Analyzing the largest NFT ecosystems with ApeCoin and Bayc

• ApeCoin is the native cryptocurrency token of the Ape ecosystem built on the Ethereum blockchain and consists of NFT collections like BAYC, MAYC, etc.
• Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is one of the largest NFT collections by market cap and is a PFP-NFT (profile picture-NFT) project.
• NFT of the Bored Apes contains cartoon apes who look bored with 10,000 unique images and can be bought using ApeCoin.

ApeCoin is the native utility token of Bored Ape Yacht Club, which happens to be one of the largest NFT collections by market capitalization. It was launched by the Ape Foundation in March 2022 and is governed by the ApeCoin Decentralization Autonomous Organization (DAO). It is used in the BAYC network to buy NFTs, which was created by the Florida-based blockchain company Yuga Labs.

The Bored Apes Yacht Club Collection

The Bored Apes Yacht Club is a collection of over 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain. It was founded by four co-founders, including Wylie Aranow, an American digital artist who goes by the pseudonym Gordon Goneer, and American writer Greg Solano, who goes by the pseudonym Garga. The other two co-founders go by the pseudonyms, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, whose real identities are still unknown. They are all also the founders of BAYC’s parent company, Yuga Labs, founded in April 2021. It is a PFP (profile pictures) NFT launched using the ERC-721 token standard and contains pictures of cartoon apes who are visibly ‘bored.’ These apes are distinguished by various characteristics such as clothes, fur, eyes, props, backgrounds, accessories, etc. The hashing algorithm used is SHA-256. Notably, it garnered attention when popular celebrities like Mark Cuban, Justin Bieber, Serena Williams, Paris Hilton, Eminem, Stephen Curry, Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, and many others started flaunting their purchases in the media. It is now considered a ‘blue chip NFT.’ Blue Chip NFTs are the NFTs that have high value and low risk. Interestingly, as per BAYC, the collection follows a commercial license policy, meaning that the NFT owners have full rights to commercial use of the unique digital collectibles. They can freely use it in any kind of media or commercial activity, such as film, book, social media, clothes, and other merchandise.

ApeCoin Token: APE

ApeCoin is the governance and native utility token of the entire Ape Ecosystem and the cryptocurrency for the BAYC NFT collection. It is also used for the governance of ApeDAO. It is an open-source ERC-20 token built on the base layer protocol of the Ape Foundation. Besides being a governance token and buying NFTs, the token also gives access to certain special provisions on the Ape network, such as exclusive games, events, services, merchandise, etc. These provisions are not available to non-token holders. There are also provisions for APE rewards for third-party developers building on the ecosystem. The total supply of the token is hard-capped at 1,000,000,000 APE, which have all been minted at once. Also, there is no burning. However, a certain amount of the tokens are locked, which are unlocked at set intervals within 48 months since its launch in March 2022. Talking about the figures, at the time of writing the article, the price of APE was $1.92, which is a decrease of 3.22% over the past 24 hours. Its current 24-hour trading volume is $67,348,996. With a current circulating supply of 368,593,750 APE, its market cap is $703,961,391.

The APE Ecosystem

The APE ecosystem consists of all the NFT collections and various DAO platforms and apps built by the American blockchain development company Yuga Labs. Major components of the APE ecosystem other than ApeCoin and BAYC collection include MAYC, BAKC, and Otherside.

• Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)

MAYC is another NFT collection by Yuga Labs, which was released by the company following the success of the BAYC collection. It is a collection of 20,000 PFP NFTs. Of these 20,000, 10,000 were directly minted on the Ethereum chain and sold in a public auction. The other half was created by ‘injecting’ mutant serum’ into their Bored Apes. The mutant serum, i.e., the programs that would convert the Bored Apes into Mutant Apes, was airdropped randomly in the wallets of all Bored Ape holders. Injecting the Mutant Serum means accepting the program and paying a small gas fee to turn the Bored Ape into a mutant ape. This resulted in the minting of a new NFT that corresponds to the user’s Bored Ape but with added unique attributes.

This was a reward for the BAYC holders, as they got a new MAYC NFT while also retaining their original BAYC NFT. In the MAYC NFT, the apes look a bit freaky, with their bodies visibly mutated in various aspects

• Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC)

BAKC is also an NFT collection by Yuga Labs, which has dogs with unique attributes. They are digital art tokens, not PFP. They were also released via random airdrops into the wallets of BAYC holders as rewards. Initially, they were distributed as 10,000 unique digital collectibles that would be minted when claimed by the user. The claim of the airdropped digital collectible was referred to as the ‘adoption’ of the dogs. They could be ‘adopted’ only within a week of the airdrop. Subsequently, 400 BAYC holders did not claim their BAKC tokens, which resulted in the collection being capped at 9,600 BAKC NFTs.

• Otherside

Otherside is the metaverse project of the APE ecosystem, developed by Yuga Labs. Users can buy digital land as NFTs in the metaverse. The native utility token for the metaverse will be Other (OTH). It will utilize all the NFTs from the APE ecosystem and begin as an online game called an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).