Yuga Labs has taken the next step in its attempt to build a broader media empire around the Bored Ape Yacht Club Series of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) today by announcing a cryptocurrency called ApeCoin that will be “the main token for all new products and services.” from the company. This includes a recently announced blockchain game that the company plans to release later this year in collaboration with developer nWay.
Initially, ApeCoin will be used as an in-game currency, but positioned as something that can be used outside of the Yuga Labs titles. Starting tomorrow, it will be supported in Benji Bananas, a game from Animoca Brands, which also owns nWay. And there seems to be hope that it could be used in even more games, or even used as a more general-purpose digital currency.
About a quarter of all tokens will be received by the founders of Yuga Labs and BAYC
To make this happen, ApeCoin was created independently of Yuga Labs. The token will be controlled by a community controlled organization called the ApeCoin DAO. The DAO (short for Decentralized Autonomous Organization) will be funded by sales of ApeCoin – 1 billion coins will be available – and controlled by members, with each token awarding one vote. A parent company, the Ape Foundation, was also created to execute decisions on behalf of the DAO. The Board of the Foundation includes, among others, Alexis Ohanian and the co-founder of Animoca Brands.
Initially, the DAO plans to spend part of the money raised to create an ecosystem around the coin. This includes funding for game development, events, and merchandise production. The roadmap also proposes to launch a decentralized NFT marketplace.
However, Yuga Labs will not be completely excluded from the DAO – in fact, it will have a fairly significant voting share in the organization. The company will keep about 15 percent of all issued ApeCoins, and the BAYC founders will receive another 8 percent. Participants in the DAO launch will also receive another 14 percent of the tokens. Then another 15 percent of the tokens will be first offered to Bored Ape NFT holders, leaving just under half of the total supply for anyone else who might want to buy.
Since its launch last April, Bored Ape Yacht Club has become the most famous NFT in the world with multi-million dollar sales and a growing list of celebrity owners. Yuga Labs is now in talks for a multi-million dollar investment and just last week it acquired two of the other biggest names in the NFT – CryptoPunks and Meebits – to expand its portfolio.
The company may be focused on the crypto-currency world, but it seems to focus on games and other media in the future. And while it may not control ApeCoin, the launch of the token could position the Bored Ape Yacht Club as the hub of the wider blockchain gaming universe.