ApeCoin: What Is the Bored Ape Ethereum Token and Who Gets It?

After being officially revealed just yesterday, ApeCoin (APE)—the Ethereum-based token for the growing Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem—is now flowing. Launched today for NFT holders to claim, some 93 million tokens have already been snagged. That’s about $810 million worth.

While current Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders will benefit most initially, given that they all get a free stash of valuable tokens that they could sell off, anyone can buy APE from popular exchanges. But why would you want to? According to the team behind APE, there are plans ahead for the token, naturally, including exclusive games and services.

If you’re thinking of APE-ing in to the buzzy token, here’s a look at how ApeCoin works, who’s eligible to claim a stash of them, and the various purposes that ApeCoin DAO has in mind for the just-launched token.

What is ApeCoin?

ApeCoin is an Ethereum-based token designed for utility and governance. There are 1 billion of them in total, with CoinMarketCap reporting that about 28% are currently in circulation. Many of the total supply of tokens will vest gradually over the next few years.

While ApeCoin is ostensibly the official token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and acts like a reward for holders of Bored Ape NFT collectibles, the official line is that it wasn’t created by Yuga Labs—the team behind the Bored Apes.

Instead, it’s officially the creation of ApeCoin DAO, a new decentralized autonomous organization created to govern the token and its roadmap forward. Based on tweets from Yuga folks and board members, there was clearly a lot of attention put on precise and uniform messaging, likely for regulatory reasons.

ApeCoin DAO has recruited some prominent folks from around the crypto community to serve on its initial board, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and FTX’s Amy Wu, and they’ll serve for six months before APE holders vote for next members on an annual basis.

Who gets it?

If you hold a Bored Ape Yacht Club or Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT in your wallet, then you can claim a certain amount of free tokens from the official ApeCoin website. Each NFT draws its own allocation of tokens, so if you own a bunch, your token rewards will stack.

For original Bored Ape owners, the 10,094 tokens comes out to more than $80,000 worth of ApeCoin, as of this writing. For Mutant Ape owners, the 2,042 tokens are worth about $16,400 right now. If you own a Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT on its own, then it won’t earn you any tokens. But if you have a Kennel Club NFT plus a Bored or Mutant Ape, you’ll get bonus tokens for holding the dog NFT.

All told, 15% of the token supply will be allocated to NFT holders. Another 47% of the total supply will be granted to the DAO treasury and resources, with much of that tally vesting over the next 48 months.

On top of that, 15% will go to Yuga Labs, another 8% will go to the four founders of Yuga Labs, and 14% will go to other ApeCoin launch contributors. In addition, 1% of the total supply will be donated to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation—to benefit real apes.

For those who don’t hold a Bored Ape NFT and didn’t help bring the Bored Apes or ApeCoin to life, the token is currently trading on an array of cryptocurrency exchanges. Notable exchanges like Coinbase, FTX, and Gemini have listed APE.

What’s APE for?

ApeCoin is designed for utility and governance. What does that mean? Well, it’s a decentralized token that can be used for payments and transactions within Web3 apps of all sorts, even those not created or controlled by Yuga Labs or related to the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

And because ApeCoin is governed by a DAO, holders will have the ability to vote on community-led proposals that determine the future of the token. For example, there are already governance proposals regarding things like ecosystem fund allocation and staking rewards. That might sound dry and dull to some, but it may impact future benefits for APE holders.

Crypto game maker Animoca Brands has announced plans to integrate APE into a “secret project” that it is developing with the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It appears to be tied into the recent launch of a website (somethingisbrewing.xyz) collecting info from interested parties.

Meanwhile, developer nWay announced that it will use APE in an upcoming play-to-earn game based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club, while Animoca’s unaffiliated Benji Bananas game will implement APE for token rewards. ApeCoin DAO has said that some future functionality will be reserved exclusively for APE holders, such as upcoming games and services.

There’s potentially much more on the horizon, too. For example, E11EVEN Residencies in Miami will accept APE payments, and Florida-based brewery SaltWater Brewery has announced much the same for its beer—with a discount, no less.

As a decentralized token, APE can potentially be adopted by a wide array of businesses and projects. And that’s the goal for ApeCoin DAO: the more useful it is, the more valuable it could potentially become. With the Web3 industry still potentially in the very early days, APE holders can only hope that it becomes a popular payment method for the metaverse.