Layer 2 blockchain · settles to Arbitrum One
ApeChain ticker APE
Summary
ApeChain is an Arbitrum Orbit chain running Arbitrum Nitro that settles to Arbitrum One and uses APE for gas. A sequencer orders transactions first come, first served, with a 0.25-second minimum block time in ApeChain's docs. Batch data goes to a data availability committee (AnyTrust), which signs certificates that are posted to ApeChain's sequencer inbox on Arbitrum One; the sequencer can fall back to posting full data there. ApeChain is integrated with Espresso: its batch poster runs in a trusted execution environment and must follow Espresso's confirmations. Whitelisted validators post state assertions on Arbitrum One that can be disputed with interactive fraud proofs during a challenge period. Block production uses no stake or work of its own. 2671219212223
Design
- System
- Layer 2 blockchainApeChain Mainnet (chain ID 33139) is an Arbitrum Orbit chain that settles to Arbitrum One, which settles to Ethereum, so ApeChain's docs call it an optimistic L3; APE is its gas token. Batch data is normally held by an AnyTrust committee and only its certificates go to Arbitrum One, so L2BEAT describes ApeChain as an optimium, not a rollup, and lists it under Others because fewer than five external actors can challenge. It is filed as layer 2 because there is no class for layer-3 or committee-based chains. Curtis (chain ID 33111) is a separate testnet.
- Settles to
- Arbitrum OneApeChain posts committee certificates, or full batch data as a fallback, to its sequencer inbox on Arbitrum One, and validators post state assertions to its rollup contract there. The APE gas token is escrowed in ApeChain's bridge contract on Arbitrum One. Canonical withdrawals wait a 6-day 8-hour challenge period per L2BEAT (up to 7 days per ApeChain's FAQ). Arbitrum's docs say a child-chain block is only as final as the parent-chain block carrying its batch, so ApeChain's finality inherits Arbitrum One's, which tracks Ethereum.
- Settlement family
- Ethereum / EVM
- Scarce resource
- Other
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Other
- Who makes blocks
- One centralized sequencer, per L2BEAT. ApeChain's node-provider page names Caldera as its rollup-as-a-service provider; who holds the sequencer key is not stated. L2BEAT lists one externally owned account as batch poster and one whitelisted validator account that proposes state roots, and says anyone may propose only after 12 days 17 hours without proposals. Committee members are not publicly named.
- Fork choice
- No open fork choice on ApeChain: the sequencer's order, fixed by batches or committee certificates in the sequencer inbox on Arbitrum One, is canonical. Users can force a transaction in through the delayed inbox on Arbitrum One after 3 days, per L2BEAT. State claims are settled by interactive fraud proofs among whitelisted validators, and Arbitrum's docs say only a reorg of the parent chain can reorganize posted batches.
Qualifications
- Scarce resource · Not applicable. Recorded as other. ApeChain's own terms: block production uses no stake or work of its own. A sequencer run through Caldera orders transactions, a data availability committee signs batch data, and whitelisted validators post bonded state assertions on Arbitrum One; security rests on those roles plus Arbitrum One and Ethereum.
- Finality · Partial. Recorded as other. ApeChain's own terms: a sequencer soft confirmation, then an Espresso confirmation that the batch poster in its trusted execution environment must follow, then the batch (a committee certificate or full data) reaching safe and finalized blocks on Arbitrum One. Withdrawals settle only after the challenge period on Arbitrum One.
- Data availability · Contested. ApeChain's docs and Caldera's launch post describe AnyTrust committee data availability, and L2BEAT lists a committee with a 5-of-7 threshold whose members are not public. L2BEAT also records that batches were posted as full calldata on Arbitrum One from 1 July 2026 and as committee certificates again by 10 August 2026; no ApeChain announcement of either change was found.
- Proof system · Partial. L2BEAT describes interactive fraud proofs with a 6-day 8-hour challenge period in which only whitelisted validators take part, and says anyone may propose only after 12 days 17 hours of proposer inactivity. ApeChain's Blueprint plans BoLD with an APE bond for permissionless validation; no activation was found.
- Upgrade authority · Applies. L2BEAT says a 3-of-6 multisig with unnamed signers can upgrade the core contracts on Arbitrum One with no delay and can pause and unpause the system contracts, and an externally owned account can upgrade the enclave verifier contract; its page warns that critical contracts can be upgraded by an externally owned account. ApeChain's docs described an interim Security Council of Ape Foundation and infrastructure-partner signers until that section was removed on 27 July 2026.
