ApeCoin in for Volatile Ride as Exchanges List Bored Ape Yacht Club-linked Crypto

Major cryptocurrency exchanges began listing ApeCoin (APE) Thursday — the token with performance closely tied to Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

Coinbase, FTX, Gemini and Kraken have all added APE to their platforms. 

David Ma, FTX’s head of listings, deemed the token a “high quality cryptoasset” that has garnered “great interest from the FTX community who were eager to take part in the Yuga Labs ecosystem.”

“[We] will continue to support projects that are innovative, beneficial to the crypto ecosystem and advance the adoption of blockchain technology,” Ma told Blockworks. 

Binance, Kraken and Coinbase did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

ApeCoin is an ethereum utility token, which is governed and launched by a decentralized autonomous organization — the ApeCoin DAO. Holding a token is the only requirement for DAO membership. 

“The token will provide access to exclusive merchandise, games and events happening in the ecosystem itself,” Binance said in a statement.

APE will serve as a decentralized protocol layer for new products and services that “drive culture forward into the metaverse,” according to ApeCoin’s website. Token holders can vote on how the DAO’s funds will be used. 

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During the token drop, reports emerged of scammers setting up phishing websites and hacking verified Twitter accounts to lure investors in and drain their digital wallets.

The ApeCoin token — airdropped to BAYC NFT holders — got off to a rocky start on exchanges Thursday. The token plunged from $39.4 to $6.31, according to Coinbase. The token traded at $8.26 at time of publication.

Starting Thursday, Ape NFT (non-fungible token) holders were eligible to claim 10,000 APE tokens, 15% of ApeCoin’s total supply. 16% were allocated to Yuga Labs and 8% to BAYC founders.

“Bored Apes showcase the modern playbook of ‘NFT first, token second,’” Yury Lifshits, CEO of DAO infrastructure company Superdao, told Blockworks. “More and more DAOs and all kinds of projects will do free NFT drops first, NFT sales second and token launch third.”

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