ApeCoin Community Looks Set to Stay on Ethereum—For Now

By Sujith Somraaj

The ApeCoin community is eyeing a potential departure from Ethereum following a tumultuous token launch back in March. 

Dubbed ApeCoin Improvement Proposal (AIP) 41, the vote asks token holders, many of which are also Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT owners, whether they stand with Yuga Lab’s commentary to launch a proprietary blockchain just for the community.

The idea came after the initial ApeCoin drop. As demand for the token skyrocketed, gas fees on Ethereum soared, rendering the number two crypto network prohibitively expensive for many users. 

“We're sorry for turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while,” the company behind the popular NFT collection tweeted following the ApeCoin airdrop. “It seems abundantly clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale. We'd like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction.”

The suite of Yuga Labs’ creations include the BAYC collection, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). All of these currently projects exist on Ethereum. 

The community is now voting on whether it should indeed migrate, as per Yuga Labs’ encouragement. 

What’s in the ApeCoin proposal?

Specifically, AIP-41 states that “at least for the time being, ApeCoin should remain within the Ethereum ecosystem, and not migrate elsewhere to an L1 chain or sidechain not secured by Ethereum.” 

Votes are then pulled from ApeCoin holders who either agree or disagree this statement.

“First, my primary concern is that migrating to a different chain is a highly complex decision and shouldn't be rushed,” the co-author of the proposal Matt Galligan told Decrypt. “I believe staying within Ethereum gives ApeCoin the strongest security model.”

The voting has thus far been heavily one-sided, with nearly 91% of the ApeCoin holders supporting the proposal. 

Just 9% of holders have voted against the proposal, supporting a migration.The vote will end by June 9, 2022.

“Staying in the Ethereum ecosystem is profitable for APE holders. This is because Ethereum is the financial hub of blockchains.” R3RUCHI, an ApeCoin holder who voted for the proposal told Decrypt. “Since APE aims to be the metaverse currency, it has to be in the hub.”

If passed, this proposal would prevent any future proposals from Yuga Labs regarding the migration of ApeCoin for a period of three months from the end of this vote. 

After that, though, anything is possible. 

And with a bit more time to discuss such a transition, perhaps the community will have changed its mind. 

“This AIP is essentially two things,” said Galligan. “[It’s] a temperature check for the DAO's desire to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem and [secondly] its a three-month delay to set up a more diligent governance process for big and likely irreversible decisions.”

APE currently trades at $6.1o, up 0.5% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

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