Polygon Boosts “ApeChain” Bid with $3M Fund Post Vote Loss

Polygon Labs makes another attempt to convince ApeCoin DAO to launch an Ethereum Layer 2 with the CDK.

Ape is on mountain tops with polygon MATIC.
Created by Kornelija Poderskytė from DailyCoin
  • Polygon Labs has revamped its “ApeChain” bid.
  • The updated proposal features multiple financial incentives to address cost concerns.
  • Despite the incentives, the firm may have sabotaged its latest bid with controversial claims about the initial community vote.

Following the launch of the Polygon Chain Development Kit in August 2023, Polygon Labs, the development team behind the network, has propositioned several promising projects to join its ecosystem by launching Ethereum Layer 2 chains using the tech stack. Among these projects is the ApeCoin DAO.

After losing an initial vote to get the DAO to launch “ApeChain” in December 2023, Polygon Labs has updated its proposal with several financial incentives, including a $3 million fund.

Polygon Labs Sweetens the Deal

In a revised proposal submitted on Friday, January 12, Polygon Labs offered several financial incentives to ApeCoin DAO to address cost concerns community members had raised in response to its initial proposal, which would have imposed a $200k annual maintenance cost and necessitated the creation of a treasury to incentivize ecosystem development and support.

As part of the new offer, Polygon Labs has asserted that it would cover the proposed ApeChain’s maintenance for the first three years through rollup as a service provider Gateway.fm. The firm also throws in three years of block explorer maintenance through OKX’s OKLink. At the same time, Polygon Labs asserted that it would provide $3 million for ecosystem development to be managed by the ApeCoin DAO Foundation.

Sponsored

As outlined by Polygon Labs, the ApeCoin DAO Foundation will use the $3 million fund to stimulate the growth of projects and public goods on the proposed Ethereum Layer 2 launched with the CDK.

Will Proposed Incentives Be Enough to Swing the Votes?

Despite the substantial financial incentives, judging by forum comments and reactions on X, members of the ApeCoin community do not seem keen on accepting Polygon Labs’ proposal. 

Sponsored

Many have taken issue with the Polygon Labs narrative that its proposal had won the “non-conflicted” community vote, referring to votes excluding community members with stakes in competing Ethereum scaling solutions.

“You just couldn’t put up an RFP bid without this baseless, inaccurate, and confrontational rhetoric?” Indie game developer Derek Smart contended in response to the Polygon Labs claim.

Despite describing the proposal as “great,” Smart argued that Polygon Labs was again likely to lose the ApeChain bid for potentially antagonizing the community.

On the Flipside 

  • Unlike the first vote, Polygon Labs has expressed willingness to participate in the next vote on its proposal with its 6 million APE holdings worth approximately $10 million.
  • Polygon Labs ApeChain bid faces competition from Optimism.

Why This Matters

The ApeCoin DAO oversees Yuga Labs’ metaverse ecosystem, which boasts popular NFT collections like BAYC and CryptoPunks. The Ethereum scaling solution that successfully wins the DAO’s business stands to see a significant ecosystem boon.

Read this for more on Polygon’s ApeChain bid:
Polygon Faces Cost Challenge in ApeCoin DAO ETH L2 Pitch

See what’s behind Bitcoin’s lackluster price action following Bitcoin ETF approvals:
Bitcoin ETFs Claim Record Volumes, So Why Is BTC Price Static?

This article is for information purposes only and should not be considered trading or investment advice. Nothing herein shall be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. Trading forex, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs pose a considerable risk of loss.

Author
Okoya David

David Okoya is a crypto news reporter at DailyCoin based in Nigeria. He covers various topics related to the cryptocurrency industry, including exchanges, regulations, and price movements, and strives to bring fresh angles to breaking news. With experience as a freelance crypto news writer, David upholds the highest journalistic standards, telling complete stories and answering lingering questions whenever possible.