A brief history
Founded in 2021, APE is governed by the ApeCoin DAO and supported by the APE Foundation. APE was also adopted by Yuga Labs as the primary token for all new products and services. Yuga Labs is the creator of the many trending NFT collections including the Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks and Meebits.

APE in practice
The ApeCoin token serves several purposes in the APE ecosystem. First, it allows holders to participate in the governance of the ApeCoin DAO. Second, APE holders can also access exclusive features of the APE ecosystem, including games, merch, events, and services. APE is also a tool for third-party developers to participate in the APE ecosystem by allowing them to incorporate the token into their services, games, and other projects as incentives. For example, APE is adopted as an incentive for players in Benji Bananas, a play-to-earn mobile game. Benji Bananas offers a Membership Pass (‘Benji Pass’), an NFT that will enable its owners to earn special tokens when playing Benji Bananas, and that will also allow those tokens to be swapped for ApeCoin.