What Is ApeCoin (APE)? | Binance Academy

Key TakeawaysApeCoin (APE) is an ERC-20 utility and governance token of the APE ecosystem. It empowers the decentralized APE community building at the forefront of Web3.
APE is governed by the ApeCoin DAO and supported by the APE Foundation. With APE, token holders can vote on governance proposals on the DAO and access exclusive features of the APE ecosystem, such as games, events, and services.
Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collections, has also adopted APE as the primary token for all new products and services.
IntroductionSince its launch in April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has become one of the most popular NFT collections. BAYC is well-known for having a vibrant and active community of supporters.
What Is ApeCoin (APE)?ApeCoin (APE) is the governance and utility token of the APE ecosystem. It is a decentralized protocol layer that supports the APE community building at the forefront of Web 3.0. 
APE is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. It is controlled and built on by the community. The ApeCoin DAO is a decentralized organization that allows all APE holders to vote on governance decisions related to the token. 
In addition, APE is adopted by Yuga Labs as the primary token for all new products and services. Yuga Labs is the creator of the trending Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collections. It also owns the IP of another two popular NFT projects, CryptoPunks and Meebits.
How does APE work?APE was founded to be used within the growing APE ecosystem. It is governed by the ApeCoin DAO and supported by the APE Foundation.
ApeCoin DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for all APE token holders to participate in governance decisions. They can decide how to allocate the Ecosystem Fund, make governance rules, select projects, partnerships, etc. After the DAO members vote on the proposals, the APE Foundation will proceed to carry out the community-led governance decisions. 
The APE Foundation is the legal steward of the DAO. It facilitates the growth and development of the APE ecosystem in a fair and inclusive way. At the Foundation, there is a special council called the Board. It is tasked with ensuring that the community's visions are implemented. The Board consists of 5 members from the tech and crypto community, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. As a decentralized Board, the initial Board members will serve for 6 months before APE holders vote for new Board members on an annual basis.
What Is the APE Ecosystem?The APE ecosystem is made up of the community holders of ApeCoin, and all products & services utilizing APE.
Yuga Labs is a web3 company best known for the creation of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It will be a community member in the ApeCoin DAO and adopt APE as the primary token across new projects. Upon the launch of ApeCoin, holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs were entitled to collectively claim 15% of the ApeCoin supply (150 million tokens of the 1 billion total tokens in supply).
Let’s look at the NFT collections that are related to the APE ecosystem.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)Launched in April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is the first NFT collection of the APE ecosystem. It features 10,000 unique Apes on the Ethereum blockchain. Each Ape has a unique look, style, and rarity.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) is an NFT collection of up to 20,000 mutated versions of the original BAYC Apes. 10,000 mutant serums were airdropped to the original BAYC NFT holders, with three tiers of serums that added to the rarity of traits. With the different tiers of serum they received, BAYC holders could create different types of mutant Apes. Each BAYC can only generate a single mutant from a single serum type, and the serum disappears after use.
The MAYC was also a means to welcome more new members to the APE community. This is why 10,000 mutant Apes were also minted for a public sale in August 2021 following the mutant serum airdrop.
Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC)Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) is a collection of dog NFTs that were made available to every single member of the BAYC. For each Bored Ape NFT they own, holders could “adopt” a random Club Dog NFT for free, only paying a gas fee. Like the Apes, the 10,000 BAKC NFTs have various attributes and rarities.
What Can APE Tokens Do?The ApeCoin token serves several purposes in the APE ecosystem. It allows holders to participate in the ApeCoin DAO as a governance token. APE holders can also access exclusive features of the APE ecosystem, including games, merch, events, and services.
APE is also a tool for third-party developers to participate in the APE ecosystem. They can incorporate the token into their services, games, and other projects as incentives. For example, APE is adopted as incentives for players in Benji Bananas, a play-to-earn mobile game developed by Animoca Brands. Benji Bananas offers a Membership Pass (‘Benji Pass’), an NFT that will enable its owners to earn special tokens when playing Benji Bananas, and that will also allow those tokens to be swapped for ApeCoin.
Closing ThoughtsWith Yuga Labs adopting ApeCoin as the fundamental token, the community expects more utilities to be added to the token in the future. For example, a staking function for APE HODLers to earn passive income, more GameFi applications, or even collaborations with the other NFT IPs Yuga Labs owns.