PROPOSAL NAME:
Raising awareness of Ape coin and its ease of use at Traditional Finance Events
TEAM DESCRIPTION:
Jonathan Pullinger
TradFi Beginnings
I began my journey in crypto purely by chance, two separate friends called me about Bitcoin about three weeks apart and this piqued my interest enough for me to spend the weekend reading the Bitcoin white paper over and over again. At first, I didn’t get it but by the third or fourth reading I realized the advantages of bitcoin and more importantly how this could help solve the issue of unbanked communities. Afterall, a mathematical algorithm (in this case) would not discriminate against anybody, the nature of the technology would make international payments cheaper than the traditional finance alternatives and it would have challenges but I also believed that overall Bitcoin could be part of a bigger financial solution and began putting together a plan for how this could work.
As I was working in a traditional finance role for JP Morgan Chase (as it was back then), I knew a few interesting people, including a small family office based in Monaco and as I explained the potential upside ( I believed it would 4.45x in sixty months), the investment would work as part of their wider “high risk portfolio” and a BVI company was born. Our mining efforts exceeded our planned returns and attracted additional funds which led to a mining operation producing 25-50 BTC per week!
As they say, the rest is history. I mined Bitcoin from 2013 until 2015 before realizing that the market/equipment/electricity costs would make it hard to compete against the influx of hydro-electric and Chinese miners. I looked at Ethereum mining but quickly realized the risks of GPU mining and the impending “arms race” for graphics cards. I had already experienced this once and wasn’t keen to do this again, so instead I purchased some ETH with my BTC haul and learned solidity, while also exploring the Bitcoin Lightning network. I built several working Bitcoin lightning network terminals and mastered the ERC20 contract to ensure I was ready for whatever came next. This was an educated gamble because I wasn’t sure if the ETH network would gain worldwide traction based upon its doxxed Russian founder.
Anyway, as it turns out, I have a drawer filled with bitcoin lightning terminals in custom 3D printed housings.
Fourth Largest ICO
I was part of the fourth largest ICO of the 2017/2018 bull run, Tatatu. Since our initial capital raising success of $575,000,000 the project has built out a video on demand platform, secured content (via AMBI) and produced the film “Lamborghini” which is currently playing on Sky Movies in the UK. If this wasn’t successful enough Tatatu listed on the French stock exchange in 2022, in short, the company went from a startup in a hostel to a listed and publicly traded company, from ICO to IPO and beyond.
Since then, I have continued to work within the web3 space, exploring staking and NFTs in particular.
BAYC
I was fortunate enough to be in the Bored Ape Yacht Club early enough to receive an allocation of $APE and this encouraged me to explore staking. It also enabled me to provide a nest egg for my family, something that I will always be grateful to Yuga for. Celebrating the airdrop, on a bench in the Peckham McDonalds car park with friends and a bottle of vintage champagne is one of my fondest memories and favorite Web3 stories.
During this period I began working for Outlier Ventures and advised over 100 projects on their marketing materials, community build and assisted with tokenomics, before completing the Blockchain Strategy course at the University of Oxford and Elements of AI (Artificial Intelligence) at the University of Helsinki respectively. I have also been assisting with the capital raise for Archblock and been heavily involved with their RWA (real world assets) platform.
Web3 Work Today
Since late 2023, I have become more and more obsessed with the environment and ensuring that any future projects consider their impact on the planet thoroughly. This has led me to thoroughly consider any projects that I work with, ensuring that their social aspirations are as considered as their financial goals. I have helped over a dozen projects improve their documentation, pitch style, build MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) and successfully capital raise just over $300,000.
Contact Information
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-pullinger/
Discord: jpinweb3
X: x.com
Alexandre Caillol, CFA
Following his French engineering MSc & corporate finance MBA, Alexandre went on leading sales operations for major traditional finance technology providers such as Bloomberg, Moody’s Analytics and Brevan Howard’s Sigtech.
In 2021, following series A funding, he was hired to build Nansen’s institutional sales strategy, hire & manage the global business development teams in preparation for their next successful round. Alexandre is now consulting for other creative on-chain data analytics startups. He enjoys collaborating directly with CEOs & founders as well as coaching more junior team members.
