AIP-141: Ape Accelerator By ApeCoin

[Forj]

Proposal Name: Ape Accelerator By ApeCoin
Category: Core - Ecosystem Fund Allocation
Author: Forj - Animoca

After submitting the AIP idea two weeks ago, we received inspiring feedback from communities, artists, founders, and projects. Based on the feedback, we improved the proposal with a UI draft design and a suggested range of commercial terms for the community to select.

ABSTRACT

This proposal outlines the “Ape accelerator”(Ape Launchpad) that is complementary to APE staking in AIP21/22 developed by Horizen Labs. It aims to drive additional value to the APE token and BAYC ecosystem.

Deck: DocSend | Twitter Thread

MOTIVATION

Ape communities gathered early NFT adopters with experience and knowledge on the NFT market. To leverage everyone’s experience toward the growth of the Ape ecosystem, a Launchpad that allows ApeCoin holders to participate in the decision-making of early projects’ launch can bring forth the positive growth.

The Ape Launchpad aims to maximize the Ape community’s benefit, facilitate the use of ApeCoin and together as a community contribute, fund, and empower the future of decentralization.

The ApeCoin Community can engage in the Ape Launchpad in three ways:

1. Initiator

• Projects that aim to launch on the Ape Launchpad need to spend # $APE to submit a proposal.
  • Encourage NFT collections/projects to purchase $APE coin
  • $APE burn to lower circulating supply
• Project should accept a percentage of funds raised in $APE, a percentage of commission will be charged to the initiator on the total amount raised through Ape launchpad.
• Submission fee and commission will be burned or donated to the charity or sent to a separate DAO-controlled wallet to be used at a later date based on DAO decision.

2. Voter

• After projects submit proposals, the Ape community can use $APE to vote whether to launch this project on Ape Launchpad.
  • Autonomous Project Selection from the community
• If a proposal is approved, voters will share a percentage of commission from the sales by Snapshot.
  • Engage voters to participate and earn

3. Participants

• Approved projects will launch on the Ape Launchpad, accept ApeCoin as payment, as well as other tokens
  • Ape community get valuable, high-experience NFTs every month.
  • Add utility to $APE token.
• Ape Launchpad will embed the staking pool from AIP 21/22, users need to stake to gain access to the launchpad. See More in “​​Specifications”
  • Get the community to stake $APE, reward committed stakers with ongoing benefits

Rationale

To grow the Ape ecosystem, a core strategy is to add more use cases for the ApeCoin. Therefore, having this Ape Accelerator can

• Get the community to stake $APE in order to participate in NFT and token sales, and reward committed stakers with ongoing benefits
• Ape community get valuable, high-experience NFTs every month
• Get community use $APE to access any primary sales on Ape Launchpad
• Encourage NFT collections/projects to purchase $APE in order to launch on Ape launchpad
• Increase $APE utility by allowing community use $APE to vote, and get rewarded for participation
• A percentage of collected $APE will be burned or donated to charity or sent to a separate DAO-controlled wallet to be used at a later date.

​​Specifications

• Ape launchpad will be on the ETH network first unless it is added to another chain.
• ApeCoin and BAYC ecosystem NFT holders will have exclusive access to participate and support projects in NFT sales. Launchpad Participation is based on a tier structure, where tiers are determined by user’s amount of $APE in staking pools and qualifying NFTs users hold (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, Meebits, Crypto Punks, Otherdeed of otherside).
• Staking pools: users need to stake $APE in a pool for at least 14 days to be eligible for tiers - AIP 21/22
  • Snapshots will be taken 1 day prior to the sale to verify eligibility.
• Detail tier justification:
  • Platinum Tier - 10,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC NFT
  • Gold Tier - 8,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC, MAYC NFT
  • Silver Tier - 6,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC, MAYC, BAKC NFT, Otherdeed of otherside
  • Bronze Tier - 4,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC NFT,MAYC, BAKC NFT, Otherdeed of otherside, Meebits, Cryptopunks NFT
  • Friends Tier - 1,000 $APE + 1 of Forj & Animoca Ecosystem Partners NFTs
  • Public Tier - Any $APE stakers
• Users in a higher tier can enjoy priority sales, higher purchase limits and better allocations of rare NFTs
• The current tiers design is based on the emphasis on $APE and the BAYC NFT ecosystem - with the lower tiers reserved for partner projects or non-ape project NFTs to avoid showing preference for any one collection over another’ or something similar. Tier requirement is subject to change based on a defined ApeCoin DAO voting process.

