Crypto asset investment manager Iconic Funds has launched the world’s first ETP providing directly backed exposure to APE, the native token underpinning the ApeCoin network.
The average price of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT is well over $100,000.
The Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP (IAPE GS) has been listed on Börse Stuttgart in US dollars.
ApeCoin, which runs off the Ethereum blockchain, is the brainchild of Yuga Labs, a web3 company primarily known as the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 ‘Bored Ape’ NFTs.
Bored Ape NFTs are pieces of digital art whose ownership is recorded on the blockchain and can be transferred or sold by the owner.
Numerous high-profile celebrities have purchased Bored Ape NFTs including the likes of Tom Brady, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, Neymar, and Kevin Hart, among many others. The average price for a Bored Ape NFT is well over $100,000 and thus membership to the Bored Ape Yacht Club is reserved for the elite.
ApeCoin, which officially launched in March 2022, aims to one day be an entire metaverse economy serving exclusive creative NFT content such as collectibles, games, events, and services. As an example, American rappers Snoop Dogg and Whiz Khalifa have released a series of eight music tracks as NFTs that can only be bought using the APE token.
As well as forming the backbone of this metaverse economy, APE is also a governance token that allows holders to vote on decisions regarding future projects to be undertaken on ApeCoin. Chosen projects are managed by a five-person panel of crypto experts who serve maximum six-month tenures – APE holders also vote to choose future panel members.
APE has a fixed total supply of one billion tokens. Just over half of those tokens have been allocated to ApeCoin’s ‘ecosystem fund’ which will be released in stages to fund future projects. The remaining tokens were allocated amongst Yuga Labs (with a portion donated to the Jane Goodall Foundation to help fund chimpanzee conservation efforts), the founders of Yuga Labs, venture capital firms that helped to get ApeCoin off the ground, and owners of Bored Ape NFTs and Mutant Ape NFTs (Mutant Ape NFTs are Bored Ape NFTs that have been exposed to vials of ‘mutant serum’ which transform the artwork).
Importantly, APE tokens allocated to the venture capital firms as well as Yuga Labs and its founders are “locked” for a minimum of 12 months. They will also be unlocked in monthly installments over a period of time to disincentivize these participants from dumping their tokens and causing the price of APE to crash.
With a total market capitalization of approximately $1.1 billion, APE is currently ranked as the 44th largest cryptocurrency globally.
The Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP offers institutional investors easy access to APE through a liquid, regulated vehicle without the technical challenges of setting up private keys or crypto wallets.
It uses full direct, so-called ‘physical’ replication with each ETP share being 100% collateralized by a corresponding investment in APE. Physical (in a digital sense) APE tokens are stored using an institutional-grade, cold-storage custody solution provided by Coinbase Custody.
The ETP comes with an expense ratio of 1.49%.
Michael Geister, Head of Crypto ETPs at Iconic Funds, said: “The Iconic Physical ApeCoin ETP will provide exposure to the ecosystem built around the Bored and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs developed by Yuga Labs. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most valuable NFT collections available made famous by stars like Make Cuban and Serena Williams. Through ApeCoin, investors have access to the growing NFT market.”
Patrick Lowry, CEO of Iconic Funds, added: “Crypto is still in the early innings of adoption. Iconic’s vision is to be investors’ trusted partner for accessing the crypto market through our traditional investment vehicles. We look forward to issuing additional, highly innovative crypto ETPs in the near future, as well as partnering with incumbent financial institutions for white-labeled crypto ETP products.”