Versatile, entrepreneurial, result-driven coach-player with 18 years of experience structuring diverse pricing models & managing strategic partnerships, Alexandre has a proven track record of hiring & leading overachieving sales teams. He supports large & nimble organizations alike, through a deep understanding of clients’ workflows, complex sales cycles & emerging use cases.
You may also catch Alexandre cycling, hiking or geeking out on AI, permaculture & experiential event production.
Contact Information
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-caillol-cfa-caia/
PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION:
Having attended several traditional finance conferences during the first half of 2024, I have learned a lot about their views on crypto and more specifically tokens. There is a huge knowledge gap between where the market is and what the finance bros believe. There is a huge number of skeptics and those people when challenged to name three tokens, they struggled, many even believing that there is only one block chain and all tokens sit within it. Others mistakenly called it the “brick-chain”, because each block was similar to a brick and those bricks make up the chain, similar to cementing together a garden wall!
The second most common misconception that I encountered was the belief that you needed a Bored Ape to hold tokens or to stake tokens. While yes the rewards are improved for holders of certain Yuga Labs assets, this is not mandatory and should now be considered part of the genesis story rather than fact in 2024. Many were surprised to learn that they could stake APE without a Bored or Mutant Ape, this misconception had caused them to avoid the APE ecosystem as the financial commitment to explore crypto via APE would be too high.
Another misconception is that web3 only exists to buy drugs and obfuscate money for tax/ alimony. This again while not as common, is a widely held bias confirmed by “Number Go Up“ by Zeke Faux. There are sections in this book, especially the investigation into USDT and Cambodia that are hard to read, supporting claims of slavery, torture and fraud. Again, while this is terrible, it’s also not reflective of APE or its users!
So what is the solution?
In short, it’s education and that’s where this AIP begins. I plan to build out my team to own, operate and offer free sessions at traditional finance events using our Coffee Bicycle. A nice warm coffee while you find out about APE and understand that while the Bored Ape Yacht Club was intrinsic in the launch strategy it’s now not its core driving force. I believe we have concentrated on selling to people inside the web3 community and while this is appealing it doesn’t attract enough new customers to offset the staking rewards and tokens being dumped by people who have just become funded.
The advantage of our model is that a percentage of the tokens received will be gifted to new users, allowing them to use ApeChain and purchase a nice warm coffee from our cargo bike, demonstrating how quick and simple it is to make a payment using APE and of course, earning the network another transaction, I believe these types of events are critical to network growth, an increase in network transactions, helps to reassure holders that the chain is alive and working. Having spoken to friends at TEZOS, I know that network activity is a core metric/consideration of any approved grant proposal and I believe that this model will generate transactions and new users, even if it’s only to buy cups of nice warm coffee throughout the winter events. Food and drinks booths have always attracted good footfall at events and with more event organizers removing free coffee stands, I strongly believe this will drive the creation of new wallets and transactions for the network.
So how does the stand work?
The stand will offer free cups of nice warm coffee to those who hold APE coins in their wallet, if the customer does not have any APE coin then they will be shown how to create a coinbase wallet and be sent five APE coin tokens. The web3 educator will help the customer understand web3 and explain how these can then be redeemed for a nice warm coffee, allowing the team to demonstrate the ease of use of APE CHAIN and of course reward the new APE coin holder with a nice warm coffee. Leaving them enough tokens to pop back later and claim a second free coffee. Our event activity will generate one new wallet and three transactions per new customer, at a busy event I would expect to serve a minimum of 200 coffees per day paid for in APE. These customers would likely be new to holding crypto and new to the ecosystem. I will offer quick bite sized fifteen minute web3 explainers and will share them with the wider DAO to ensure the training remains of a suitable standard. The training will also be created as video content and transcribed for a “How to: Ape” book.
How is the business sustainable?
From the outset I have been examining the carbon footprint and of course any AIP involving international travel will struggle but we have created some unique ways to help offset the damage caused by our flights, not only with paid carbon offsetting, but with practical real world solutions, including;
Recycled paper cups and lids made from vegware a full compostable product, water based inks for branding, PVC free printable wrap and of course an eBike base rather than a petrol powered Piaggio APE.
