ApeCoin (APE), the native governance token in the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ecosystem, has soared to a new all-time high above $18 after another huge rally on Saturday.
The price of APE rose more than 24% in intraday trades as bulls pushed higher, buoyed by positivity around further ecosystem growth.
In early afternoon deals Saturday, APE/USD hit $18.44 on Binance to record its highest ever price. The aggregate price across major exchanges was $18.05, according to data from CoinGecko.
APE/USD currently trades around $17.36, about 17% up in the past 24 hours.
Chart showing APE-USD price movement on the 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
According to data from CoinGecko, APE/USD has surged nearly 50% in the past seven days. It’s up more than 64% in the past two weeks.
The upside, most of it coming in the last four days, has propelled ApeCoin to a market cap of $5.06 billion, pushing it to 31st among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation.
ApeCoin surpasses Decentraland (MANA)
The broader crypto market has struggled with bearish pressure over the past several days, with Bitcoin (BTC) dipping below $40,000 as most other digital assets mirrored the performance.
ApeCoin’s rally has thus seen it overtake Decentraland (MANA) in terms of market cap.
Decentraland, which has been the top metaverse-linked token by market value, is down by 5.3% in the past week and by more than 10% in the red over the past two weeks.
MANA/USD currently trades around $2.04, down over 1% in the past 24 hours. Data on CoinGecko shows MANA’s market cap is $3.1 billion and ranks 45th in terms of market capitalisation.
Why is ApeCoin surging?
Buying pressure around ApeCoin is likely centered on the upcoming land sale in BAYC creator Yuga Labs’ “Otherside” metaverse project.
While the project is yet to officially go live, the developer has over the past several weeks teased its rollout. The excitement amongst investors is down to a potential announcement of the use of APE in the land sale.
The sale of 100,000 land plots out of 200,000 is expected to see 30% go to BAYC and MAYC (Mutant Ape Yacht Club) holders. The rest, 70%, will be a public sale.
Whale activity has soared as a result, with data from analytics site CoinCarp showing that the top 100 APE holders account for 52.39% of the token’s circulating supply. The data shows there are currently 49, 057 ApeCoin (APE) wallets.