ApeCoin (APE) is a cryptocurrency launched in March 2022 for the community around the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of cartoon-ape non-fungible tokens created by the US company Yuga Labs. APE began as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and is used for voting, for payments in games and other products tied to the Bored Ape brand, and as the fee token of its own network, ApeChain.
APE is distinct from the NFTs it grew out of: owning a Bored Ape is not the same as holding APE, although ape holders received a large airdrop of the token. Until 2025 the token was governed by the ApeCoin DAO and supported by the Ape Foundation; that year token holders voted to wind the DAO down and hand its role to a new company, ApeCo. The token is often grouped with metaverse and gaming tokens such as The Sandbox (SAND).
ApeCoin in plain terms
Think of a members' club that issues its own tokens. The club began with a famous set of collectable pictures of apes, and membership came with perks. ApeCoin is the club's own currency: members can spend it in the club's games and shops, use it to vote on how the club's savings are spent, and trade it with anyone, member or not.
Later the club built its own road for these tokens to travel on, called ApeChain, where every trip is paid for in ApeCoin. In 2025 the members decided that running everything by public vote was too slow and handed day-to-day control to a small company instead. The value of the token depends heavily on how popular the club and its products remain.
History
The Bored Ape Yacht Club launched in April 2021 and became one of the best-known NFT collections of the 2021 boom. ApeCoin was announced on 16 March 2022 and holders of Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFTs could claim an airdrop from 17 March, with the token listed on major centralized exchanges soon after. Yuga Labs said it did not control the token: the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, voted on proposals, and the Ape Foundation carried them out. Staking for APE opened in December 2022.
In 2024 the DAO chose to build ApeChain on Arbitrum (ARB) technology, and the network went live in October 2024, briefly lifting the token's price. In March 2025 Yuga Labs said the US Securities and Exchange Commission had closed an investigation, opened in 2022, into its NFTs and the APE distribution without taking action. In June 2025 holders passed proposal AIP-596 with more than 99 percent of votes cast, ending DAO governance and moving the treasury and operations to ApeCo, a company set up by Yuga Labs.
How it works
APE exists as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum Blockchain and as the native token of ApeChain. ApeChain is a rollup built with Arbitrum Orbit that settles to Arbitrum One, itself a layer 2 network on Ethereum; unlike most such networks it uses APE rather than ether to pay the gas fee. APE moves between Ethereum and ApeChain through a crypto bridge. Before 2025, any holder could vote on ApeCoin Improvement Proposals in proportion to the APE they held; that system of token governance ended with the move to ApeCo.
Supply and allocation
The total supply is fixed at 1 billion APE, and no more can be created. At launch, 62 percent was set aside for the community: 15 percent for the airdrop and 47 percent for the DAO treasury. Founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club received 8 percent under a lock-up, and the rest went to Yuga Labs, launch contributors and a 1 percent allocation to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation. Most insider and treasury tokens were released monthly over four years from March 2022, so the circulating supply grew steadily through scheduled token unlocks. Critics noted that these regular releases added selling pressure while demand for the NFTs fell; see tokenomics.
Uses
- Payments in the ecosystem. APE has been used to buy virtual land in Yuga Labs' Otherside project, to pay in games and to buy merchandise tied to the brand.
- Network fees. Every transaction on ApeChain is paid in APE, which links the token's demand to activity on that network.
- Staking. Holders could lock APE in staking contracts for rewards; AIP-596 kept that programme funded until March 2026.
- Trading. Much of the volume in APE is speculative trading on exchanges.
Criticism and risks
APE's fortunes have tracked the NFT market, and by early 2025 both the token and the Mutant Ape collection were reported to be more than 95 percent below their 2022 peaks. The DAO was criticised as slow and costly, with large sums spent on grants and working groups that produced little, and the 2025 switch to a company-run model drew both support and concern that it concentrated control in a few hands. A close link to one company and one brand means that the token's value depends on Yuga Labs' plans, and regulators have looked at whether tokens of this kind are securities under the Howey test. Like other metaverse and gaming tokens, it is highly volatile.