- Native yield · Unknown. ApeChain's architecture page listed a functional native-yield feature until the docs removed that line on 27 July 2026. Whether yield still accrues was not verified.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Scalability
- Gives up
- Decentralized operation and independent security. One sequencer orders all transactions, a committee with a 5-of-7 threshold and unnamed members holds batch data, one whitelisted validator proposes state, and a 3-of-6 multisig can upgrade the core contracts with no delay, per L2BEAT. Forced inclusion takes up to 3 days, and L2BEAT assigns ApeChain no maturity stage.Security is inherited only in part: fraud proofs settle on Arbitrum One, which settles to Ethereum, but only if the committee keeps data available and at least one honest whitelisted validator challenges. L2BEAT says the ArbOS program hash ApeChain uses comes from a private repository that the public cannot rebuild, and it lists the code behind the enclave hash as unknown. The Blueprint plans permissionless validation with BoLD and an APE bond; no activation was found.
- Full node at home
- Demanding 371617ApeChain's node page runs a replica from the Docker image nitro-node:apechain-3.9.9 and a snapshot dated 30 July 2026 of about 1.24 TB compressed, says syncing can take up to a few hours, and asks operators to supply their own Arbitrum One RPC. Caldera's earlier public replica guide on GitHub (v3.5.6) keeps full archive state by default, reads committee data from a Caldera REST aggregator and forwards transactions to Caldera's sequencer endpoint. CPU, memory and uncompressed disk needs are not stated.
- Throughput claims
- No classified figure recorded
Scaling layers
No scaling layer recorded in this profile.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Unknown | No hash-time-locked or other trust-minimized swap mechanism on ApeChain was reviewed. EVM contracts could host one, but none was verified. |
| Authenticated data publication | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. ApeChain's committee certificates commit to the chain's own batch data; no feature for users to publish data against a chain-recorded commitment was reviewed. 22 |
| Light clients | Unknown | No light-client verification path for ApeChain was reviewed. Confirmed assertions on Arbitrum One carry ApeChain state roots, but checking account data against them was not reviewed, and batch data is normally held by the committee. |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Unknown | No payment or state channel layer anchored to ApeChain was reviewed. |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | ApeChain runs EVM smart contracts on Arbitrum Nitro; its docs state full EVM equivalence and its RPC serves the Ethereum JSON-RPC methods used by ethers.js and web3.js. Spend conditions are contracts, including Safe multisig wallets hosted by Den. 2311 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; no protocol feature to cancel or delay a sent payment, or to recover an account without its key, was found. ApeChain's portal FAQ says a canonical-bridge withdrawal cannot be undone once started. Safe multisig wallets are offered through Den; a plain threshold does not meet part (b), and their recovery options were not reviewed. 911 |
| Rollups | Unknown | Chains anchored to ApeChain were not reviewed. ApeChain itself settles to Arbitrum One; see the mechanism and settlement notes. |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | ThinCamelot (v2 and v3 pools) | Camelot's docs list ApeChain deployments of its v2 factory and router and its v3 (Algebra) pools, and ApeChain's app directory lists Camelot. DeFiLlama's DEX tracker recorded low trading volume across ApeChain venues, Camelot's pools included, in the 30 days before review, and its protocol data shows small deposits in Camelot and almost none in Saru or VaporDex there, so venues exist but activity is small. Saru and VaporDex were not reviewed further, and audits were not reviewed. 13252627 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | Unknown | Neither Circle's USDC contract list nor Tether's supported-protocol list names ApeChain, so neither issues a stablecoin natively there. In ApeChain's Blockscout token search, the USDC with the largest supply is Bridged USDC (Stargate), a bridged copy. apeUSD, in Camelot's contract list, is a cross-chain vault-share token in its verified contract code; its issuer and backing were not traced to an ApeChain source, so whether ApeChain has a dollar token of its own was not established. 2528293738 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | Algorithmic or hybrid stablecoins on ApeChain were not reviewed. Camelot's contract list includes apeUSD, whose issuer, design and current status were not reviewed. 25 |
