Bored Ape's New Crypto ApeCoin Reveals an NFT Power Problem

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Bored Ape Yacht Club is a wildly popular collection of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, a status symbol coveted by celebrities, athletes and venture capitalists alike. Bored Apes are already the third-most valuable collection of NFTs, with $1.5 billion in all-time sales, according to blockchain data tracker CryptoSlam. They also unlocked early access to a new digital currency — ApeCoin. 

ApeCoin launched Thursday in a type of release known as an “airdrop,” in which certain groups of crypto holders automatically receive tokens as a reward. In this case, 1 billion ApeCoins dropped, with owners of Bored Ape NFTs in line to receive some of the haul. 

The coin grants holders influence over another crypto-native entity known as a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. The idea was to give the Bored Ape community a hand in shaping the decentralized, blockchain-powered vision of the internet that venture capitalists often describe as web3. The Bored Ape DAO will use the blockchain to enable and record votes on decisions related to how the community is managed. 

Together, though, the ApeCoin and DAO have provided yet more grist for some of the harshest criticisms about venture capitalists’ influence and power in this evolving space.

Typically, the more tokens a participant has in a DAO, the more say they have over the group’s governance. And venture capital investors that helped with the launch, including Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca Brands, were some of the biggest recipients of ApeCoins. They and other launch partners received a collective 14%, or 140 million tokens, a spokesperson for Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, confirmed to Bloomberg. 

These token holdings could grant Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca