Although the launch of ApeSwap Treasury Bills was one of the most anticipated NFTs of Spring 2022, nobody could have predicted their immediate success.
When the Treasury Bills launched on April 12, 2022, the first batch sold out almost immediately after they became available. The ApeSwap community ensured the success of the limited-edition NFTs, with tremendous excitement for the next round.
Because of the early success and more to come, the ApeSwap team wanted to offer a look at how Treasury Bills became a blue chip NFT at launch, with a vision of the roadmap to come.
Why the Treasury Bill Presale was Successful
The launch of the Treasury Bill product was among the most heavily awaited events of the year for the ApeSwap community. Within minutes of launching, the discount turned negative — meaning the Treasury Bills price was higher than the price of BANANA — and purchases were disabled. As a result, ApeSwap community members wanted to know how Treasury Bills can become unavailable so quickly. The answer lies in tokenomics.
The key utility of the NFT is selling Liquidity Pool (LP) tokens and receiving BANANA tokens, which vest over a 14-day period. There are three key incentives for purchasing the Treasury Bill NFT: The unique art procedurally generated with each mint (more on that below), the ability to earn BANANA tokens at a discount, and generating protocol-owned liquidity for the ApeSwap DAO to build long-term sustainability for the product.
How the Discount Rate Works
As Treasury Bills are minted, the BANANA discount rate slowly decreases until it gets to (or below) 0%. This has two primary effects: First, a lower discount increases the return on emissions (ROE) for the entire protocol, adding inherent value to the BANANA token. Second, once the BANANA discount crosses 0% and goes negative, Treasury Bill purchases are disabled until the discount rate becomes positive again.
When Treasury Bills buyers visit the page on the ApeSwap site, they will see the available LP combinations, the current price, and discount against the current BANANA market rate. If the discount is in the red, then it is currently at a negative rate and the buttons will read “Available Soon.” This acts as a countdown for buyers to look forward to the next release. Once the discount rate goes above 0%, the NFT — along with the earning utility from purchasing Treasury Bills with LP tokens — will be available for purchase.
What’s Next for Treasury Bills: New NFT Art
Building on the excitement, there’s much more to come for the project. In the next phase, the NFTs will feature new art, with each unique piece created procedurally at mint.
The ApeSwap team is working with the very talented iliana.ink, a Uruguayan artist who primarily designs tattoos. Her experience in ink offers a very creative eye to illustrate one-of-a-kind, unique NFTs that pay homage to designs from traditional paper notes. Although it is her first NFT project, ApeSwap is confident it won’t be the last.
At minting, each Treasury Bill NFT will feature six variables with 10 options each, creating over 100,000 original combinations which honor the trailblazers of cryptocurrency. Although the history of crypto is relatively short, the activity to further the industry by these trailblazers is immense. ApeSwap is excited to acknowledge and celebrate the collective past of cryptocurrency, with a vision towards the future.
The six variables found on every Treasury Bill NFT are:
- The Certification: The frame color around the legend reflects the purchase amount, ranging from bronze to diamond for the highest-value NFTs.
- The Legend: The trailblazers of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Lighting Labs CEO and founder Elizabeth Stark.
- The Location: Digital and physical spaces which created early use cases for cryptocurrency, such as The Silk Road, The Sandbox, and Switzerland’s Crypto Valley.
- The Moment: Key developments which helped to shape where the cryptocurrency atmosphere is today, including the Bitcoin hard fork, the moment when Tesla began accepting Bitcoin for purchases, and Bitcoin becoming legal tender in El Salvador.
- The Trend: Trends which developed further utility and use cases for cryptocurrency, including the HODL phenomenon, GameFi, and (naturally) NFTs.
- The Innovation: Innovations like the mining rig, stablecoins, smart contracts, and hardware wallets which helped drive cryptocurrency forward into everyday adoption.
The full range of the Treasury Bills NFT collection will launch on April 29, 2022. For those who want the special edition Obie Dobo NFT, it will be available for an additional seven days.
The Future of Treasury Bills
The launch of Treasury Bills was a successful case study by ApeSwap in creating a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) through an NFT, and the ApeSwap community has played a key role in this success. The sale of Treasury Bill NFTs shows a demand for a liquid token, where the utility is purchasing BANANA at a discount (as needed based on the SAFT), which can be sold or traded at the discretion of the NFT holder.
Treasury Bills are also one of the first recorded cases of fundraising for community-focused projects after an initial Token Generation Event (TGE). By generating growth without mining more coins, ApeSwap can actively work towards BANANA remaining a deflationary token, while returning rewards to NFT holders.
Finally, the Treasury Bill product is a complimentary solution to ApeSwap’s liquidity mining products. While liquidity mining is a short-term liquidity source, the Treasury Bills represent a more robust and sustainable liquidity source for products. The ApeSwap DeFi Hub approach to multi-faceted product offerings fulfills the needs of users interested in both short-term opportunities (like Yield Farming) and long-term opportunities (like the purchase of Treasury Bills).
The future of DeFi is a collective effort: it’s up to the greater community to bring ideas to life, and ultimately approve their proposed value proposition. The ApeSwap team couldn’t be more excited to build a new world of products in the crypto space, charting the future of DeFi with the incredible band of Apes.
