Bored Ape Yacht Club creates a cryptocurrency to fund games, events, and merch

Image: ApeCoin DAO

The primary token for all new products will be called ApeCoin, which was announced today by Yuga Labs, in order to build a broader media empire around the Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible token series. The company plans to release a play-to-earn game in partnership with the developer nWay.

The initial use of the coin will be as in-game currency, but it is being pitched as something that can be used beyond the confines of Yuga Labs titles. It will be supported in a game called Benji Bananas, which is owned by nWay. The hope is that it could be used as a more general-purpose digital currency.

Yuga Labs has set up a new company, called ApeCoin, to make that happen. The organization that will oversee the token is called the ApeCoin DAO. 1 billion coins will be available, and each token will have a single vote, in order to fund the DAO. The Ape Foundation is a corporate parent that has been created to execute decisions on behalf of the DAO. The board of the Foundation includes Ohanian and Animoca Brands.

The DAO is going to spend a portion of the money it raises on building out an environment around the coin. Funding game development, events, and merch production is included. The NFT marketplace is proposed by the roadmap.

Yuga Labs will have a large voting share in the organization. The company will retain 15 percent of the coins, and the BAYC's founders will get another 8 percent. 14 percent of the token will be given to contributors to the launch. There will be less than half of the total supply for everyone else who wants to buy in when another 15 percent of token is offered first to holders of Bored Ape NFTs.

Since its launch last April, Bored Ape Yacht Club has become the biggest name in the NFT world with multi-million dollar sales and a growing list of celebrity owners. Yuga Labs is in talks for a multi-million dollar investment and just last week it acquired two of the biggest names in NFTs.

The company seems to be orienting itself around games and other media, even though it is focused on thecryptocurrencies. The launch of the token could position Bored Ape Yacht Club as the center of a broader gaming universe.