ApeCoin (APE) Surges 100% as Yuga Labs Debuts ApeChain

ApeCoin (APE), the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)-affiliated ERC-20 cryptocurrency used for governance and transactions in the ApeCoin ecosystem

ApeCoin (APE) price doubled over the weekend, making it the top gainer among the major cryptocurrencies. The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)-affiliated ERC-20 token is used for governance and transactions in the ApeCoin ecosystem.

CoinDesk data showed that APE price soared to $1.5 for the first time since April. The token was trading at $1.44 at press time with a 100% gain in the past seven days, according to price-tracking platform CoinMarketCap.

Several developments appeared to have catalyzed the price rally. For one, the ApeCoin team, led by Yuga Labs, the company behind BAYC, debuted the highly anticipated blockchain network ApeChain on Sunday.

The ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) voted to build the same in January this year.

The new offering is a Layer 3 network that's built on Arbitrum One and fully compatible with the APE token. It will facilitate minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), trading, and decentralized applications while enhancing user experience, pseudonymous analyst Elena noted on X.

Moreover, the ApeChain bridges also went live on Sunday, enabling users to transfer their tokens to ApeChain and automatically earn a staking yield on APE, ETH and stablecoins.

Staking refers to locking assets in a blockchain network in return for rewards. It's analogous to investing in a fixed-income instrument.

According to Markus Thielen, head of 10x Research, the decision to bring native staking yield to APE probably galvanized investor interest in the token.

"ApeCoin has introduced an automatic yield mode, allowing users to passively earn returns by staking their APE tokens. This new feature reinvests rewards automatically, maximizing yield over time," Thielen said in a report to clients, explaining the catalysts for the price rally.

"The system is part of the broader ApeCoin ecosystem, which aims to enhance token utility by encouraging users to engage more actively with the token through games, staking pools, and other activities. The platform also plans to launch support to other yield-generating cryptocurrencies to attract a larger user base," Thielen added.

Another factor that may have helped the APE rally is LayerZero's launch on the ApeChain mainnet. LayerZero is an interoperability protocol that enables applications to move data across blockchains.

The APE token's integration with LayerZero's omnichain fungible token standard enables "seamless cross-chain transfers, enhancing utility across multiple blockchains while ensuring scalable and efficient transactions," LayerZero said.