The business behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT line is in talks with layer 1 suitors as the concept explores a post-Ethereum future.
CoinDesk has learned that both Yuga Labs and ApeCoin DAO board members are open to recommendations for transferring ApeCoin off Ethereum after Yuga Labs’ bungled non-fungible token (NFT) minting for its “Otherside” metaverse land auction, which cost investors more than $100 million in transaction fees.
Avalanche and Flow are two prospective bidders, according to executives at both networks. Both blockchains think they are better suited to sustaining a large-scale NFT ecosystem, such as Yuga’s.
Yuga Labs first proposed a potential ApeCoin move at the end of a Twitter thread on April 30, “encouraging” the APE-based decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to consider it.
According to an ApeCoin Foundation source, the board had not previously considered shifting to a new layer 1, but the tweet triggered discussion among DAO members about a prospective migration, which is currently ongoing.
While the DAO board is not “actively looking” for new chains, the source asserts that it recognizes its commitment to carry out DAO requests, including chain migration if a proposal is granted.
ApeCoin board members include Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian, Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu, and FTX’s head of gaming, Amy Wu.
The DAO has voted on 11 different proposals since its start in March. Yuga Labs did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment on its impact on decision-making.
The FLOW and AVAX Case
In the case of an Avalanche migration, Yuga’s ecosystem would be able to exist on its own subnet, which is a technology that allows a single application’s transactions to be segregated without cluttering the broader network.
Avalanche promised $290 million in March to entice subnets, but talks with Yuga are still in the early stages.
Kevin Sekniqi, co-founder and COO of Ava Labs, told CoinDesk, “We’ve had some early conversations with Yuga about subnets, and we have our proposal ready to go.” “As the property auction revealed, large-scale NFT ecosystems need a scalable environment.”
With NBA Top Shot, which processes tens of thousands of transactions every day, Flow’s blockchain demonstrated its ability to manage huge transaction volumes.
Following the well-known CryptoKitties NFT event, which temporarily choked Ethereum in a similar proportion to the Otherside sale, Dapper Labs, the firm behind Flow, founded the blockchain to meet a similar demand.
“We’ve had some discussions with folks who are board members [of ApeCoin DAO], and I think it’s going to come down to a vote,” Mik Naayem, a chief business officer of Dapper Labs, told CoinDesk. “CryptoKitties had similar challenges, and I feel that Flow would be a fantastic home for [ApeCoin], but there are still a lot of assets to analyze on Ethereum.”
The benefits and drawbacks
Lower transaction costs, faster network speeds, the ability to pay gas taxes in APE, and other benefits of Yuga moving its ecosystem to its chain are evident. However, there are obvious worries that may develop as a consequence of the change, such as what the corporation would do with all of its present Ethereum assets, which are valued at more than $1 billion.
Even with its chain, there might be several concerns. Many consider Axie Infinity, a popular play-to-earn game, to be a migration cautionary tale since its gaming-focused Ronin network was recently abused for $625 million. Crabada, on the other hand, has emerged as a promising Web 3 gaming success because of its own Avalanche subnet.
According to Dapper Labs’ Naayem, the decision to move chains will be taken by members of the ApeCoin DAO, which Yuga has indicated it does not control but undoubtedly influences.
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