Born out of one of the most successful NFT collections, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), ApeCoin has been making waves in the crypto markets since its launch in mid-March.

Read on to learn how to invest in ApeCoin (APE) in this guide for professional and institutional investors.

What is ApeCoin?

ApeCoin (APE) is an ERC-20 utility and governance token for the APE ecosystem that launched on March 17, 2022. The crypto token gives holders access to exclusive games, services, events, and merch, and incentivizes third-party developers to participate in the ecosystem. The token aims to become one of the bedrocks of the emerging Web3 economy.

ApeCoin’s total supply is one billion, distributed among launch contributors, Yuga Labs, BAYC founders, the BAYC community, charity, and the Ecosystem Fund.

Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs & ApeCoin DAO Explained

The APE ecosystem comprises several entities that every potential APE investor needs to know. One of those entities is the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). This is a collection of popular PFP (profile picture) NFTs that make up a new form of digital art, and provide holders with a membership to BAYC’s “swamp club for apes.” The Web3 company, Yuga Labs, is the creator of BAYC and its NFT collection.

All APE token holders have a chance to join ApeCoin’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Members are responsible for deciding on projects, Ecosystem Fund allocation, governance rules, and partnerships, among other things. Yuga Labs itself is also a DAO member.

The APE Foundation is ApeCoin’s steward. It executes the DAO’s decisions while ensuring that the ecosystem is growing and developing fairly and inclusively. Part of the foundation is a special council known as The Board, which oversees the foundation at the DAO’s request. The first Board will serve for a term of six months after which DAO members will elect new or existing Board members yearly.

Why Have Investors Been Buying ApeCoin?

At the time of writing, ApeCoin had a market cap of $4.6 billion and ranked among the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The token also recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $3.2 billion, which is outstanding for a new token.

So, why is this coin so popular?

APE is linked to one of the hottest NFT collections of 2021, BAYC. The collection has a cult-like following and keeps attracting support from celebrities that have bought Bored Apes and show them off as their social media profile pictures. Examples are music artists like Eminem and Justin Bieber, and basketball star Stephen Curry.

On May 4, 2022, Elon Musk changed his Twitter profile picture to a Bored Apes collage, leading to a 19 percent APE price bump. As such, celebrity interest in BAYC is contributing to APE’s popularity.

Yuga Labs will also be launching Otherside, a metaverse game with APE as the anchor token. In a recent virtual land sale for this metaverse, the company raised north of $561million in less than 24 hours. APE benefited particularly from this NFT sale as virtual land plots had to be bought using ApeCoin.

Also, APE’s governance is in the hands of the community, a feature that’s attractive to investors. The DAO gives the project credibility, reassuring investors that members will make fair decisions, benefiting all stakeholders instead of a select few.

How to Buy ApeCoin

You can buy ApeCoin on both centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges. Examples include Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Uniswap, and SushiSwap.

Here are the steps that you should follow when buying APE:

• Get a wallet that supports the token. For instance, Metamask is a suitable Web3 wallet for ERC-20 tokens like APE.
• Create an account on an exchange where APE is accessible.
• Complete KYC and deposit funds.
• Buy your desired amount of ApeCoin.
• Transfer your APE to Metamask or a hardware wallet, such as Trezor or Ledger for long-term holding.

Alternatively, you can purchase ApeCoin via an ETP to avoid the hassle of going through the steps above.

Crypto exchange-traded products (ETP) give investors indirect exposure to crypto assets through a secure and regulated investment vehicle, alleviating the need to securely buy and store digital assets yourself. The upcoming Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP is an example of an ETP that you can acquire to get exposure to ApeCoin.

Introducing the Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP

Iconic Physical APE ETP (Ticker: IAPE) is an exchange-traded product (ETP) that tracks the price of ApeCoin. Each share in the ETP gives the holder a claim on a predefined amount of APE (1 note = 1 EOS at launch).

• Physically backed by APE stored in cold storage with additional third-party insurance.
• Competitive management fee of 0.95% p.a.
• Listed and traded on Börse Stuttgart
• No lending/staking of assets.

Product name	Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP
Ticker Stuttgart / Bloomberg	IAPE / IAPE GS
ISIN / WKN	DE000A3GYNY2 / A3GYNY
TER	1.49%
Base Currency	USD
Underlying	ApeCoin (CMBI ApeCoin Index)
Product Structure	Physically replicating
Index Provider	Coin Metrics Bletchley Indexes
Domicile	Liechtenstein
Issuer	Iconic Digital Assets AG
Administrator	State Street Bank International GmbH
Security Trustee	Bankhaus von der Heydt GmbH & Co. KG
Custodian(s)	Coinbase Germany GmbH
Authorized Participant(s)	Flow Traders B.V. Jane Street Financial Ltd. DRW Europe B.V. Bluefin Europe LLP Goldenberg Hehmeyer LLP
Launch date	26 May 2022
Stuttgart Listing Date	15 June 2022

 

About Iconic Funds  

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