everyone secretly wants to be a part of.
For several months before launch, their official Twitter account was the place to be for speculation about their new plans. Through several teasers, she told the community that they were hatching something. Until just one day before launch (!) this news came out: Bored Ape Yacht Club has its own ERC20 token called ApeCoin ($APE).
The token has both a governance and utility function that is central to APE’s new ecosystem. With the native token, they want to stimulate the decentralized nature of the internet and continue to build on the development of web3. This is made possible in part by Yuga Labs, the web3 company that founded this Bored Ape Yacht Club. ApeCoin gives you access to certain parts of their ecosystem, which are only accessible to holders of the token. Think of exclusive games, merchandise, and even events.
ApeCoin DAO
A DAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization and is seen as the future for various companies. The organization works completely independently and is controlled by the use of smart contracts. There is no central party in power, the DAO was developed for and by the community. By giving all holders of these APE tokens governance, everyone can help determine the future of this ecosystem. The APE Foundation ensures that all applications run under a DAO structure.
APE Foundation – The Board
The Ape Foundation has no control over ApeCoin or the ApeCoin DAO but only consists of an administrative ‘board’. These members ensure that all decisions of both ApeCoin and ApeCoin DAO are carried out correctly and, above all, in a decentralized manner. Some members of the community, with a strong technical background, are part of this APE Foundation. The members remain a member of this board for a period of 6 months. Afterward, DAO members, anyone who owns ApeCoin, can vote on who will be the new board members in this Ape Foundation. But thanks to the governance, they can also vote someone out of this board if they are not satisfied with someone’s abilities.
Web3
Web3 is at the heart of this Bored Ape Yacht Club and the revolution of NFTs. This is the development where you can now also own parts of the internet, such as NFTs, in a completely decentralized way. But in the broadest form of this technology, it can also include web texts, video material, and the like. With the use of ApeCoin, they want to further build their own ecosystem to be a pioneer in the development of web 3.0.
Play-to-earn
ApeCoin wants to develop its own play-to-earn game. With billions of gamers worldwide, the development of play-to-earn is not to be underestimated. Users in low-wage countries earn a monthly salary in one day and see their whole lives changed. While the team doesn’t have its own game yet, there are plenty of other games that are teaming up to make smart use of their success. One of the first games to do this is Benji Bananas, a game inspired by Donkey Kong where you meander through the jungle in search of hidden treasure chests. Let’s face it, being one of the first play-to-earn games to partner with ApeCoin is unprecedented marketing for your own game.
Jane Goodall Foundation
Part of their marketing strategy is to contribute to a good cause. And what could be better than contributing to the lives of real monkeys? The ApeCoin ecosystem will be committed to the Jane Goodall Foundation. They conduct research into nature conservation and the living environment of chimpanzees in six African countries, including an area in western Tanzania.
Airdrop $APE
While the Bored Apes is the most popular collection, the team has added other NFTs to expand the empire even further. Thanks to the development of NFT 2.0, holders were able to mint an additional NFT, the Mutant Apes, thanks to a serum. This was again an exclusive advantage for these holders, and in retrospect also an extremely lucrative advantage. But why settle for two collections? No one deserves to be lonely, not even in the metaverse, and what better company than a four-legged friend? The holders of these apes thus got the chance to mint a dog from the Kennel Club. Numerous benefits for the members of these exclusive members.
To celebrate the launch of ApeCoin ($APE), holders of one of these NFTs received an airdrop where they could claim numerous tokens. Free and for nothing, through an airdrop. Depending on your position, you received different tokens:
Listing exchanges
The launch of a new token or coin is not without a struggle. The team usually has to prove itself before being listed on an exchange. This exchange decides for itself whether they want to do this listing. Because the Bored Ape Yacht Club has gained so much prestige in one year, ApeCoin was listed in no time on almost all major exchanges:
- CoinBase
- Kraken
- Binance
- Gemini
- KuCoin
- Bybit
- …
This confirms both the superior character of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, as well as the hype that exists around this collection. The team has proven itself before, so all major exchanges immediately agree. Even before the launch of the coin itself, the listing was already announced by these exchanges via their Twitter. This is truly a first for a listing!
How do I buy ApeCoin?
Buying ApeCoin on Binance is a piece of cake. With this explanation, you are the proud owner of APE within a few steps.
