ApeCoin DAO Proposes ApeChain
Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon Labs, has put forth a proposal for the ApeCoin DAO governance community to create, launch, and maintain its own Ethereum Layer 2 network, leveraging Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK).
This proposal suggests introducing an exclusive ApeCoin Layer 2 network, referred to as “ApeChain.” The estimated annual cost of ApeChain’s operation, which the ApeCoin DAO would cover, is around $200,000. Additionally, the proposal outlines the creation of a $3.35 million development fund from the DAO treasury to support the growth of ApeCoin-related projects with the assistance of Polygon Labs.
Nailwal mentioned, “The ApeCoin community has been aware that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain to properly scale since these words were tweeted by Yuga Labs nearly 18 months ago.” While ApeCoin DAO previously voted to keep ApeCoin within the Ethereum ecosystem, the question of an ApeCoin-specific chain is still open and requires a decision.
ApeCoin (APE) is a cryptocurrency associated with a DAO responsible for overseeing the NFT and metaverse ecosystem developed by Yuga Labs, creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collections. ApeCoin was initially distributed to BAYC and MAYC members through an airdrop. Despite its ties to NFT collections and Yuga Labs, ApeCoin is governed by the ApeCoin DAO.
Polygon’s CDK is an open-source software development kit designed to enable developers to establish their own zero-knowledge (ZK) powered Layer 2 solutions with reduced fees and quicker finality times while maintaining Ethereum’s security features.
Benefits for the ApeCoin Ecosystem
Nailwal suggests ApeChain would offer the ApeCoin DAO community an ideal scaling solution for gaming and consumer applications while providing potential sequencer fees and staking rewards for network validators.
The proposal also emphasizes that ApeChain would be interoperable with Polygon’s suite of solutions, including Polygon PoS (upgrading to a zkEVM soon), Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon Miden, an architecture hosting thousands of dApps. As Nailwal stated, “With ApeCoin already bridged onto Polygon PoS, it is already available to be used by all dApps across Polygon architecture – including for gas and staking in relation to dApps built on the proposed ApeChain.”
Costs and Timeline
The proposed ecosystem development fund, detailed in a separate forum post, seeks $3.35 million in funding. This includes $3 million for the establishment of a development program, $125,000 annually over two years for an ApeCoin ecosystem development lead, and $50,000 in APE tokens for two years as an annual bonus, subject to a 1-year lockup period.
ApeChain’s implementation could span up to 16 weeks across four phases, as per Nailwal’s description, followed by promotional and ongoing development stages.
Other Layer 2 Projects Using Polygon’s CDK
Several other Layer 2 solutions are already in development using Polygon’s CDK, including Immutable zkEVM, IDEX, Palm Network, and Astar zkEVM.
Nailwal has recently been active in proposing ideas, having also suggested last month that Polygon Labs could assist in migrating Celo to an Ethereum Layer 2 using the CDK. As he concluded, “By deploying ApeChain using Polygon CDK, ApeCoin DAO will continue to execute against its mission to scale into a ‘decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse.'”
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