What Is The Significance Of Apes In The Cryptosphere?

The cryptosphere seems to be obsessed with apes. Developers are naming projects after the fearsome primate (ApeCoin, ApeX, ApeMove, ApeXit), celebrities are spending millions of dollars on images of bored-looking apes (BAYC), and even crypto exchanges have adopted the trend (ApeSwap). The obvious question here is, why? Tag along as we try and find out.

What’s behind this apparent ape mania?

To understand the crypto world, you must read about the various coins, their advantages and disadvantages, and their related news. However, even after all your learnings, you may find it difficult to hold a conversation with a crypto enthusiast simply because you don’t know the lingo.

What is apeing

Apeing refers to purchasing newly introduced tokens without conducting much prior research on the project. While this is never advisable, the fear of missing out on potential gains makes people do strange things. Investors skip fundamental and technical checks, all because they want to be among the first to invest in a new crypto project.

The term gained popularity during the ‘DeFi summer’ in 2020 when new coins cropped up at a rate of knots. Many of these coins were unannounced but found the backing of a small group of investors, causing their prices to moon.

As such stories started doing the rounds on social platforms, other investors tried copying this tactic. They would put money behind new and relatively unknown projects without extensive research. This investment strategy was considered ‘low IQ’ and hence called apeing.

Slang is cool

While the strategy itself is not very effective, the term certainly stuck. If someone wanted to ask you which new coins you were investing in, they would say, “what coin are you apeing into?” Like most slang words, the term ‘ape’ or ‘apeing’ became very popular amongst users. It was almost like a trend, and the cryptoverse loves trends.

Crypto projects named after the latest happenings and trends usually find substantial user interest, even if they have zero utility. It’s a similar story to ape-inspired projects. The name helps grab the attention of investors and bring them popularity. They could ride the trend and build awareness around the project, which eventually translated into revenue.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club

Speaking of revenue, some of these ape-inspired projects have done exceptionally well. Take, for instance, the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. These digital artworks of bored-looking apes have sold for millions of dollars, with buyers including the likes of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and other pop culture icons. Such was the project’s success that, YugaLabs, the company behind the BAYC, launched another NFT collection called the Mutant Apes Yacht Club. One of the artworks from this collection sold for $3.9 million.

ApeCoin

The DAO that runs the BAYC also has its native cryptocurrency called ApeCoin. It was launched in March this year and has already notched up a market cap of $1.6 billion, with a trading volume of over $158 million in the last 24 hours. Anyone who buys ApeCoin can become a member of the ApeCoin DAO. Once you are a member, you can vote on proposals about future projects and help govern how the DAO’s treasury is spent.

ApeSwap

This is another popular crypto project that’s riding the ape wave. ApeSwap is one of the leading decentralized exchanges in the world today. It functions as a crypto exchange, staking platform, and DeFi protocol. Today, it has more than $90 million in total value locked and has seen over $17 billion in traded value flow through the platform.

Conclusion

Ape or apeing is certainly not the first slang term to be picked by project developers, nor will it be the last. Terms like HODL and FOMO also have dedicated projects; they just haven’t done as well as the ape-inspired platforms. Rest assured, any catchy slang or world events that come up in the future will also see crypto projects named after them. Moreover, investors will line up to support such projects regardless of their fundamentals, use cases, and technical foundations (or lack thereof).