| Bridges | Native to the protocolApeChain canonical bridge (Arbitrum Orbit inbox, bridge and outbox contracts on Arbitrum One), Ape Portal (bridge and swap front end), APE OFT on LayerZero | Deposits enter through ApeChain's inbox on Arbitrum One, where APE is escrowed in the bridge contract; ERC-20s use the gateways in ApeChain's contract list. Ape Portal routes canonical transfers without a platform fee and offers faster cross-chain swaps for a fee. APE also moves through LayerZero's OFT standard via an adapter contract on ApeChain. Risk: Canonical withdrawals wait about a week and rely on at least one honest whitelisted validator and on the committee keeping data available. L2BEAT says a 3-of-6 multisig can upgrade the bridge contracts with no delay, leaving no exit window, and can pause the system contracts. Fast routes and the OFT add third-party liquidity or messaging trust, not reviewed here. 89101419 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemApeScan (Etherscan), Blockscout (hosted by Caldera) | ApeChain's docs list ApeScan, built by Etherscan, as the primary explorer and a Blockscout instance on a Caldera domain; both loaded at review. The docs also list an OKX explorer, which was not checked. Explorer indexes are provider data, not consensus. 53536 |
| Hardware wallets | ThinTrezor Safe 3, 5 and 7 (through MetaMask or Rabby) | See custody rows: Trezor lists ApeChain among APE networks but Trezor Suite has no ApeChain network, so use goes through third-party apps. No Ledger path for ApeChain was documented by Ledger or ApeChain. 30313233 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | UnknownSame as native: Unknown | Cannot: Find an ApeChain network (chain ID 33139) in Ledger's published currency list (@ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0) or among Ledger Wallet's coin-integration feature switchesLedger's ApeCoin page describes APE as an ERC-20 token and names no ApeChain network. ApeChain's docs set the network up in MetaMask but do not mention Ledger, and no Ledger page documents ApeChain, so neither native support nor a documented third-party path was shown. 4323334 |
| Trezor | Through an intermediaryMetaMask or Rabby (third-party wallet apps named on Trezor's ApeCoin page)Same as native: Unknown | Can: Use APE on the ApeChain network with a Trezor Safe 3, Safe 5 or Safe 7 through MetaMask or Rabby; Trezor's ApeCoin page lists ApeChain among supported APE networks Cannot: Manage an ApeChain account in Trezor Suite itself: Suite's current EVM network configuration has no ApeChain entryTrezor's ApeCoin page names Trezor Suite, MetaMask, Backpack, Rabby and NuFi without tying them to networks. Because Suite's network code has no ApeChain entry, ApeChain use goes through the third-party apps; older Trezor models and contract signing were not reviewed. 3031 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for ApeChain yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Reviewed Sep 29, 2026 Next review due Oct 9, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
-
ApeChain's docs removed the native-yield and interim Security Council sections
A 27 July 2026 commit titled 'Removed native yield and security council' deleted the 'Functional Native Yield' line from ApeChain's architecture page and the section describing an interim Security Council of Ape Foundation and infrastructure-partner signers, which ApeCoin DAO elections were meant to replace. The same cleanup pull request removed several third-party tool pages.
- Implementation:documentation change merged
- Release:live on docs.apechain.com
- Activation:no change to chain rules; effect on yield or signers not established
Sources: Ape Foundation (GitHub, ape-foundation/apechaindocs) — Commit 45d84d1: Removed native yield and security council (external site) · Ape Foundation (GitHub, ape-foundation/apechaindocs) — Pull request #73 (cleanup): commits (external site) · Ape Foundation (ApeChain Docs) — ApeChain Architecture (external site) · L2BEAT — ApeChain (external site)
-
ApeChain's node guide moved to the apechain-3.9.9 Nitro image and a July 2026 snapshot
The Ape Foundation's docs repository updated the Run a Node page on 27 July 2026 to point operators to a v3.9.9 replica guide and the Docker image nitro-node:apechain-3.9.9, replacing the apechain-v3.5.6 image. On 3 August 2026 it added a snapshot dated 30 July 2026 with resumable download steps and its exact size.
- Implementation:node image apechain-3.9.9 referenced in ApeChain's docs
- Release:documented for operators; no release notes found
- Activation:no activation height or date published
Sources: Ape Foundation (GitHub, ape-foundation/apechaindocs) — Commit 692f0fa: Update run-node.mdx (v3.9.9 replica guide and image) (external site) · Ape Foundation (GitHub, ape-foundation/apechaindocs) — Commit aea95f3: Update run-node.mdx (30 July 2026 snapshot) (external site) · Ape Foundation (ApeChain Docs) — Run a Node (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for ApeChain through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- Who holds the sequencer, batch-poster and validator keys, and who signs the upgrade multisig or sits on the data availability committee, was not found in ApeChain's docs; L2BEAT lists them only as addresses.