Draft UI Design

The product images and information shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product, which is subject for further change.

Steps to Implement

1. Finalization of Economics Model

• We will work with the APE community to determine
  • Submission fee from initiator. Range from $1,000 to $5,000 worth of $APE
  • % of commission from sales on Ape Launchpad. Range from 10% to 15%.
  • % of the commission shared with voters if the proposal gets approved. Range from 0.5% to 1%.
  • % of the fund raised in $APE for each project. Range from 30%-100%.

2. Smart Contract deployment & Audit

• Forj Team has successfully launched 16 projects on Forj Launchpad. We will use the same smart contract, adapt it to ApeCoin and send it to the most trusted auditors in the industry, such as Certik.

3. UI/UX Design+Landing Page

• Have the creative team to design UI/UX with specific Ape elements. Takes 2-3 weeks to draft, amend, and set.
• Will embed the approved AIP21/22 ‘Ape Staking Pool’ into the landing page.

4. Business Development

• The essence of launchpad relies on quality projects and a resilient team.
• Leverage Animoca ecosystem support to screen at least 2 of the best projects as the first kick off of Ape Launchpad
• BD teams need to ensure that there will be at least 2 projects submitting proposals each month.

Being part of the Animoca family, Forj has:

• Animoca ecosystem projects exposure to participate in the sale
• Deal flow from Animoca investment portfolio
• Wide connections to NFT projects and VCs
• Already established products that have successfully launched 20+ projects e.g., Kylin Network, Altava, Phantom Galaxies
• Experienced team: Team of 50+ employees, led by
  • Harry Liu— CEO
    Founder of Forj, leading Launchpad for Animoca portfolio projects such as Phantom Galaxies, Altava. Creator of Yuga IP Ecosystem Map. Led community driven BAYC experience for Sandbox Season 3. Previously Fore Media, Google Partner.
    https://twitter.com/harry_forj/
  • Rob Tran - COO
    25 years experience in scaling Music, SaaS, AI businesses, a track record of early-stage projects strategic advisory.
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttran/
  • Charles Stanton - CMO
    Digital Marketing leader at brands including KPMG, The National Lottery, and BUPA
    https://twitter.com/Chas_Stanton
  • Terrence Gatsby - CTO
    Vast experience across disruptive technologies including Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, Digital Assets, Tokenization, FinTech, WealthTech, Edge Computing, and Internet of Things
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrencegatsby/

Timeline

Milestone 1 - Project Approval by ApeCoin community

• Finalize proposals with the community and get approval.
• Securing financing, equipment or resources
• Assembling a project team.
• Define KPI for each department: Business Development, Operation, Tech.

Milestone 2- MVP Launch

• Smart Contract Development and Audit
• Launchpad UI/UX design by product team and ApeCoin DAO
• Integrate AIP21/22 ‘Ape Staking Pool’
• Product Approval by ApeCoin DAO

Estimated Timeline - 2.5 months

Milestone 3- Project Deal Proposal Submission

• Business development team submit 2 projects proposal
• Proposal submit from project side
• APE community vote for approval

Estimated Timeline - 2 weeks to 1 month

Milestone 4- First Ape Launchpad Sale

• Marketing Activation with major media platforms

Estimated Timeline- 1 month

*Total elapsed time is 3 months

Overall Cost

Total Ecosystem Ask - $480k
Development cost - $250k development cost
Operation Cost - $180k for the first six months($30k per month)

• Team members:
  • 1 product manager
  • 1 tech manager
  • 1 designer
  • 1 operation associate
  • 1 business development
  • 1 marketing associate
• website maintenance/snapshot/airdrop
• Provide monthly project updates

Commission: 5% on each Ape launchpad sale revenue

Allocation: 25% of total Ape launchpad allocation

Appendix - Yuga lab IP Ecosystem Update by Forj Team

[0xSword]

Welcome Forj! It was interesting to read your Deck that shows your journey through the BAYC ecosystem. I think the amount of projects that you’re involved in is great. And I REALLY LIKE that this launchpad works with staking, so users can participate w/ their staked $APE to vote to launch the projects. It’s really smart!

