- Ticker: APE
- Sector: Metaverse
- Network: Ethereum
- Fully Diluted Valuation: $10.59 Billion
- Hotness Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
TL;DR: A massive token launch from BAYC and Yuga Labs.
APE is the new token out of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) community. The token aims to “serve as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse” and will entitle holders to governance rights over the ApeCoin DAO, access to exclusive content and events, while serving as a currency within the broader BAYC and Yuga Labs ecosystems. In this vein, the day after APE’s launch Yuga Labs released a trailer for “Otherside,” a metaverse experience that will seemingly feature IP from a variety of popular Ethereum NFT collections, though it is unclear if or how ApeCoin will play a role in the project.
APE has a total supply of 1 billion, with 37% being allocated to varying groups of insiders, including Yuga Labs, BAYC founders, and ApeCoin launch contributors, 47% to the ApeCoin DAO treasury, and 1% to the Jane Goodall Foundation. The remaining 15% was airdropped to BAYC and MAYC (a Bored Ape derivative) holders, who were each eligible to claim 10,950 APE and 2,042 APE per NFT held, worth ~$115,084 and $21,461 respectively at current prices.
The launch of APE had an immediate effect on both the fungible and non-fungible markets. The token was immediately listed on top centralized exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, FTX, and Huobi, and rallied more than 133% within its first day of launch, since fallen more than 38% from its peak. BAYC also saw an explosion of trading activity, with volumes reaching an all-time high of 14,273 ETH (~$41.0 millon) on the day of the launch. The collections floor price has seen a bump in the wake of APE’s debut, having risen more than 15% since March 16.
Per Nansen, APE has been by far the top target of on-chain “smart money” including funds, whales, and DEX traders. Over the past seven days, these entities acquired more than $61.62 million worth of APE, 6.6x more than FXS, which, excluding stablecoins, ETH, and BTC, saw the second most inflows from this cohort.
Hotness Rating (out of 5🔥): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The launch of APE marks the most significant token launch of 2022 to date. While the specifics of how it will be used throughout the broader Yuga ecosystem are unknown, given its association with incredibly valuable IP investors should be following the developments of APE closely.