Apecoin, the cryptocurrency created by Yuga Labs, has started making waves as its price soars from lows observed through Q4 of 2022 along with a large swath of other altcoins that have miraculously shown major improvements following the long bear market of 2022. 

The price action is one of the clear signs of what many were saying at the end of 2022 - Yuga Labs assets are the best in the business. With their latest Sewer Pass release and the next mint coming out in early February, Yuga Labs is making a strong showing that they are not intimidated by the noise; but should they be?

Apecoin price is up

Apecoin, which originally started in March 2022, has performed like most other altcoins in 2022 - poorly. When it first began, many questioned its purpose and how it would improve the BAYC community. 

The coins, first airdropped to BAYC and MAYC holders, took a significant dip as holders immediately sold the assets until the Otherdeed metaverse collection was announced. Shortly after, the price of Apecoin slowly rose as it was needed to purchase Yuga’s latest metaverse NFT collection. However, the price of Apecoin quickly tanked and failed to hold interest through 2022. 

Sewer Pass NFT

Apecoin has seen a small resurgence from investors following the release of the Sewer Pass NFT which was airdropped to BAYC holders and grants them access to play the Dookey Dash game, also created by Yuga Labs. 

The purpose of the game is to reward the highest scores collected by players with significantly more valuable Yuga assets. With their upcoming NFT collection scheduled to mint in February, many are starting to speculate that Apecoin will again be necessary to purchase the mint; thus causing the price to rise. 

Dookey Dash glitches

The Dookey Dash game, however, wouldn’t be without its controversies. Shortly after release, it has become clear that the game has a number of notable bugs causing players to fall short of the high score which they are all playing for. 

With Yuga Labs assets on the line, these types of glitches are not acceptable for a business that manages tokens worth thousands of dollars. Holders want to be rewarded for their efforts and these bugs in the game are causing a struggle for prizes that could be life-changing.

GameFi microtransactions

The biggest impact from Sewer Pass is that it contains microtransactions that allow players to spend 2 $APE before a run in order to buy a “Powershart” which is a type of boost that players can use to earn better scores. 

Obviously, this has created a legitimate appeal among the players because the reward for the highest score is likely to be significant, giving many BAYC/MAYC holders a reason to spend their $APE. 

Unfortunately, this is the issue that most gamers have with GameFi in general: they do not want cryptocurrencies and NFTs to encourage more microtransactions in their games. While the team at Yuga is doing their best to provide legitimate games to their holders, this type of integration with blockchain will not be well-received among the majority of gamers.