This is where most small businesses would stop and consider themselves green, but for me, this is simply the beginning. I plan to recycle the used coffee grounds into fertilizer to grow mushrooms, these mushrooms will be donated to local food banks, helping to ensure those who need a “help up”, get some nutritious fresh vegetables. Any leftover mushrooms will be converted into animal feed, and again donated to local british farms to help feed livestock.
The cart will also offer orange juice and kombucha to customers, these drinks will be designed to fit within the low carbon business model with as many of the ingredients sourced within 10 miles of production and those that have to be shipped further having at least two purposes, for example our oranges, these will be shipped from mainland europe and as such they will exceed our ideal food miles but I plan to offset this by recycling the the orange peel into fertilizer, this will require washing, which again will be partially offset with the use of fertilizer, helping to improve the mushroom yield. Mushrooms are a low water crop, again making them an ideal product to grow, offsetting carbon dioxide while using a very small amount of water, another precious resource we are conscious of preserving where possible.
The kombucha will be fed on local honey sourced from a local supplier enabling the majority of the ingredients to keep within our low carbon/no carbon food miles plan. This product will be used to achieve our MBA (Made By Apes) license from Yuga. The orange juice will be squeezed offsite and placed into recycled cartons that meet B corp standards. I believe the entire business should exceed these goals as going forward, they need to represent the minimum and not be considered the goal.
Finally, I plan to generate some of the needed electricity for the eBike and its fridge/coffee machine using flexible solar panels. These will enable the battery to be charged, again helping to offset the carbon produced by the overall business. They will also provide shade at outdoor events for the rider/server.
Please review our Solar plans;
Solar Needs/Costings Calculator
This circular approach will enable the coffee bicycle to attend additional events, again helping to promote the APE coin ecosystem, even if payments at these events will likely be made in fiat,
How is the APE DAO investment being used?
The requested funds from the DAO will be spent on event tickets and the promoting of APE coin and APE chain, the PVC free wrap containing the logo and MAYC 4455, it will also be used to distribute APE token to new holders, to build/buy/customize APE compatible terminals to process the payments. I intend to ensure the ebike attends a minimum of four traditional finance (TradFi) events per annum and the funds will be distributed over a 60 month period. The funds will also be used to generate bite sized video content and face-to-face training. I expect the coffee eBike to generate additional revenue to cover the associated costs of a mobile coffee business and I do not envisage these costs being met by the DAO grant. I have attached a link to the five year forecast below.
BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:
I believe that one of the biggest challenges to web3 and DeFi in particular is lack of mainstream adoption, until recently we have only been focused on selling tokens to those who already buy tokens and while this has had some success, it doesn’t solve the wider problem, new users = new liquidity, driving on-chain transactions, raising awareness, creating a positive feedback loop and hopefully helping to stem the outflow of liquidity from project A to project B.
By helping to bridge the knowledge gap between traditional finance and DeFi (decentralized finance) we can help create new wallets, funded with fiat, which is the biggest possible win for web3 and in this case APE. I believe that one token will head down this path and having researched the market, I can envisage, many simply setting up a recurring buy for crypto. Imagine if of the 200 people introduced to APE, 15% set up a recurring order on coinbase, by month 60, those additional monthly sales could total $121,850 (assuming Month on Month growth of 7%), or total sales of c.$1.83 million.
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New TX and Token Sales APE|
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DEFINITIONS:
- BAYC = Bored Ape Yacht Club
- kWh = Kilowatt Hour
- “#” = Number
- CFA = Chartered Financial Analyst
- CEO = Chief executive officer
- Ai = Artificial intelligence
- % = Percentage
- DAO = Decentralized autonomous organization
- eBike = Electric Bike
- MVP = Minimum Viable Product
- Fiat Money = Government issued legal tender/money
- DeFi = Decentralized Finance
- TradFi = Traditional Finance
- MAYC = Mutant Ape Yacht Club
- PVC = Polyvinyl Chloride / Vinyl
STEPS TO IMPLEMENT:
The project will begin Q42024 and end Q42029
All vendors have now been sourced and confirmed as Corp B companies where possible. The exceptions being, Apple, Citroen and SunSafe.
