ApeCoin (APE)
Unlock Schedule
ApeCoin (APE) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the ApeCoin (APE) token release schedule, showing when and how tokens enter circulation across investor, team, treasury, and community allocations. Understanding these tokenomics dynamics is critical for evaluating potential supply pressure, inflation impact, and market liquidity over time — key factors that can influence APE price performance.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
ApeCoin tokenomics were published at launch with a fixed supply of 1 billion APE. There is no mint or burn function in the contract, so total supply won’t change. Distribution spans four buckets: 62% to the Ecosystem Fund (including a one‑time airdrop to BAYC/MAYC holders and the DAO treasury), 16% to Yuga Labs plus a donation to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation, 14% to launch contributors, and 8% to the BAYC founders. Many allocations vested over up to 48 months starting March 17, 2022. (apecoin.com)
What APE does in practice:
- Governance: APE is the voting token for ApeCoin DAO. Holders vote on AIPs that shape grants, brand decisions, and technical upgrades. (apecoin.com)
- Gas on ApeChain: Every ApeChain transaction pays fees in APE, giving the token a direct role in on‑chain activity. (forum.apecoin.com)
- Staking and rewards: DAO‑approved staking created multi‑year reward pools for APE and BAYC‑linked NFTs, later migrated to ApeChain to improve UX. (apestake.io)
- Ecosystem currency: APE appears in games, metaverse events, marketplaces, and select merchant payments (e.g., Gucci’s 2022 activation via BitPay), making it useful beyond governance votes. (forbesindia.com)
These elements—plus developer incentives and DAO programs—form the backbone of ApeCoin tokenomics and help shape long‑run APE price drivers such as network usage, game adoption, and proposal outcomes. (vaneck.com)
Assumptions
- Airdrop modeled as full cliff unlock on 2022-03-17.
Official site states all 150M APE were unlocked for claim at launch with a 90-day claim window; unclaimed tokens are returned to the Ecosystem Fund. For the release chart, we treat the entire airdrop as entering unlocked supply at TGE.
- Treasury linear unlocks continue through 2026-03-17 without acceleration.
No official source indicates any change to the 48-month linear schedule; later governance changes (e.g., AIP-596 creating ApeCo) transfer control but do not alter token vesting mechanics.
- No PoW/PoS issuance or protocol-level inflation for APE.
APE is an ERC-20 with permanently fixed 1B supply; contract interface exposes no minting or burning.
- Staking rewards and other programmatic distributions are funded from the Ecosystem Fund after unlock.
DAO programs (e.g., staking) distribute treasury tokens; they do not create new supply and therefore are not modeled as separate issuance to avoid double counting.