What is Apecoin?
Apecoin, or APE (its token symbol) is an ERC-20 token powering the APE ecosystem. Holders of the otken are able to help make ecosystem decisions such as fund designation, changes or additions in rules, etc.
Currently, this asset is on the Ethereum blockchain, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, after the Apecoin community voted in favor of remaining earlier in 2022.
What does Apecoin do?
Because it is the utility and governance token of the APE ecosystem, Apecoin not only has functions as accepted payment for ecosystem services and DAO participation, projects that build within the ecosystem can also use it within their own incentive systems. For instance, if a game builds within the ecosystem, it can accept Apecoin as payment for in-game skins/objects.
The APE Ecosystem
Essentially, the APE Ecosystem, which was born out of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) success, is made up of token holders and the apps and developers that utilize the token. Now of course, Yuga Labs, the creators of BAYC, is the most prominent member of the ecosystem. And as it is a member, it has adopted Apecoin as its primary token, holding roughly 16% of the token’s 1,000,000,000APE supply (6.25% is being donated to charity, according to the Apecoin website. Like the other members of the ecosystem, Yuga Labs is tasked with developing its products.
Other members include BAYC and MAYC (Mutant Ape Yacht Club) NFT holders, other companies and individuals that actively contributed to the ecosystem’s creation, and the individual founders of BAYC.
Besides BAYC, another prominent project in the ecosystem is the Otherside metaverse, developed by Yuga Labs, Improbable and Animoca Brands. Otherside, like other metaverse project Decentraland, will be a platform on which developers can create various games and experiences. Furthermore, Otherside features virtual land, with each plot of land having its own unique attributes.
Apecoin DAO
The Apecoin DAO, the project’s decentralized autonomous organization, exists to make various ecosystem decisions on fund allocation, governance rules, projects and partnerships, among other responsibilities. As mentioned before, APE token holders are eligible to be DAO members, and are thus able to vote on proposals.
Like any other DAO, there is a proposal process in order to make changes to the ecosystem. Any proposal must be submitted via an AIP, or Ape Improvement Proposal and must follow proposal guidelines as outlined on the governance page of the website.
The APE Foundation
This is the legal entity that serves to oversee and apply the DAO’s decisions. It is run by an administrative board, made up of proven crypto investors and builders. The foundation is indeed separate from Ape DAO, and runs its day-to-day operations such as project management and bookkeeping.
The board’s members are as follows:
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit’s co-founder
Amy Wu, who runs FTX’s ventures, M&A, and gaming arms
Dean Steinbeck of Horizen Labs
Maaria Bajwa, Principal at Sound Ventures
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
How to acquire $APE
APE is available on multiple exchanges like Poloniex! You can acquire ETC through trading a USDT trading pair: APE/USDT
Feeling ready to get started? Sign-up is easy! Just hop on over to https://poloniex.com/signup/ to start your crypto journey🚀
was originally published in The Poloniex blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
