TL;DR
- Greg Solano, CEO of Yuga Labs, proposes shutting down the ApeCoin DAO and transferring its assets to a new entity operated by the company, named ApeCo.
- The proposal aims to eliminate bureaucracy and focus resources on strategic projects such as ApeChain, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Otherside.
- A formal vote is required to approve the transition, though initial support for the proposal within the APE ecosystem appears strong.
In a surprising move, Yuga Labs CEO Greg Solano has proposed the complete dissolution of ApeCoin’s DAO, one of the most recognized decentralized structures in the NFT space. In its place, he suggests creating ApeCo, a new organization directly managed by Yuga Labs. According to Solano, the DAO has lost its effectiveness, wasting time and funds on low-value initiatives, and has become too slow for a space that demands agility and clear direction.
Structural Shift to Prioritize Results
The proposal calls for transferring all DAO assets—including over a billion APE tokens, digital infrastructure, and governance rights—to ApeCo. The goal is to channel resources exclusively into high-potential initiatives. Among the first steps would be boosting the staking pool with over 11 million APE and reserving funds to cover legal and operational transition costs. ApeCo would focus on three main pillars: developing ApeChain, advancing the Bored Ape Yacht Club, and expanding Yuga’s Otherside metaverse.
Solano argues this new model will enable faster, more strategic decisions by removing the fragmentation typical of DAOs.
“We’re not shutting down the ecosystem, we’re making it professional,”
he posted on X. He also emphasized that participation won’t disappear but will shift to a more efficient, results-driven framework.
Initial Support and Centralization Concerns
While the proposal represents a major departure from ApeCoin’s original decentralized governance, many users have voiced support. They believe the DAO had become a growth barrier and that the time for more effective leadership has come.
“We can’t keep voting on T-shirts and random events,”
commented a prominent BAYC community member.
Still, not everyone is on board. Some fear ApeCo could lead to excessive centralization and erase the participatory spirit that ApeCoin was founded on. This clash of perspectives highlights the ongoing debate about how crypto governance should evolve, whether to preserve decentralization or adapt in order to grow and scale.
The final vote will decide the fate of ApeCoin DAO, but the direction already seems to be shifting toward a new era led directly by Yuga Labs. In the coming days, the outcome could define the future of one of the most ambitious NFT experiments to date.