The project will book, share and report on the success of each quarterly event and those will be summarized in a short powerpoint presentation, circulated to all relevant stakeholders. All events will be assessed on training delivered, new wallets created, drinks purchased using APE and the carbon footprint of travel.
Key Events for Ape Kart (Year One)
- Accountex (Accountex.co,.uk)
We chose this London-based event due to the expected attendance numbers. They are currently predicting eleven thousand attendees. We also believe that the event counts towards CPD (16 hours), thus ensuring the attendees will remain at the venue to ensure full CPD credit.
- UK FinTech Week (UK FinTech Week 2025 - Innovate Finance – The Voice of Global FinTech)
We plan to attend UK FinTech Week to add legitimacy to Ape Coin and the broader ecosystem. The attendance of the HM Treasury, the City of London, and the Department of Business and Trade will help support the idea of crypto as a mainstream financial offering.
- Private Credit Connect (Private Credit Connect: London)
We plan to attend this event based on the audience’s openness to alternative investments and loans. In our specific case, we felt this lends itself to crypto and Ape Coin.
- Christmas Fair (or similar)
We plan to attend our local Christmas Markets as seeing crypto normalised is vital for broader adoption; it’s also a novel gift for a family member during the holiday period.
Year Two Additional Events
- Wilderness (https://www.wildernessfestival.com/)
We have selected the Wilderness Festival due to its clientele; they attract a middle-class crowd who will enjoy our cold Kombucha product whilst having spare income for high-risk investments, such as crypto. We believe it is essential that they see valid use cases in the real world, and this will help normalise it as a payment method for them.
- FT Live (https://live.ft.com/)
Being seen at FT (Financial Times) events will again help persuade sceptics that crypto is becoming a usable asset class and a payment method at events.
The hiring of the Coffee and Kombucha Kart for Events
We plan to offer a hire service allowing individuals and companies to book our kart for their events. Having looked at the costs involved, we plan to attend these events for a fee of £1,100 per day (ex VAT), with a 7.5% non-refundable deposit in place.
Training Materials and Security Plans for new users
With regards to the training materials produced, we will create a Gitbook, apply an ISBN before making it open source to the wider $APE ecosystem. We will concentrate on explaining the fundamentals of web3 and signpost to other Ape projects for more detailed training.
For example;
We would explain the importance of keeping your seed phrase and keys safe before signposting the new user to Bored Security. Our ideal solution is that the Ape Kart becomes a funnel for several other Ape Coin funded/Ape owned businesses.
Data Protection of User Data
As a business in 2024, we recognise the paramount importance of maintaining a secure customer database that is fully compliant with data protection, FCA , and GDPR legislation. To ensure this, we plan to use mailchimp.com to manage our signup databases, thereby capturing and managing key information correctly. This approach will also enable Ape Kart to establish relationships with new holders and potentially refer (with consent) users to other Ape-funded businesses.
IP Usage and Rights
The Ape Kart will use Mutant Ape #4455 and Bored Ape Kennel Club Dog #5503, owned by Jonathan Pullinger (sandero.eth); we will not use any BAYC fonts or the skull logo on any branding or merchandise (cups). We will seek permission to use the official Ape Coin logo on our payment board and wrap. If rejected, we will use a different font / colour scheme.
For example;
Production handcart render (pre wrap).
The first 100 day plan post grant approval and funds being placed into a new wallet:
Initially, there will be some upfront costs to ensure any APE coin branding is implemented into new wraps and designs, we will place this design work out for tender and identify three quotes, interview the companies and decide upon a supplier, this process will remain the same for all project work conducted in connection to the NewCo and the APE coin DAO grant. These costs are likely to be paid in FIAT currency and require the project to cash out some of the APE coin DAO grant.
I will also ensure that these roles/tasks are advertised on the NewCo website and that Apes are made aware of roles, I will also try and work with MBA (MADE BY APES) businesses where possible. Whilst this is an aim, it’s not guaranteed as we need to maintain our Corp B status and uphold our quality / environmental goals.