- Log in for free here at Binance
- in your account
Note: keep your username and password safe! - Press Buy Crypto and choose Bank deposit
- tab Fiat instead of Crypto and check whether it’s on Euro or Dollar (or whatever your currency is) Choose
- iDEAL when you transfer the money directly to your account and Bank Transfer (SEPA) (if you live in Europe), or VISA if you’re ok with it if it takes a few days for the money to
- arrive Wait for your dollars/euros to be deposited into the Binance account
- Click at the top Trade and select Classic
- You are now in the trading section of Binance. Click on FIAT and select USD/EUR.
- A number of coins can be traded on Binance for euros. However, most are traded against Bitcoin. Find the trading pair BTC/USD and buy Bitcoin with your euros.
- tab BTC and search for ApeCoin on the basis of its ticker APE
- You will now find the trading BTC/APE. By clicking on it, you can buy ApeCoin
- Congratulations! You own your favorite cryptocurrency!
Tokenomics
The total supply of this ApeCoin is fixed at 1 billion tokens. No additional tokens are created here nor are any tokens burned. This total stock will therefore not change and will be gradually distributed over a period of 48 months. This gives you a certain scarcity that can determine the price. The tokens are divided into 4 different groups:
Pump and Dump $APE?
Although the whole world has been waiting to invest in ApeCoin, we often see that a listing on an exchange is accompanied by a dump. And this was no different with ApeCoin. When investors receive free tokens, and therefore free money, we see that they often sell them quite quickly. And that’s not so crazy. Despite the fact that these holders own digital gold in the form of a Bored Ape or even a Mutant Ape, some of these holders became a few tons richer in one fell swoop. If the BAYC’s top holder had sold all his tokens at the peak, he would have received millions of dollars in one fell swoop.
The airdrop for holders took place at 1.30 pm and almost immediately we saw that the price fell, to no less than 80%. This means that a large proportion has immediately sold their tokens and thus become even richer. But as is often the case in these scenarios, the general public was already on the sidelines waiting for this event. After the price had bottomed out, just one hour after the airdrop, the price rose again from $ 6 to a whopping $ 17. A day later, we see an all-time record in trading volume, which is $9 billion. Through CoinMarketCap we see the price action of the first 24 hours after launch:
This dump also directly affected the floor price of the Bored Apes. Through OpenSea we saw the floor price drop to 79 ETH. It quickly recovered to a floor price of 90 ETH. This shows the global confidence in both this NFT collection and in the team behind the whole protocol.
Market capitalization
In less than a day, ApeCoin has a total market cap of almost 2 billion dollars and is therefore mercilessly in the top 100 above Radix (XRD), Quant (QNT), and even PancakeSwap (CAKE). These are solid protocols that have been on the road for years and are quickly overtaken by a brand new coin. It is also for this reason that not everyone is equally happy with this positioning and the success because ApeCoin does not yet have any applications at the time of writing.
Exclusive character
Due to the unprecedented success of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, we all want to be part of this exclusive community. Without having to pay record amounts for a Bored Ape, we can still participate in the brand new ecosystem of Ape, thanks to this ApeCoin. The general public also has full confidence in this project, as the team has already proven itself.
Criticism
When we look back to the beginnings of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, we see that holders have already made huge profits. The minting price of these apes was only 0.08 ETH. A real bargain, if you see the extortionate prices today. There are therefore different holders that do not have one ape, but a number. Despite their exclusive position, they have also received a whole lot of free money. This makes this exclusive group even more exclusive and they enjoy even more benefits. On Twitter, therefore, a comparison is often made with the current macro-economic situation in which only the rich elite realize the most profits.
In addition, we can of course also ask ourselves questions about the importance of marketing and hype. The market is still young and volatile, but we see that a strong piece of marketing has a certain impact. Just one day after ApeCoin’s listing and announcement, $APE rose to rank 66 with a total market cap of nearly $2 billion. Without a use case, only with a good story and good marketing. The entire community bases itself solely on the success of the NFT collection and blindly believes that the entire ecosystem will therefore become unique and exclusive. Whether this is the case, the future will show.
Conclusion
ApeCoin, the topic of conversation on almost all social media at the moment. No utility of its own for the time being, but already in the top 100 based on market cap. An unprecedented achievement that makes BAYC lovers’ hearts beat faster, but raises eyebrows for critics. And that is not entirely unjustified.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club was only launched in April 2021, but with a strong marketing example, this collection is the figurehead for exclusivity in the world of NFTs a year later. Strong growth, made possible in part by big names in Hollywood. But is one success also a guarantee for another success? There is currently a lot of speculation about ApeCoin, but time will have to show what the further course is. This undoubtedly depends on the realizations of both the ecosystem and the play-to-earn applications. This launch is by no means impressive!
