The price of ApeCoin (APE) has exploded 55 percent following Twitter speculation that holders of the token would be able to purchase land in the Otherside metaverse MMORPG via a Dutch auction land sale.
Since the morning of April 18, APE has surged from its recent low of US$11.05 to a high of US$17.30 on April 21. According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing APE had retraced its gains slightly and was trading at US$15.95.
A Tale of Two Tweets
The APE buying frenzy has been driven by speculation that holders will have access to land in the Otherside metaverse MMORPG, which is currently being developed by the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs.
Rumours had been circulating online since April 18, but two tweets in particular sparked investor interest. The first, tweeted a day later by a user known as ‘WillyTheDegen’, suggested that holders of the Yuga Labs-created NFTs BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) would be airdropped land in Otherside:
The second tweet, posted on April 20 by ‘renegademasterr’, stated that Yuga Labs would be running a Dutch auction – where the starting price is high and bids get gradually lower – to sell Otherside land using APE as the purchasing currency:
This surge illustrates just how fickle the crypto market can sometimes be, driven by social media chatter and a healthy dose of FOMO.
APE Has Had a Turbulent Time
Since launching in March 2022, APE has been quite a volatile asset, even by crypto standards. On its first day of trading the token plunged 80 percent from its all-time high of US$39.40, and early this month it fell 20 percent following a hack on the related BAYC Discord servers.