ApeCoin launches testnet for its layer-2 solution ApeChain

ApeCoin’s own network, ApeChain, has launched its own testnet, although Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano admits that “there won’t be much to do on it” initially.

ApeChain, a layer-2 solution developed by the ApeCoin DAO community, has reached its first testnet named Curtis as fans of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection seek new ways to provide more utility for ApeCoin (APE).

Although no other details were revealed, Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs, the firm behind BAYC, said in a follow-up post that “there won’t be much to do on the testnet yet” and assured APE holders that the various decentralized applications Yuga Labs has been working on for a while “will all run on-chain when mainnet arrives.”

Following this news, the price of APE rose by over 3.5 percent to $0.78, according to CoinMarketCap data.

I am very excited about Apechain. The special council asked us to be involved in the branding process and my team did a great job. More on that soon.

There’s not much to do on the testnet yet, but the other side and other dapps we’ve cooked up will run on-chain once the mainnet arrives https://t.co/HmLawRiUcb

— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) 🍌 (@CryptoGarga) July 16, 2024

The ApeCoin DAO community voted to develop the ApeChain network on Arbitrum with support from Horizen Labs in mid-February. According to the technical roadmap, APE tokens will serve the dual role of both gas and governance tokens for the new network.

The ApeCoin DAO community will also be empowered to offer additional features facilitated by Arbitrum’s on-chain governance approach. As part of this initiative, Horizen Labs has pledged to be a long-term supporter and owner of ApeCoin, emphasizing its commitment to “be a long-term owner and supporter of ApeCoin.”

ApeChain’s vision is not only to increase the usefulness of the APE token, but also to open up new monetization channels; Horizen Labs suggests that if the ApeCoin DAO processes 1 million transactions per day and provides a $0.02 transaction fee margin for each transaction, it could generate $7 million in annual revenue.

Under the agreement, the Arbitrum Foundation committed to providing grant funding to cover the expenses of the ApeChain Security Council and Block Explorer for three years.