ApeCoin

ApeCoin (APE) is the governance and utility token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem, launched in March 2022 with a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. Originally controlled by the ApeCoin DAO, it now powers ApeChain, a dedicated blockchain where APE is the gas token, with governance consolidated under Yuga Labs after two major restructurings.

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What Is ApeCoin?

ApeCoin (ticker APE) is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum that serves as the governance and utility token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ecosystem, one of the most famous NFT brands in crypto. APE was created as a shared currency for games, virtual worlds, and culture projects connected to the Ape universe, and since 2024 it has also been the native gas token of ApeChain, a dedicated blockchain built for the ecosystem.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is ApeCoin?
Getting Started With ApeCoin
How To Get An ApeCoin Wallet?
ApeCoin Resources
How To Buy ApeCoin?
Latest ApeCoin News

APE launched on March 17, 2022. Notably, the token was not issued by Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club. Instead, it was launched by the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization open to all APE holders, with the APE Foundation acting as the legal steward that carried out the DAO's decisions. This structure was designed to keep the token formally separate from Yuga Labs, though the two were closely linked from day one: Yuga received a 16 percent token allocation, the BAYC founders received 8 percent, and Yuga adopted APE as the primary token across its products, most prominently the Otherside metaverse land sale in April 2022.

The tokenomics are simple: a fixed supply of 1 billion APE that can never be increased, with no burning mechanism written into the contract. At launch, 62 percent was set aside for the ecosystem, including a 15 percent airdrop claimable by Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders and 47 percent for the DAO treasury, released over time. The remaining allocations went to launch contributors (14 percent), Yuga Labs (16 percent, of which 1 percent of total supply was donated to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation), and the BAYC founders (8 percent), all subject to lockups unwinding over 48 months. The full supply is now circulating.

APE's early life was turbulent. The token briefly traded above $26 during the Otherside land sale frenzy of April 2022, then fell more than 99 percent from that peak as the NFT market cooled. Along the way the ecosystem added APE staking and a steady stream of DAO-funded projects, but governance was widely criticized as slow and unfocused.

In October 2024 the ecosystem got its own blockchain. ApeChain, chosen by a DAO vote, launched as a Layer-3 network built with Arbitrum Orbit technology, with business development led by Horizen Labs. APE is the gas token on ApeChain, which gives the token a structural source of demand, and the chain offers built-in yield features alongside a growing catalog of games, DeFi apps, and NFT projects, including the Otherside virtual world.

Governance has since been restructured twice. In June 2025, Yuga Labs CEO Greg Solano proposed winding down the ApeCoin DAO, calling its governance "sluggish, noisy and often unserious governance theater." The proposal, AIP-596, passed, dissolving the DAO and transferring roughly $168 million in treasury assets to ApeCo, a new entity administered by Yuga Labs that took over funding and ecosystem development. Then in 2026, Yuga Labs went a step further: ApeCo itself was wound down by June 2026, with the ApeChain and ecosystem teams folded directly into Yuga Labs under new CEO Michael Figge. The original community-governance experiment has effectively ended, and APE is now best understood as the ecosystem token of a company-led brand.

Getting Started With ApeCoin

Getting started with ApeCoin means holding APE on Ethereum or using it on ApeChain, where it pays for transactions:

Step 1: Set up an Ethereum-compatible wallet such as MetaMask, Rabby, or Coinbase Wallet. The same wallet works on ApeChain, which is EVM-compatible.
Step 2: Buy APE on a centralized or decentralized exchange and withdraw it to your wallet.
Step 3: If you want to use ApeChain apps, bridge your APE to ApeChain through the Ape Portal on the official website. On ApeChain, APE is the gas token, so you need it for every transaction.
Step 4: Explore the ecosystem: games and virtual worlds like Otherside, NFT collections, and DeFi apps built on ApeChain.

How to Get an ApeCoin Wallet?

APE is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and the native gas token of ApeChain, so any wallet that supports EVM networks can hold it.

MetaMask

MetaMask is the most widely used Ethereum wallet, available as a browser extension and mobile app. It holds APE on Ethereum and can be connected to ApeChain by adding the network, letting you use ApeChain apps directly.

Rabby

Rabby is a browser-extension wallet designed for multi-chain EVM use. It switches networks automatically, which is convenient when moving between Ethereum and ApeChain.

Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase Wallet is a self-custody wallet (separate from a Coinbase exchange account) that supports APE on Ethereum and other EVM networks, with a beginner-friendly mobile app.

Hardware Wallets

A Ledger or Trezor device can be paired with MetaMask or Rabby to keep your private keys offline, which is recommended for larger holdings.

ApeCoin Resources

How to Buy ApeCoin?

APE has been listed on major exchanges since its 2022 launch and remains widely available.

Centralized Exchanges

APE trades on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Bybit, and Gate, typically against USD or USDT.

Decentralized Exchanges

On Ethereum, APE can be swapped on Uniswap and other DEXes. On ApeChain, decentralized exchanges and the Ape Portal bridge on the official website let you acquire and move APE directly on the chain where it pays for gas.

Latest ApeCoin News

The biggest recent story is the consolidation of the ecosystem under Yuga Labs. After the ApeCoin DAO was dissolved in mid-2025 and replaced by ApeCo, Yuga Labs announced in 2026 that ApeCo itself would be wound down by June 2026, with the ApeChain and ecosystem teams moving directly into Yuga Labs. Figge framed the move as a reset to cut the cost of coordinating parallel structures, saying ApeCoin "should not feel like a separate bet" from the rest of Yuga's brands, while news coverage also pointed to tightening regulatory scrutiny of token projects. The change followed Michael Figge taking over as Yuga Labs CEO in April 2026, an announcement that briefly sent APE up around 90 percent amid heavy speculative trading.

Meanwhile, the ecosystem has been pushing APE beyond its home chains, with deployments and bridges extending the token to networks such as Solana and BNB Chain, while ApeChain continues to add games and applications. Because the governance structure, ecosystem roadmap, and exchange listings continue to evolve, the official ApeChain website and documentation are the best sources for the current state of the project.