ApeSwap is an automated market maker (AMM), yield farming, and staking platform on BINANCE Smart Chain. Interestingly, the application was actually forked from PancakeSwap and retains much of the same useability. BANANA is the native currency of the ApeSwap platform and allows users to stake, pool, and earn more BANANA tokens.
ApeSwap is running on Binance Smart Chain and not Ethereum, therefore gas fees are not applicable. As a result, this makes ApeSwap a much more viable option for smaller retail investors and the general public wanting to engage with DeFi solutions.
How can I use ApeSwap?
The core offer is the exchange which allows users to perform token swaps and earn BANANA. As with all exchanges there are fees to consider. Every token swap comes with a 0.3% swap fee in BNB, 0.05% of the swap fee will go to the dev wallet. The rest goes back to the community.
ApeSwap runs on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network so therefore requires users to have a BSC-compatible wallet such as Metamask In order to use ApeSwap. The main function of ApeSwap is to provide users with token swapping, staking, and a pooling platform similar to Ethereum’s Uniswap platform but also designed to reward user activity with BANANA tokens.
Earning BANANA
Liquidity mining kicked off in February 2021 with what ApeSwap called a BANANA Frenzy. This was a special liquidity mining and staking program to incentivize early adopters and bring much-needed liquidity to the platform.
In order to farm more BANANA the platform launched with 5 initial yield farms and has continually added farms for well-known projects and partners. ApeSwap started with the 5 initial farms:
- BANANA/BNB
- BANANA/BUSD
- BNB/BUSD
- BTC/BNB
- ETH/BNB
The BANANA pool allows users to earn more BANANA and initially started with just a BANANA pool. Since launch further new pools have been added. Moreover, users are invited to create their own pools. To stay up to date and learn more you can visit ApeSwap.Finance/Pools.
Initial Ape Offering (IAO)
An Initial Ape Offering (IAO) is a fundraising method utilized to launch new tokens and bring liquidity to those tokens. In general, you need BANANA-BNB Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens to participate in an IAO. Essentially users are trading LPs for the token being launched. In an IAO, the project gets the BNB and ApeSwap burns the BANANA. To participate in an IAO and see which are coming up, visit ApeSwap.Finance/IAO.
To get prepared for the sale:
- Purchase both BNB and BANANA tokens.
- Get BANANA-BNB LP tokens by providing liquidity on ApeSwap.
What to do during the sale:
- While the sale is live, commit your BANANA-BNB LP tokens to buy the IAO tokens. You are purchasing the tokens with your LPs. This is not the same as “staking”. Upon purchase, you lose your LP tokens and get something new in return.
What to do after the sale:
- When the sale is complete, claim the IAO tokens you’ve bought. Your unspent funds will also be sent back to you.
- Done! In the case of oversubscription, you can unstake your remaining BANANA-BNB LP tokens.
ApeSwap utilizes a method known as the “Overflow” method where users can subscribe as much or as little as they want to the IAO, and their final allocation will be based on the number of funds they put in as a percentage of all funds put in by other users at the time the sale ends. Users will receive back any leftover funds when they claim their tokens after the sale. Basically, the more you put in, the more you will get, and you’ll get back anything that doesn’t get spent.
Future Plans & 2021 Token Burn Map
In order to keep the supply of BANANA in check the team at ApeSwap conducts regular token burns periodically and at significant milestones. The BANANA Burn Map V2.0 outlines the burn schedule and each line item in the burn map will trigger a burn.
A roadmap for notable moments for 2021 has already been outlined on the platform’s blog and all things being well should be achieved on time. Furthermore, ApeSwap is very open to community and user participation and all users are invited to contribute ideas and things they would like to see on the trading platform.
- March 2021: Introduce Lottery System, Non Fungible Apes, and additional UI enhancements
- April 2021: Advanced burning mechanics and UI revamp, NFT marketplace
- May 2021: Additional utility and gamification for NFT holders, exchange listing
- June 2021: Add BANANA Governance
- September 2021: AutoFarm and Vaults
- November 2021: Variable Yield Farms – gamified pools where the yields grow with liquidity and participants.
Useful Links
- What is Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
- Using Metamask with BSC
- Track your portfolio