I also appreciate how active Harry Liu and (probably others @ forj) are in larger BAYC/ MAYC ecosystem. Beyond just ApeDAO, i’ve personally seen Harry in many spaces, and he’s REALLY involved across so many things. I was able to have a zoom call w/ him over the summer about Forj’s plans.

Beyond just a standard project launchpad, it was explained to me that this acts much like an incubator, with business support for projects and startups. That could be a really great thing for our DAO, to help builders.

I like this. And I encourage anyone with questions to reach out to https://twitter.com/harry_forj/ or ask them here. They were really honest and open, and I do believe they can incubate projects that will utilize Apecoin. Much like Otherdeeds, when projects require users to mint with $APE, its a great thing for our ecosystem.

[Mantis]

Overall, I’m for this, with a few questions:

1. Owning a Cryptopunk gets you Bronze tier only? That’s a first. Why Bronze tier? And shouldn’t the tiers include other Yuga properties if the Punks are involved?

2. There’s a lot of overlap between the launchpad and the current AIP process, but I definitely see how a launchpad could bring in more participation. Launchpads are way more popular than governance chats. Is this why the launchpad was brought up? If not, I would like to see more specific vision for it. As in the AIPs could stick around for branding-type projects that don’t involve staking $APE or using $APE, like Ape Water, and the launchpad is there specifically for web3 projects that can fully utilize the web3 aspects of the system.

3. I definitely want to see BAYC/MAYC holders get priority in dropping projects on the accelerator. Is there any accounting for longstanding holders who may have been looking for an opportunity like this? I take this point from the Axie ecosystem that definitely targeted its long-term holders when it came out with its Builders program.

Great idea! Definitely needed for the ecosystem. Look forward to more discussion about it.

[Harry]

Appreciate the support 0xSword! Look forward to continuing to support the ecosystem growth

[Forj]

Hi Mantis,

We really appreciate your feedback! Here are the thoughts on your questions:

1. First of all, thank you Mantis for highlighting this! We would be happy to refine the entry criteria based on a defined ApeCoin DAO voting process, however we’ve chosen these tiers based on the importance of a focus on $APE and the BAYC NFT ecosystem - with the lower tiers reserved for partner projects or non-ape project NFTs to avoid showing preference for any one collection over another’ or something similar.

2. Great question. AIPs are more generic and cover decisions for ecosystem fund allocation, brand decision, process, information that may not tie directly to the use and staking of $APE. While launchpad is aimed to bring the Ape community exclusive access to various web3 native projects before other communities.

3. Everyone has a fair opportunity to submit projects on Ape Accelerator. Team experience, product, tokenomics, business model sustainability, and utility are all important criteria for project evaluation. BAYC and MAYC long-standing holders would be considered higher credibility than non-BAYC/MAYC holders. It will be up to the DAO members to conduct due diligence and vote on which project to proceed forward.

[Amplify]

Hello Forj, thank you for this!

I will have more feedback soon, but to start I just wanted to say I love that this is engaging ApeCoin stakers, adding more utility to the token. I always appreciate creative ways to build on top of existing infrastructure and this looks like a really cool lego piece on top of “stAPE.” (staked APE)

[themetavince]

I love this proposal…if we can pull this off, the ApeCoin community and ecosystem will literally be unstoppable.

I would just add one more line item to section 1: Initiator, which would be something along the lines of:

“Projects who are successfully accepted into the launch pad need to mint all future NFT sales in ApeCoin (until they launch their own governance / ecosystem token).” - I don’t think it’s enough to give minters the “option” but rather require ApeCoin as the medium of exchange in lieu of ETH for the projects that join the accelerator.

I think the more sinks for ApeCoin, the better and if the DAO / Ecosystem is getting behind a project, they should “pay the ecosystem back” by utilizing ApeCoin for their mints.

Happy to hear thoughts & comments on this!

[withoutname]

The same view as @Amplify . I liked the proposal, @Forj !
I will be voting for it. Thank you.

[Amplify]

Hello, and thank you again!!

I had some feedback I was hoping you could address.