- The data-availability changes L2BEAT records for July and August 2026 (full calldata, then committee certificates again) were not announced in any ApeChain source found; the current mode should be re-checked on chain.
- ApeChain's docs do not state its challenge period, forced-inclusion delay or validator set; these come from L2BEAT's contract reading.
- Whether ApeChain has activated BoLD, Timeboost or Stylus from its Blueprint plans, and which ArbOS version is active, was not verified.
- Whether the native-yield feature still operates after the docs removed it in July 2026, and who issues apeUSD and what backs it, were not verified.
- A third-party event listing (CoinMarketCal, republished by TradingView) reports that ApeChain moved its designated stablecoin from apeUSD to USDC on 31 July 2026; no ApeChain source for this was found, so it is not recorded as a development.
- The current v3.9.9 replica guide is a Notion page that could not be read; node hardware needs are not stated in the reviewed sources.
- What the architecture page's Fast Withdrawals item refers to was not established; the portal FAQ describes fast routes as third-party cross-chain swaps.
- Ledger support for the ApeChain network could not be confirmed either way; no Ledger or ApeChain page documents a path.
- Liquidity depth of Camelot on ApeChain, and whether Saru and VaporDex are still active there, were not reviewed.
- LayerZero OFT settings for APE (verifiers and rate limits) and third-party bridge routes were not reviewed.
- The OKX explorer listed in ApeChain's docs was not checked.
- APE total supply, issuance and how the OFT supply is reconciled across networks were not reviewed.
- Espresso's list shows an Espresso RPC endpoint only for ApeChain's testnet; how mainnet applications read Espresso confirmations was not verified.
- ApeChain's fee parameters (minimum base fee, parent-chain data pricing in APE and fee recipients) were not found.
- Who governs ApeChain upgrades beyond the multisig, including the role of the Ape Foundation named in the docs, was not reviewed.
- Atomic swaps, light clients, channels, reversible transfers or account recovery, and algorithmic stablecoins on ApeChain were not reviewed.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 29, 2026 Next check due Oct 29, 2026.
- ApeChain Docs: About ApeChain (external site)
- ApeChain Architecture (external site)
- Run a Node (external site)
- Add ApeChain to MetaMask (network details) (external site)
- Block Explorers (external site)
- Cross-Chain (Espresso integration) (external site)
- Node Providers (external site)
- APE OFT (external site)
- Ape Portal FAQ (external site)
- Mainnet Contract Information (external site)
- Safes (external site)
- The Blueprint (external site)
- ApeChain home and app directory (external site)
- Bridge & Swap (Ape Portal bridge page) (external site)
- Commit 45d84d1: Removed native yield and security council (27 July 2026) (external site)
- ApeChain mainnet replica guide: nodeConfig.json (external site)
- ApeChain mainnet replica guide: docker-compose.yml (external site)
- Caldera partners with ApeCoin and Horizen Labs to launch ApeChain (26 April 2024) (external site)
- ApeChain (external site)
- Live on Espresso (integrated chains reference) (external site)
- Using TEE with Nitro (external site)
- AnyTrust Protocol (external site)
- Finality and chain reorganizations (external site)
- Chain registry entry eip155-33139 (ApeChain) (external site)
- Contracts: Orbit Chains, ApeChain (external site)
- DeFiLlama protocols API (ApeChain entries) (external site)
- DeFiLlama DEX volume overview: ApeChain (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- Supported Protocols and Integration Guidelines (external site)
- Safe & secure ApeCoin wallet (external site)
- Trezor Suite EVM network configuration (networkConfig.ts, develop branch) (external site)
- ApeCoin Wallet (external site)
- @ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0 currency list (external site)
- Ledger Wallet coin-integration feature switches (develop branch directory) (external site)
- ApeChain (APE) Blockchain Explorer (ApeScan) (external site)
- ApeChain Blockscout explorer (external site)
- ApeChain Blockscout token search for USDC (API) (external site)
- ApeChain Blockscout verified contract for apeUSD (API) (external site)
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Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding