Horizen Labs And Arbitrum Want To Build An ApeChain For The ApeCoin DAO. Find Out More About Their Proposal:

After the ApeCoin DAO voted in favor of creating an ApeChain last week, the community is heading back to the polls to decide who will build it, marking one of the most important votes in $Ape history! 

Things are anything but boring in the Yugaverse as ApeCoin DAO contributors head to the polls to vote on who should build the community’s highly anticipated ApeChain.

In an effort to find out more about these ApeChain proposals, the Bored Ape Gazette reached out to each team for an interview.

One of the group’s vying for $Apes votes this week is the Horizen Labs and Arbitrum team.

"Horizen Labs is committed to being a long-term holder and supporter of ApeCoin,” Arbitrum's Nina Rong wrote in AIP-378. “Over time the company has helped the community launch major initiatives, including ApeCoin, Otherside, and ApeStake within the Ape Ecosystem. As such, the company is committed to enhancing the utility of ApeCoin and guiding successful decisions on the technical, economic, and ecosystem growth aspects of any ApeChain proposal. In alignment with these objectives, Horizen Labs strongly believes that an ApeChain built on Arbitrum’s technology with expert guidance and support from Horizen Labs is the best path forward to bring more users into the Ape community.”

In their ApeChain proposal, Horizen Labs and Arbitrum explain that if the ApeCoin DAO chooses their ApeChain plan then the community will be able to use $Ape as the ApeChain’s native gas token, generate revenue via a transaction fee, experience low gas fees, customize the chain’s code as the community sees fit, and have self-executing governance.

To give Apes a better idea on how Horizen Labs and Arbitrum’s ApeChain proposal compares to the other three ApeChain ideas from a technological perspective, the ApeCoin DAO created this graphic comparing everything from cost per TX to licensing type.

To find out more about Horizen Labs and Arbitrum’s goals in the $Ape ecosystem, why they are the right team to build Apechain, and where they see $Ape in the future, the Bored Ape Gazette reached out to Horizen Labs’ VP Ecosystem Growth Spencer, AKA Blockchainzilla, for an interview. Check it out below:

 

1. In your opinion what is $Ape, Bored Apes, and the Yugaverse all about?

“To us, $APE is the token that does, can, and should make the Yugaverse run, but it’s also how the community gets to have a say and fund amazing projects and efforts. Bored Apes are, to put it bluntly, inevitable! They represent the ethos of the best of Web3 and are an entry point that’s been hyper-important to so many. What ETH is to fungible tokens, BAYC is to NFTs, plain and simple. They also represent what it looks like to have an active, thriving community that helps each other and represent membership in a club in the truest sense of the word. The Yugaverse aims to and should be a best-in-class experience that ties all of Yuga’s important IP together. ApeChain helps tremendously in getting there."

 

 2. How would you define ApeCoin culture and how would you bring that to an ApeChain?

“The first thing to realize when talking about ApeCoin culture is that it’s diverse and it’s actually a set of multiple, sometimes competing, sometimes collaborating cultures and communities. The DAO does amazing things and makes so much possible, and yes it can be big and messy but its problems, real or perceived, come from the sheer amount of interest and scaling needed, 95% of DAOs out there would love to have those types of issues!”

 

 3. Why does ApeChain need to be a part of a larger network? Why does $Ape need a chain?

“The Ape community is already a part of a larger network - Ethereum. That said, it’s clear that its needs require a larger scale, and staying on L1 will simply not cut it. The recent events related to L1 gas and LotM only highlight this glaring issue further. ApeChain is the solution and is intended to establish a home for these various components - a home that is optimized specifically for their use cases. ApeChain will be an extremely retail-friendly chain, given its high speed and cheap fees, which will appeal to users and developers alike.”

