How every fee flows and burns
The 0.5% fee structure is calibrated to undercut major platforms by 80% while maintaining full operational sustainability. Every fee collected follows a deterministic on-chain path — split at the contract level with no discretionary allocation by any admin. At 0.5% fees with 50% burn allocation on trades and 25% on mints, the protocol achieves competitive positioning, sustainable revenue, significant burn contribution, and minimal friction for users and creators simultaneously.
| Action | Total Fee | Burned | Effective Burn | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFT Purchase / Sale | 0.5% | 50% 🔥 | 0.25% of sale | 0.25% of sale |
| NFT Mint | 0.5% | 25% 🔥 | 0.125% of mint | 0.375% of mint |
Conservative projections. Real deflation.
At $1M monthly volume — a modest target for an established NFT marketplace — the platform generates meaningful deflationary pressure while maintaining sufficient operational revenue. As volume scales to $5M, $10M, or higher, the burn impact grows proportionally without requiring any protocol changes or governance votes.
| Monthly Volume | Total Fees (0.5%) | $APE Burned (50% of fees) | Treasury (50% of fees) | Infra Cost (~$750/mo) | Net Surplus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $2,500 | $1,250 | $1,250 | ~$750 | ~$500 |
| $1,000,000 | $5,000 | $2,500 | $2,500 | ~$750 | ~$1,750 |
| $2,500,000 | $12,500 | $6,250 | $6,250 | ~$750 | ~$5,500 |
| $5,000,000 | $25,000 | $12,500 | $12,500 | ~$750 | ~$11,750 |
| $10,000,000 | $50,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | ~$750 | ~$24,250 |
Infrastructure costs: RPCs, indexing, hosting ~$500–$1,000/month. Burn column reflects trade fees only (50% burn rate). Mint fees generate additional burns at 25% rate.
Quantifiable. On-chain. Verifiable.
Platform success is measured through publicly trackable on-chain metrics — not speculation. These represent conservative estimates based on comparable marketplace launches on other chains. Actual performance may significantly exceed these benchmarks depending on ApeChain ecosystem growth.
NFT rewards. Zero inflation.
All competition rewards consist exclusively of NFTs from established ApeChain collections, purchased on secondary markets using protocol treasury funds. This creates multiple strategic advantages: floor price support through buy-side liquidity, creator royalties generated on every purchase, volume contribution to ApeChain NFT trading metrics, and ecosystem alignment where winners receive assets with inherent utility in Otherside and other ApeChain experiences.
Competition prize pools scale automatically with protocol treasury balance — no governance votes or manual intervention required. As marketplace volume increases, reward budgets grow proportionally, creating sustainable self-funding incentive programs that amplify success rather than requiring constant capital injection.
Competitions are intentionally delayed until the marketplace achieves baseline adoption and organic volume, ensuring core functionality is battle-tested, rewards are funded by actual protocol revenue, and initial participants are genuine users rather than mercenary farmers.
Self-sustaining at moderate volume
At modest volume levels ($1–2M/month), the platform generates sufficient revenue to cover all operational costs while continuing to burn significant $APE and fund competitions — entirely independent of external funding. Revenue streams: trading fees (0.25% to treasury per trade) and minting fees (0.375% to treasury per mint). Operating expenses: infrastructure ~$500–1,000/month, development maintenance, periodic security audits, and competition NFT purchases that scale with treasury balance.