What is ApeCoin and how can you invest?

ApeCoin is the governance and utilities token serving the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) community – and the collection of communities owned by its parent company, Yuga Labs. This airdrop is one of the most anticipated in the NFT community due to the huge popularity of the Bored Ape Yacht Club brand.

ApeCoin will be dropped to holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and additional will be allocated to holders who also have a dog – the Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). Holders can start claiming their APE token on the ApeCoin website from March 17, 2022.

If you are not a holder of BAYC NFTs, you can also buy APE directly on various exchanges. This list is growing by the day. If you want to skip it right away, Uphold is probably your best bet to buy APE today.

What is ApeCoin (APE)?

ApeCoin – which trades under the symbol APE – is the utility and governance token of the BAYC ecosystem. At the moment there is no real functionality other than membership of the ApeDAO, which oversees the management of the ApeCoin token.

However, the roadmap shares a future where there will be utility for holders of the token, especially when combined with the underlying NFTs. These include a marketplace, potential games, and more.

The coins are distributed as follows:

62% of the coins go to the ecosystem – including BAYC and MAYC NFT holders, as well as the community treasury
16% of the coins go to YugaLabs and Charity (these follow a lock-up schedule)
14% to launch contributors (these follow a set schedule)
8% to the BAYC Founders (these follow a lock-up schedule)

Given its popularity, the price of APE has already risen since its launch:

What is Bored Ape Yacht Club?

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is an NFT project by YugaLabs with 10,000 uniquely generated “Bored Apes”. There are also several variations on the project – with Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) generated using a Mutant Serum, and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) – canine companions of the Apes.

Its parent company, YugaLabs, has also recently acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits, two other very popular NFT projects.

You can view the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection here on OpenSea.

How to Claim APE as a Holder of BAYC

If you currently own a Bored Ape or Mutant Ape, you can claim your airdrop for 90 days – until June 15, 2022.

To claim your APE token, simply go to ApeCoin.com and select “Claim”.

What NFTs you have in your wallet determines how much APE you receive.

It is important to remember that this is per wallet. So if you have your Apes in different wallets, you have to connect them all.

And finally – yes, such airdrops are taxable!

How to buy APE?

If you just want to buy APE, there are a few ways you can do it right now. Many exchanges build support and you can also buy APE on DeFi swaps. Here are the best ways to do it.

At the moment you can buy APE on one of the following exchanges:

You can also purchase APE over most DeFi protocols.

Related: Check out our picks for the best cryptocurrency exchanges.

The Future Potential of ApeCoin

Much of the hype for ApeCoin is the future it could have. For example, YugaLabs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, recently acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits – two other major NFT projects. And if you look at ApeCoin’s roadmap, it’s clear that they are trying to build an ecosystem for their brands to both communicate and trade – probably with APE as the fundamental token.

Also, the founders have locked up their own allotment of APE for a year – so there is a big incentive for them to grow the value of the token over the next year before they are able to sell it or do anything with it.

Finally, many theorize that APE is allowed to be deployed – where you can lock some (or all) tokens and earn rewards as a result. This can be a great source of income for HODLers of the BAYC ecosystem.