ApeCoin (APE), the native token on the Bored Ape NFT collection, rallied to near record highs on Wednesday. A bulk of its rally in the past 24 hours can be attributed to speculation over an announcement by founder Yuga Labs on its upcoming metaverse.
APE jumped 23% in the past 24 hours, coming close to a record high of $16.47. Its latest gains saw it overtake Decentraland (MANA) as the largest metaverse token, with a market value of $4.3 billion.
Whale interest in ApeCoin and the Bored Ape NFTs also skyrocketed over the past 24 hours, as traders awaited a big announcement from Yuga.
Big metaverse announcement soon?
Yuga Labs launched a teaser trailer for its upcoming metaverse, called Otherside, in March. Little is known about the project beyond the fact that it will be a metaverse incorporating Apecoin and several NFTs.
Yuga said it would reveal more information on the project in April. It had also launched Apecoin in March to serve as a native token for the project.
Given that April 20 is an important date for internet meme culture, an announcement from Yuga could be nigh. April 23 is also the one-year anniversary of the Bored Ape Yacht Club launch.
Bored ape owner @renegademasterr said that Yuga intended to launch land sales for its project soon. The sales are expected to be priced in APE.
Whale interest heats up as APE, NFTs in demand.
Data from Whalestats showed the token is the fifth-most purchased token by ETH whales over the past 24 hours, with an average $63,500 worth of tokens moved in each transaction. An ETH whale dubbed “BlueWhale0093” snapped up nearly 300,000 tokens at $3.9 million, the largest transaction involving the token in the past 24 hours.
Trading volumes in Bored Ape NFTs surged 100% on Tuesday, data from NFT Go showed. The collection’s floor price also jumped 9% amid a surge of NFT buying. ETH whales accounted for five of the top 10 Bored Ape sales in the past 24 hours.
Other Yuga NFT properties including Mutant Apes and the Kennel Club also saw massive spikes in trading volumes.
