ApeCoin Hits New Low as Ethereum, Bored Ape NFT Prices Tumble

The March launch of ApeCoin—an Ethereum token for the Yuga Labs’ burgeoning Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem—caused a frenzy in the NFT and crypto markets. But with those markets now in turmoil, ApeCoin is tumbling much faster than other gaming and metaverse-related tokens.

Overnight, per data from CoinGecko, ApeCoin (APE) set a new all-time low of $3.10 per token. As of this writing, the price has rebounded slightly to $3.24, but has still seen an 11% drop over the past 24 hours.

The wider cryptocurrency market is down nearly 6% today, and other metaverse and gaming tokens have similarly taken hits—but not to the same degree as ApeCoin. The Sandbox’s SAND token has dropped 7% to $0.83, while the GMT token for “move-to-earn” game Stepn has dropped over 7% to nearly $0.60.

ApeCoin’s recent bleeding is even more significant when zooming out. Over the past 30 days, the token has lost 65% of its value, per CoinGecko. Compare that to a 42% drop for SAND, or 39% drop for Decentraland’s MANA token. Bitcoin (BTC) is down 32% over the same span, while Ethereum (ETH) has shed 48% of its price.

The associated Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have also shed massive value of late. Measured in U.S. dollars, the floor price—or price for the cheapest available NFT on a secondary market—of a Bored Ape is down more than 54% over the past 30 days at a current price of $91,781 (76 ETH), per NFT Price Floor.

The drop is even more striking when looking back to the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s all-time high price of about $429,000 (152 ETH) set on April 29, right before the launch of virtual land NFT plots for Yuga’s upcoming Otherside metaverse game. Otherside will be built around ApeCoin, as will other future games and Web3 services.

An NFT works like a proof of ownership to an item, including digital goods like profile pictures, artwork, and collectibles. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most popular Ethereum NFT projects, with more than $2.2 billion worth of trading volume to date, although trading and prices have both fallen significantly in recent weeks amid market turmoil.

Owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs were able to claim thousands of free APE upon the token’s launch in March. The price of APE soared in late April above $26 ahead of the Otherside land sale, but then quickly tumbled into the $14 range in the days following the sale. Not long after, the crypto market collapsed and APE went with it.

ApeCoin holders can use their tokens to vote on governance proposals, and recently the community has been contending with whether to keep APE in the Ethereum ecosystem. Rival network Avalanche put forth a pitch to try and woo APE holders, but ultimately the community voted to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem.

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