Yuga Labs proposes dismantling ApeCoin DAO over failed governance, replacing it with new entity ApeCo

Bored Apes creator Yuga Labs proposed discontinuing its ApeCoin DAO governance system to establish a new operating model for growing the Ethereum-based token Ape's ecosystem.

"ApeCoin DAO was a bold experiment, but one born of a different era," Yuga Labs CEO Greg Solano wrote in the Thursday proposal. "What started with promise has devolved into sluggish, noisy, and often unserious governance theater."

To salvage and advance the DAO's sole remaining merit — funding builders — Yuga Labs proposed replacing it with a new entity, ApeCo. 

The transition aims to eliminate ambiguity in governance and focus resources on building the ecosystem's three core pillars, which are ApeChain, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside . It also plans to empower "real" builders by setting milestone-based grants and tighter accountability.

Founded in 2022, the ApeCoin DAO launched ApeCoin on the Ethereum blockchain as an independent, decentralized entity that is separate from Yuga Labs, despite being connected to its ecosystem.

However, the DAO has since struggled to maintain apt governance operations that benefit the project as a whole.  "[The DAO] has been nothing but a joke, and a drag on the entire ecosystem, pillaged and slow and inefficient and overpoliticized since inception, with unaligned bad actors and extractors everywhere," wrote X user @OGDfarmer. "It's clear that [Solano's] Yuga would be better stewards."

If the proposal is accepted, the ApeCoin DAO will be fully terminated, with all rights and powers of token holders related to governance and assets. It would also nullify previous ApeCoin Improvement Proposals (AIPs) and kill delegated authorities, working groups, elections, and forums.

Yuga's latest proposal met with mostly positive feedback in the ApeCoin forum. The proposal has been put to a vote on the forum. It is, however, for checking community sentiment and not an official vote.

Meanwhile, Yuga Labs recently sold off several popular NFT intellectual properties, including Moonbirds, CryptoPunks and Meebits, suggesting that the company is sharpening its focus on its core offerings.

ApeCoin's price has dropped 50% in the past year, currently trading at $0.70, according to The Block's price page . The token is down 97% from its all-time high of $26.