@Forj

#% of collected $APE will be burned or donated to the charity or sent to a separate DAO-controlled wallet to be used at a later date.

Are you looking for suggestions on this? Personally, I really like what Snag Solutions and Thank Ape are proposing by routing the funds from marketplace revenue into other DAO initiatives.

See here

AIP-139: How should we use marketplace funds?

Abstract | Last month the ApeCoin DAO community approved AIP-98 for Snag Solutions to build an official marketplace for ApeCoin DAO - enabling the sale of Yuga NFTs with reduced marketplace fees. As part of that proposal we agreed to set aside .25% of each transaction in a community-held Gnosis multisig until a use of funds is voted on by the community. The purpose of this AIP is to: Propose to use the .25% as a funding source for AIP-124 - the ‘Thank APE’ proposal. Summarize other top optio…

We have fairly good estimates of what kind of fees a Yuga marketplace might generate based off the existing marketplaces, but do we have any idea of what to expect from a launchpad? I’m just wondering what % fee makes sense given the volume.

I also wanted to agree with @themetavince that we should keep all sales in APE only.

Thank you!

[apethor]

Easy to get behind this - looks like a great proposal.

[anunnaki_reborn]

Love what Harry and Forj are doing for the community, this gets my support.

[Forj]

Hi themetavince! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

The current plan requires launchpad projects to raise a % of funds both in $APE and stablecoin. This is designed to reduce the selling pressure of $APE after the launchpad sale, and lower market price volatility of $APE. Explanations as follows:

Reducing sale pressure: Projects conduct launchpads to raise funds to support their business operations, and owing to the volatility of $APE many projects will choose to immediately sell the raised $APE in a large volume which will increase further sell pressure. Allowing projects to raise both in stablecoins and $APE (fixed % of both) will allow them to immediately fund their operation through stablecoin and also provide an incentive to hold the % of $APE they received and further integrate into the APE Community. Asking projects to lock tokens/vest $APE is a potential solution but this can detract good quality projects who need liquidity to grow from wanting to participate in the launchpad.

Price volatility: Since the $APE price fluctuates daily, whenever there is a new launchpad sale the amount of $APE required for purchasing each project token/NFT on the sale date (which will have an indicative $ value assigned to it by the project) will vary. This means that if the $APE price drops by 10%, participants suddenly require 10% more $APE to purchase the NFT/Token on the day. Giving users the option of purchasing using $APE or stablecoin on the day will ensure a better user experience, and of course the $APE token entry requirement remains in place either way and it’s this that is the primary driver for healthy tokenomics.

In terms of what percentage of launchpad sales are raised using $APE, it will depend on the $APE’s performance which is primarily driven by its utility. As more projects are introduced to the APE ecosystem by Launchpad, $APE will have more use cases, not to mention upcoming launch of Otherside. We are looking to increase the ratio of using $APE to stablecoin, or $APE only for launchpad sales in the future, if $APE becomes the fundamental token with a stable price.

[Forj]

Hi Amplify,

Thank you for the feedback and sharing!

1. Regarding the use of collected $APE, we proposed 3 solutions, including burning, donation to charity, and sending to a separate DAO-controlled wallet. AIP-124 and the initiative proposed by zheerwagen are very interesting options. We are open to community feedback and may require an AIP to ensure the decisions are fully aligned with the desires of DAO!

2. Revenue generated from launchpad is commission based on the amount of funds raised by projects through the platform. For reference, the raised amount typically ranges from $100k to $1M. The industry standard commission ranges from 10%-17%.

3. Please check out the comments on “all sales in APE only” above!

Cheers!

[Escape]

Hi @Forj,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Escape

[Forj]

Hi Escape,

We’re happy with feedback received and excited to draft the AIP based on community feedback.

Thank you everyone again for all the feedback. We really appreciate it!

[Escape]

Thank you @Forj for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will get in touch with the author to draft the AIP in the appropriate template. Once the AIP is drafted and meets all the DAO-approved guidelines, the proposal will be posted on Snapshot for live official voting at: Snapshot

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @Forj please see your messages for the next steps.

-Escape

[Pearson]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Forj has completed editing their AIP Idea to be their AIP Draft.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-Pearson

[Forj]

Thanks Pearson for your help!

Forj Team