ApeCoin, the ERC-20 token developed by ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization, has finally gone live on exchanges.
However, early trading data shows that the road hasn’t been smooth as the coin traded for as high as $214 on one exchange, $40 on others while also crashing to as low as $6 on some of the CEXs that listed it.
But regardless of its price performance, the ApeCoin token has emerged as a hot commodity in the crypto industry despite being available for just a few days. This, undeniably, is because of its association with the Bored Ape NFTs (
Top Exchanges Rush to List ApeCoin
ApeCoin announced its launch to much fanfare on Twitter. According to the official website of the token, the coin has a total supply of 1 billion, and 15% of it would be airdropped to the Ape NFTs holders, i.e., those holding Bored Apes or Mutant Apes.
Introducing ApeCoin ($APE), a token for culture, gaming, and commerce used to empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3. ??
— ApeCoin (@apecoin) March 16, 2022
On the other hand, those who don’t hold any of those priced NFTs would have to depend on crypto exchanges like Coinbase, , Uniswap, FTX, , OKX, Bitfinex, and Huobi, who had fallen heads over heels to launch the new coin.
Notably, it is quite unusual for major centralized crypto exchanges to list a new coin on the day of its launch, but the hype surrounding ApeCoin and its association with the Bored Ape community most likely pushed them into action.
How Much did ApeCoin Really Sell for?
Available data shows that over 10,000 unique Ethereum addresses have been able to claim the tokens out of the eligible 15,201, and more would likely have bought it off crypto exchanges that listed the asset.
According to from Coingecko, ApeCoin had an ATH of $17.17 on the day of its launch before crashing to a low of $6.21, and it is currently trading for around $13.
But a look at trading data would reveal discrepancies in its trading price immediately after its airdrop across exchanges on the day of its launch.
On FTX, for example, the coin was able to trade for as high as $40 before crashing to around $15 on the day of its launch. BINANCE posted a more modest figure of $28 while the asset traded for as high as $214 on Gate.io
However, a look at the coin’s trading volume across each exchange would show that Binance recorded the most trade and, thus, its price was the more realistic cost of the coin.
Bad Actors Take Advantage of ApeCoin Hot Streak
The massive interest in the token has also provided huge opportunities for bad actors. There were reports of scammers using verified Twitter accounts and phishing websites to steal from unsuspecting investors.
The Certik alert system that someone exploited the airdrop by using BAYC tokens to redeem for BAYC NFTs, making 293 ETH profit in the process. This was a quite sophisticated attack where the attacker exploited the fact that the airdrop only considered the spot state.
Bored Ape NFTX vault atomically rinsed by an MEVor
buys vault token -> redeems entire pool -> claims airdrop of 60k APE -> re-supply's the poolhttps://t.co/X83URmgyBK
— Will Sheehan (@wilburforce_) March 17, 2022
The unknown attacker borrowed five BAYC NFTs with flash loans and used the borrowed NFTs to claim APE tokens in the airdrop while repaying the loan immediately. All the attacker had to do was find a vault containing NFTs that hadn’t been used to claim the tokens.
So, they simply bought one Bored Ape NFT and used it as collateral for the flash loan to borrow the 5 NFTs, claim the tokens, repay the loan, and sell off the tokens all in one transaction.