We will also investigate if there are any additional new business opportunities, namely gaming / Christmas events and evaluate if they would be of benefit to the wider APE coin ecosystem, these would be placed inside our report and an X spaces held to discuss before funds committed, we will always listen to the community views but will reserve the right to make strategic business decisions, when absolutely necessary.
Below, I had included the planned financials for the business over the initial five year period. These are detailed further within the Business Financial Model:APE_Cafe.xlsx but during this process I was asked to include a visual summary of the project income statement and costs.
See below.
Milestones for the first 100 days
Below is the initial list of milestones for this proposal;
- Identify and book event space for year one (four events), arranging all necessary travel (as green as possible), ensuring telephony and wireless needs can be met.
- Agree with the DAO how we can use the APE coin logo and integrate it into a new wrap design, share renderings, source an eco wrap.
- Make any adaptations required and source additional hardware (if necessary) to facilitate APE payment
- Hire the Web3 educator, making the job spec available to the DAO for APE DAO applications.
- Source materials for bite sized web3 education and any additional equipment required.
REPORTING EXPECTATIONS:
I will produce an APE usage report that demonstrates how any APE has been spent / invested and will ensure this spreadsheet is updated on a monthly basis for monitoring purposes. This document will be updated and the link will remain open to the public, helping to improve transparency throughout the five year grant period.
Below is a visual example;
The reports will be published as a downloadable PDF and shared via X.com on x.com, I will ensure that the official ApeCoin account (x.com) is tagged to ensure that the results are available to all involved and that the DAO is made aware of the results being published. The reports would be published quarterly from Q2, 2025 until the end of the proposed project timeline Q4 2029.
I will issue and circulate annual financial statements for the NewCo and issue an annual report to support any spending of APE tokens. Finally, we will host regular X (formally Twitter) spaces to gauge community feedback and learn how we can improve from a DAO community PoV.
OVERALL COST:
Total amount requested from the ApeCoin Ecosystem Fund = $52,759.89.”
This will be paid in traches and based upon completed Milestones.
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Initial payment from the DAO: $18,340,07
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Payment Two: $13,483.60
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Payment Three: $20,936.22
Tranche Funding and Suggested Milestones
One of the crucial discussions that arose during my consultation process was the distribution of $APE. We considered the option of releasing it in phases, a move that would protect the treasury and increase the chances of approval for AIP-509. I fully grasp the concerns and have worked closely with the team, ensuring that everyone’s perspectives are considered when developing a tranche release schedule. This collaborative effort ensures that all stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process, making the proposal more inclusive and effective.
The initial payment of $18,340.07 would be made in $APE (25,046.6201 at the time of writing). This will allow the additional costs of the proposal to be met and ensure the business makes it to at least one event to generate $APE awareness and sign-ups.
Milestone One: 643 new user wallets.
We would anticipate over the first major three-day event to hit/exceed 643 new wallets; a new wallet would also contain at least one transaction (the receipt of $5 in $APE) and ideally a minimum of two transactions as we hope they’ll use those tokens to purchase a nice warm coffee or a cold Kombucha from the kart. Unlocking our second tranche of funding of $13,483.60 to be paid again in $APE (18,471 $APE at the time of writing).
Milestone Two: 788 new user wallets.
As the business grows, we attend events focused on $APE and traditional events (for example, game fairs, festivals, etc). We expect to onboard a further 788 new wallets. We would unlock our third tranche of funding, $20,936.22, upon achieving this. Again, this would be paid in $APE (28,680 $APE at the time of writing).
Milestone Three: 1183 additional new user wallets.
When the kart achieves this number, we will discuss a twelve-month extension for our Ape Kart programme.
APE coin Funding Breakdown
Supporting Documents
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Business Financial Model:APE_Cafe.xlsx
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Solar Power requirements and proposed costings: Solar Needs/Costings Calculator
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APE coin DAO usage reporting tool: APE Usage
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Predicted Token Sales and Network Growth: New TX and Token Sales APE
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Event Planner: APE coin Proposed Events (WORKING DOC)
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Twelve Month Grant Spend: APE Proof of Concept 12 month
Project Wallet (ETH): 0x0f7DbB399f3De20aC42E009BcE3dE93A8a8f142f
Initial art renderings for the Ape Kart
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