ApeCoin's New Roadmap with BluePrint

ApeCoin is replanning its roadmap with new initiatives called BluePrint, as stated by one of the founders of the NFT brand Yuga Labs. Specifically, the Bored Ape Yacht Club-themed project aims to launch consumer-grade apps to attract new users and inspire community building on the upcoming ApeChain network, which a Yuga Labs employee confirmed "will be launching soon."

> "ApeChain is betting that what matters most are apps — so it’s prioritizing killer day one content partners, a robust ecosystem site that makes finding the coolest stuff on the chain easy, and a suite of developer tools that makes deploying novel experiences to ApeChain seamless," said Greg Solano, Yuga Labs and BAYC co-founder and new CEO, in a press release.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club, launched in early 2021, was a leading NFT series during the last bull market, supported by celebrities and corporate brands. The project expanded its intellectual property by allowing token holders to create their own content and launching various metaverse and gaming products.

Yuga Labs developed ApeCoin in 2022 to facilitate community governance and incentivize development. The team is now preparing to launch a new website for its upcoming Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, ApeChain, to help users navigate the ecosystem and discover decentralized applications that utilize the native chain.

Moreover, ApeCoin is partnering with web3 commerce platforms Halliday, Decent, and Privy to simplify user onboarding. Halliday announced it is building a fiat-to-crypto onramp using payment firms MoonPay and Stripe, capable of accepting payments in any token from any blockchain.

Solano highlighted that these distribution channels will assist creators in gaining visibility.

ApeChain is also enhancing its Reboot Protocol, developed with the NFT platform Pixel Vault, which serves as a toolkit for game developers and rewards players in skill-based games on-chain. The team plans to incorporate the recently launched Arbitrum Stylus coding platform for building dapps.

These developments come during a stagnant phase for the Bored Ape Yacht Club and NFTs at large. The NFT series has not yet recovered from the 2022 market crash, currently trading at a price floor of around 11 ETH (~$27,000), compared to the millions some NFTs traded for previously.

The Block previously reported that Solano aims to revitalize Yuga Labs by forming a small, highly motivated internal team called “The Workshop” to accelerate development after the departure of former CEO Daniel Alegre in February and layoffs in April. Solano has described The Workshop as "13 of our best engineers and product people. No fat, just doers," focusing on the adoption of ApeChain, which is currently live in testnet with a mainnet launch imminent.

Recently, several leading BAYC influencers and Yuga employees shared new ApeChain banners on X, sparking speculation about the upcoming launch. "This unified behavior when rallying behind a project or initiative is core to the Ape community," stated Spicy Tina, community and partnerships lead at Yuga Labs. "The launch of ApeChain is one of the most anticipated events of the year," she added.

Currently, ApeCoin trades at approximately $0.61, a significant decrease of 97% from its all-time high of $27.