ApeCoin hits new monthly high of $16.96, leaving other metaverse tokens in the dust.
It seems that a new hype coin entered the scene and left Doge in the dust. While the crypto market has been stagnating this year, ApeCoin is soaring above them all, including Monero as a privacy coin outlier.
For the last 30 days, APE outperformed Bitcoin alone by over 40%.
In the last month, APE outperformed multiple blockchain categories; digital gold (BTC), DeFi (ETH), privacy coin (XMR) and meme coin (DOGE).
Source: TradingView
However, at a one-month high of $16.96 this Wednesday, APE is still far from its all-time high of $39.40 on Mar. 17. Nonetheless, going from $13.09 to 16.96 in a single day, on Apr. 20, is a performance that we are not likely to see with a number of large-cap coins.
In fact, a 30% jump usually follows when a coin gets listed on a major exchange or some other favorable event is incoming.
Recent Developments Pushes ApeCoin To New Highs
After ApeCoin (APE) launched on Mar. 16, the hype surrounding Yuga Labs‘ latest offering propelled it up to 700% on some exchanges. However, APE soon took an 80% dive.
At the current rate, 28.48% of APE coins are in circulation out of the total 1 billion supply. To prevent depreciation while the APE ecosystem ramps up, ApeCoin DAO has a multi-tiered unlocking approach.
For instance, 4,166,666.67 tokens are to be unlocked per month for 36 months, after Yuga Labs’ 12-month lockup of 150 million APEs.
The most recent rise of the APEs is largely owed to a classic reason—exchange listing. Specifically, listing on Gemini Earn, which is similar to the recently canceled Celsius Earn program for US investors.
Such lending programs are simple. Users deposit their crypto coins for others to borrow and earn an interest rate for supplying this lending service.
Therefore, just like a bank deposit, but with much higher yields. As of Apr. 20, the annual percentage yield (APY) for ApeCoin was 5.58%. This would yield $485.17 over four years with a $2,000 initial deposit.
Source: Gemini Earn
Of course, given how volatile APE is, this yield could go significantly higher or lower. In turn, this will depend on the projects that will make use of APE coins.
Why Would One Need ApeCoin?
Yuga Labs gained its blockchain glory with Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, which generated $1.8 billion worth of sales in addition to $1.23 billion from Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
These colorful cartoon apes NFTs steadily appreciated as celebrities displayed them on their social media accounts; from Steve Aoki and Eminem to Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and Mark Cuban.
BAYC NFTs activity since May 2021.
Source: OpenSea
As of April, the BAYC floor price stands at an impressive 120 ETH ($369,777). Instead of retiring, Yuga Labs is building on that accumulated goodwill and reputation with ApeCoin, a utility and governance token for the Ape ecosystem.
After having raised $450 million last month, Yuga Labs’ next big thing is the Otherside project, a 3D blockchain game. This is supposed to be the staple for the company’s metaverse venture, just like Horizon Worlds is for Meta, but likely without the egregious Meta fees.
Now that we are in April, rumors are circulating of NFT land drops for this metaverse. Metaverse land NFTs have long established themselves as prized commodities, first spearheaded by Axie Infinity’s Genesis land plots. One of which sold for 550 ETH ($2.4 million last November).
By the same NFT token, according to BAYC owner Renegademaster, Yuga Labs is likely to launch land plot sales for Otherside starting at 600 APE, which is now $9,675.
While this is happening, or about to happen, BAYC gained such popularity that it spawned a burger joint in South California. The Bored & Hungry restaurant is not only Ape-themed, but it also accepts ETH and APE for service payment.
APE Surpasses Marketcap Of SAND And MANA
Both Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND) have not performed nearly as well as ApeCoin. In fact, they have entered negative territory for last month’s performance.
APE got ahead of veteran metaverse projects, SAND and MANA.
Source: TradingView
To make things worse, despite being two years older than APE, MANA’s market cap is now lower than APE’s at $3.9 billion vs. $4.6 billion. SAND is even lower at $3.34 billion.
Zooming out, what appears to be happening with hype/metaverse coins is akin to corporate brand rollouts. Those projects that have successfully made their NFTs an integral part of social media avatars are now in an advantageous position.
Static NFTs were the jumping ramp, and Yuga Labs seems to be jumping to create an ambitious ecosystem that rivals Axie Infinity as the blockchain gaming pioneer.
However, creating a generative NFT collection is an entirely different wheelhouse than creating a blockchain game. Even without the token layer, many elements have to align to make it a compelling experience.
The silver lining for all parties involved is that, if successful, such projects have their own staying power beyond the Fed’s proclamations or geopolitical tensions.