ApeCoin is the most recent cryptocurrency project to release a group of tokens. Its native coin, APE, has seen prices fall as expected in reaction.
On February 16, 7.3 million APE coins were made available for purchase on the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) platform’s nonfungible token (NFT) ApeCoin.
The value of the coins was about $41.7 million at the time of the unlock. Moreover, the unlock accounted for about 0.7% of the entire supply of APE.
As anticipated, the most recent unlock has caused the price of the BAYC governance and utility token to plummet.
March 17 is the date set for ApeCoin’s following token release. A further 40.6 million APE tokens, valued at about $215 million, will be distributed on or about that day. The following unlock will also be much bigger, accounting for 4% of the total supply. The effect on APE price is probably considerably more significant as a result.
Up to March 2026, ApeCoin will continue to issue new tokens every month. According to Token Unlocks, a second significant unlock is planned for September in addition to the massive one that will occur next month.
With only 38.3% of the available APE unlocked at the moment, the market value of the cryptocurrency is $1.9 billion. Future unlocks will probably increase price volatility but are intended to align stakeholder incentives.
The team, treasury, and Yuga Labs, the organization responsible for the BAYC collection, are significantly favored in the tokenomics of ApeCoin. The treasury has been granted access to just under half of all APE tokens. 15% of them are earmarked for airdrops, 38% are intended for Yuga Laboratories and launch contributors.
APE prices fell sharply during the morning of February 17 from an intraday high of just over $5.70 to a low of $5.15.The timing of the unlock matches the 9.7% slip. However, today’s cryptocurrency markets are declining. APE had somewhat rebounded as of the time of publication to trade at $5.20.
All of ApeCoin’s gains from the previous few days have now been erased. In addition, the NFT governance token has lost 80% of its value since reaching an all-time high in April 2022 of $26.70.The BAYC collection is still one of the best-selling items on NFT marketplaces, nonetheless.
