ApeCoin, the cryptocurrency of the APE Ecosystem which includes Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club is looking to hop blockchains. Currently, ApeCoin is on Ethereum but the ApeCoin DAO is looking to migrate potentially to Avalanche or Flow.
The decision to switch from Ethereum to an alternate layer-1 comes after the launch of the Otherside metaverse. Last month, Yuga Labs, the company behind ApeCoin, launched minting of Otherdeeds, for virtual land pieces on Otherside. This resulted in over $320 million in sales on the first day of launch.
However, due to overwhelming traffic on the Ethereum blockchain, transaction fees skyrocketed. Users complained about fees reaching $2,000 per transaction, even if transactions weren’t processed.
Due to the transaction problems, the ApeCoin DAO is looking to shift away from Ethereum according to Coindesk.
Need For APE’s Own Chain
On May 1, Yuga Labs’ official Twitter handle first brought up the notion of a chain migration. At that time, the discussion was about ApeCoin launching its own chain. The change of sentiment to migrate to an established blockchain came after discussions in the ApeDAO. Since its creation last year, the DAO has voted on 11 proposals, but chain migration is not one of them.
Avalanche is an option because the EVM-compatible chain is committed to building subnets, or a smaller part of a larger public network. ApeCoin and the APE Ecosystem could exit on its own subnet. This would decrease the load on the entire blockchain and reduce fees. Kevin Sekniqi, COO of Ava Labs, the company behind Avalanche has confirmed that he has had “early discussions” with the ApeCoin DAO.
On the other hand, Flow blockchain is focused on building for a niche market. Dapper Labs, the company behind Flow, is known mainly for the trading card game NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties. It is expected that Flow would be capable of handling the transaction volumes of the Otherside metaverse. On average Flow handles an NBA TopShot transaction volume of over $300,000 on a daily basis.
Both options seem intriguing. Avalanche with its subnet and Flow with its niche focus. ApeCoin DAO and YugaLabs have a big decision on their hands. The most likely outcome is, however, that ApeCoin is moving out of Ethereum.
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