Yuga Labs first foray into the metaverse for their Bored Ape Yacht Club collection was one of the most highly anticipated minting events ever following the public sale of Otherdeeds. 

A variety of announcements and events led to massive hype for the project which concluded with an estimated $100 million worth of Ethereum being burned in gas fees alone.

The mint was so active that Ethereum slowed to a near halt and crashed OpenSea. In response, Yuga Labs suggested on their Twitter feed that they would begin to consider creating their own blockchain network for Apecoin.

The Yuga Labs Timeline

To get a correct perspective of this event, it's important to look at the Yuga Labs timeline as a whole. The company first began the Bored Ape Yacht Club fresh off the GME Short Squeeze hype in January 2021 following the r/WallStreetbets method of “aping in.” 

Yuga Labs was able to deliver an instantly recognizable brand to a generation of eager new crypto traders. Since then, the floor price for BAYC tokens have floated above 100 Eth. 

The explosion in value caused Yuga Labs to create many more projects which were all delivered to BAYC holders including the Bored Ape Kennel Club, the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and now the Otherdeeds metaverse land plots; but it’s the apecoin that was given to BAYC holders that has garnered speculation. 

Apecoin was first air dropped to BAYC members in 2022 with only a slight explanation of its utility. The marketing for the coin could best be described as “Yuga Labs go brrr.” 

Anticipation drove the coin to a $13 valuation, leading many BAYC holders to cash out with sizable fortunes. However, there was no inclination that Apecoin was only meant to reward holders with a quick pump and dump. 

The Otherside Metaverse is announced 

Yuga Labs is one of the leading teams in the NFT ecosystem and developing a coin meant that bigger things were on the way - and they were. Shortly after Apecoin released, Yuga Labs tweeted out a video advertising a new, upcoming metaverse called the Otherside featuring a host of newly acquired IP’s including CryptoPunks and Meebits. 

The ad immediately went viral with massive hype. Soon, people would be able to do much more than just hold their tokens in a wallet. The apes were getting new utilities and it was coming with nearly guaranteed profits. 

Hype started to build for the coin as many people began to wonder how integral it would be to the Otherside’s economy. Rumors spread and the coin quickly rose from $10 to $28 when the announcement was made that Otherdeeds would be minted for 305 Apecoins. 

Excitement was through the roof. The mint was scheduled and the price was set, and Yuga Labs had one last surprise - Koda! This rare little creature was an additional layer to the project that created instant value for lucky holders. Not much has been said about the creature, but the mystery certainly adds to the hype. 

Problems during min

At mint, faults in the project began to show as transaction times significantly slowed down OpenSea and the entire Ethereum blockchain. Although Eth miners saw huge gains, criticism mounted as a gas war broke out with fees reaching as high as 2 Eth per mint. 

Many blamed the poorly optimized contracts as the primary reason for the gas fees while Yuga Labs tweeted a claim that the Ethereum network was unable to handle the transaction surge. 

Whatever the reason might be, Yuga Labs then followed their statement by raising the question of creating their own blockchain which they would present to their DAO. 

A new blockchain for Apecoin

The idea is a bold one, and might be the necessary step for Yuga Labs to take if they want to continue leading the pack. Their branding carries immense value and dedicating a blockchain to their metaverse is a great way to bring the Otherside to life. 

The big question though, is how will this affect Ethereum. BAYC is synonymous with Ethereum gains by now and is the flagship product to buy with Eth. With their Proof-of-Stake merger right around the corner, congestion issues and transaction times will be significantly reduced; giving Yuga Labs the improvements they already need. 

In the meantime, optimizing their contracts might be all that’s required to solve the gas wars their mints create. 

Just weeks after the Moonbirds shocking rise to the top, Yuga Labs responded with an unforgettable minting event that had everybody’s attention, causing Opensea and Ethereum to buckle under the activity. 

There were no surprises, it’s clear that Yuga Labs has the strongest demand on the market. Yuga Labs possesses a huge fan base and any move to a new blockchain has the power to create a major shift in customer bases. 

What Blockchain is Apecoin on?

Despite the suggestion made by Yuga Labs, the Apecoin token still resides on the Ethereum network along with all of the NFT collections created by Yuga Labs including BAYC and MAYC. Since the suggestion, the company has made no new efforts in developing its own blockchain, instead focusing its efforts on building out the Otherside metaverse.