ApeCoin Plummets Double Digits After Metaverse NFT Land Sale

ApeCoin is facing some serious volatility. 

In the past 24 hours alone, the token behind ApeDAO, a decentralized organization (DAO) linked to the popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has dipped, dived, and even jumped several points. 

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According to price data pulled from CoinMarketCap, this time yesterday, APE was trading at $17.74. The token then fell to $16.24, rose back to $17.56, plummeted again to as low as $15.7, retook $17.16, before dropping to its current price of $15.49. 

The volatile price action has nonetheless inflicted some serious damage, with the net losses over the past day totaling over 13%. 

ApeCoin is the governance token used to propose and vote on various proposals made within the ApeDAO. Though it technically isn’t the official token of the BAYC collection, those who held a Bored Ape NFT were eligible for an airdrop of this token back in March. 

The coin’s purpose is essentially to corral the BAYC community around common objectives and events.

One such event, the recent land sale for the community’s so-called Otherside metaverse initiative, is likely the primary conductor behind the token’s latest volatility.

Apecoin and the Otherside metaverse  

Yuga Labs, the startup behind the NFT collection, launched the Otherside metaverse land mint on Saturday night. 

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The event opened up the sale of NFT-based deeds (called “Otherdeeds”) to digital land within this yet-to-launch environment. It was a smash hit, raising $561 million for Yuga Labs. The viral sale also led to fees on Ethereum, the network upon which the sale occurred, skyrocketing as buyers rushed to buy a slice of digital real estate. 

What’s more, these deeds could only be purchased using the ApeCoin token. And as hype around the minting sale ramped up in April, speculators scooped up tons of APE to ensure they could get their hands on a deed. 

The spike tapered, though, as it became clear that the mint wouldn’t be a Dutch auction but simply sold “for a flat price of 305 Apecoin,” according to the team behind the metaverse project. 

In a Dutch auction, the price of an item is a function of its demand on the market, with prices potentially soaring as this demand increases. 

But as it was announced the day before the land sale that the price per deed would be fixed, some investors may have shed some of their ApeCoin holdings. 

All in all, the past 24 hours have been anything but boring for the BAYC community.