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What is APE?

APE is a fixed-supply ERC-20 token created for the ecosystem around Yuga Labs collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and the Otherside metaverse. It launched on 17 March 2022, when holders of those NFTs claimed an airdrop, and it was set up deliberately outside Yuga Labs, under a token-holder DAO and the Ape Foundation created to administer it.

The token's role has shifted twice since then. It began as the vote in the ApeCoin DAO and the currency of BAYC games and events. Since October 2024 it is also the native gas token of ApeChain, a network built on Arbitrum technology, and since June 2025 the ecosystem around it is run by the ApeCo organization rather than by token votes.

How APE works

One billion APE were minted at launch and the contract can mint no more. For its first three years the token carried one-token-one-vote governance: Ape Improvement Proposals were drafted on a forum, voted on Snapshot and administered by the Ape Foundation, with an elected Special Council executing decisions.

That machinery ended with AIP-596. The proposal, submitted by Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano, closed its vote on 26 June 2025 with 99.66% support, clearing a two-thirds approval requirement with at least 3.5% of circulating supply participating. It shut down proposals, votes and council elections, voided unexecuted AIPs and moved the DAO treasury to ApeCo.

APE supply and tokenomics

The genesis allocation put 62% of supply in an ecosystem fund: 15% as the launch airdrop to NFT holders and 47% to the DAO treasury, released monthly over 48 months. Yuga Labs received 15%, the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation 1%, launch contributors 14% and the four BAYC founders 8%, all on lockups that have since expired.

The schedule is now essentially complete. The ApeCoin whitepaper reported 97.3% of the billion tokens unlocked and over 455,000 APE burned as of 21 January 2026, and the monthly treasury tranches ended in March 2026. There is no inflation mechanism, so supply can only fall through burns.

Who builds APE

Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, designed the launch together with the Ape Foundation, the legal entity created to execute DAO decisions, whose founding board included Alexis Ohanian and the co-founder of Animoca Brands. Yuga adopted APE as the primary token across its products, and ApeChain was later launched by the DAO with Yuga and partners including Horizen Labs, Caldera and LayerZero.

Since AIP-596, operations sit with ApeCo, led by Cameron Kates, previously the executive director of the Ape Foundation, and staffed from the foundation and the Banana Bill ecosystem-fund team. ApeCo's stated mission is supporting builders across ApeChain, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside.

How APE is governed

APE no longer carries governance rights. Between 2022 and 2025 the DAO processed 596 numbered proposals covering grants, infrastructure and marketing, including the vote that selected Arbitrum technology for ApeChain, and its slow proposal cycles were the stated reason Yuga leadership proposed the shutdown.

AIP-596 preserved two commitments while ending token voting: funding for the APE staking contract through March 2026 and a 10 million APE reserve for legal and transition costs. Every other decision, from treasury spending to product priorities, now belongs to ApeCo, which does not answer to token-holder votes.

What people use APE for

Day-to-day demand for APE now comes from ApeChain activity and the surrounding NFT ecosystem rather than from governance, which no longer exists for the token.

• Pay gas for every transaction on ApeChain, which uses APE as its native token.
• Buy mints, tickets and merchandise across BAYC, Otherside and partner projects that price in APE.
• Earn the built-in yield ApeChain applies to APE bridged onto the network.
• Trade against APE pairs on exchanges and in on-chain pools.

APE risks and considerations

APE is exposed to the health of one company's ecosystem. Yuga Labs sets direction for BAYC, Otherside and ApeChain, and ApeCo controls the former DAO treasury without token-holder oversight, so a holder has no vote over how either entity acts. Demand also tracks NFT-market cycles, which have been deep.

Some structural supports have expiry dates: the staking contract was funded only through March 2026, and the scheduled unlocks that once diluted holders are finished, so future supply movements depend on ApeCo treasury decisions. On networks other than Ethereum and ApeChain, tokens labeled APE are third-party bridge representations rather than the canonical asset.