 

 4. What made you interested in making an ApeChain?

 

“ We’re enthusiastic about the future of the Ape ecosystem, the strong community behind it, its IP, its emerging ecosystem of games. We believe in the Ape ecosystem and would love to see Arbitrum technology play a part in its bright future. Ape IP is some of the most well-known in the space - it is well-positioned to bring new users into the space, particularly with the efforts being made in the gaming vertical. Arbitrum technology enables a best-in-class user experience with 250ms block times and extremely cheap transactions.”

 

 5. Besides your technology, why are you the right partner to make ApeChain?

 

“We’re the right partner because we’re committed to growing ApeChain, we’re committed to bringing in the right stakeholders and partners, and we’re committed to working with the entire community on collaborating towards a chain that is continuously growing, improving, and being built upon. ApeChain cannot and will not be a set it and forget it project with us involved, it will need constant tending, growing, and opportunities for corporate, community, and other stakeholder involvement to get where it needs to be. We believe that our phased approach and the steps we’ve outlined are the only proposals that will actively get ApeChain there.”

 

 6. How does a chain make money?

“Validators, DAC participants, and the DAO each earn a variable percentage of each transaction. These specific percentages are yet to be determined for ApeChain and would be subject to a subsequent DAO vote. However, as mentioned, the main source of revenue for ApeCoin DAO would likely be the supplemental transaction fee.”

 

7. In USD dollars how much does having ApeChain in your network impact your bottom line?

“The bottom line is not the concern. Yes, ApeChain will present lots of opportunities for multiple parties (not just us) to generate revenue, but at the end of the day we’re not seeking money to build ApeChain and on the Horizen Labs side we’re large, long-time holders of ApeCoin and want to do everything in our power to see it do well.”

 8. How much money from gas fees will the ApeCoin DAO receive once ApeChain is built?

“In general, fees are split between the DAC, validators, and DAO, with the DAO typically taking the bulk of the share. In this case, the specific percentages are TBD and will be subject to confirmation by another DAO vote. We anticipate that the primary source of revenue for the DAO derived from this operation would come from adding a supplemental transaction margin."

 9. What happens at the end of your grants? What’s the future of ApeChain look like once those are used?

“Arbitrum technology is highly customizable and we plan to recommend adding a small fee to each transaction which would effectively establish a revenue stream for the DAO. This revenue stream would be intended, first and foremost, to ensure the longevity of the infrastructure and go toward paying those costs after the initial bootstrapping period. The Arbitrum Foundation is putting $3M toward this initiative by paying the RaaS, Security Council and Block Explorer costs for 3 years.”

10. Where do you see your foundation and the DAO’s relationship five years from now?

“We see closer, long-term deep relationships being built that last with Offchain Labs, Horizen Labs, Horizen Foundation, the Arbitrum Foundation and the ApeCoin DAO. That’s another way to say that everybody is committed for the long run, whether that be five or ten years from now.”

11. When and how did you join the Yugaverse/ $Ape ecosystem? Do you own any Apes or Yuga Labs NFTs?

“Horizen Labs has been involved with the $Ape ecosystem from very early on, we were the launch providers for ApeCoin, Otherdeeds, and more. We are longtime holders of both ApeCoin and of multiple BAYC and MAYCs, including our primary BAYC #6709.”

12. Do you have anything else to add or say?

“We’re super excited to be considered for ApeChain. We’ve loved talking to the community and continuing to build those connections. As we move forward it’s going to be super important to continue to hear from everyone, to collaborate, and to work together towards making ApeChain both a strong representation of all this community has to offer and a world-class gaming experience.”

The window to vote for either the Arbitrum and Horizen Labs team, the Optimism and A-Team group, Polygon, or zkSync is currently open and $Apes have until Wednesday, February 14th, to cast their coins.

 

$Apes can read Arbitrum and Horizen Labs team’s full proposal here: https://forum.apecoin.com/t/aip-378-apechain-bid-apechain-developed-with-arbitrum-technology-with-growth-led-by-horizen-labs/20779

 

The Bored Ape Gazette has reached out to all four teams for an interview and will bring you their replies as they respond. Stay tuned for updates!