Ape DAO Collectors Seek to Liquidate $31M Treasury of Bored Ape NFTs

In a move that may be call on the top of the NFT market, the community behind Ape DAO, a group of collectors that holds 81 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and 81 Mutant Ape tokens, is rallying behind a governance proposal to dissolve and liquidate its treasury.

The move comes amid surging growth in the NFT markets, and one month after BAYC’s floor price surpassed CryptoPunks’ for the first time. With BAYC’s floor price sitting at 117 ETH ($321,500) and Mutant Apes at 23.5 ETH ($65K), Ape DAO may soon dump more than $31M worth of NFTs.

The proposal was submitted by a community member and is set to expire on Feb. 3. Its author wants the DAO’s treasury to be sold for Ether and then distributed and then distributed to tokenholders. Approximately 86.5% of voters support Ape DAO’s dissolution.

Sought-after Collections

With the DAO’s treasury managed by a multi-sig wallet overseen by four signers — three of whom are yet to vote on the governance submission — it’s uncertain whether the proposal will determine the fate of Ape DAO’s assets.

Ape DAO ranked as the third-largest holder of Bored Apes and fourth for Mutant Apes on Jan. 13. The DAO also holds several tokens from other highly sought-after collections including CryptoPunks, Fidenza, and Cool Cats.

The DAO is organized around the APED token, which proportionally represents the assets pooled by members. Ape DAO previously closed a fundraising round last summer that saw APED distributed at $10 per token in exchange for capital used to accumulate NFTs for its treasury.

Despite BAYC’s floor price increasing more than 400% since August and the Ape DAO treasury accumulating more than $30M worth of assets based on floor prices. That suggests APED should be trading at $16.16; the token has historically changed hands between $5 and $8.

Montana Wong, a former blockchain engineer at Amazon Web Services, attributed APED’s poor performance to “DAO coordination issues,” adding: “The speed of development did not meet the expectations of the token holders.”

The proposal emphasizes the current gap between the value of APED and its treasury holdings, asserting that “liquidating the DAO would generate substantial returns for $APED holders.” The author predicts that tokenholders will receive at least $20 worth of Ether per token upon liquidation.

Core Team

Concrete details concerning how the tokens will be liquidated including pricing guidelines and timing will be determined through future governance actions should the current proposal pass.

The author describes the proposal as responding to a failed effort to “professionalize” the DAO by hiring a core team to manage its operations. That proposal was rejected by two-thirds of voters on Jan. 30.

Traders have responded to the proposal by accumulating APED, with the token last swapping for $11.50 after rallying 52% since Jan. 30.

CORRECTION @ FEB 1, 3PM ET: Headline figure corrected to $31M from $26M to include the Mutant Apes.