Over $30M Pours Into ApeCoin Staking in First Day

One day after the Ape Foundation opened staking for its APE currency, over $30 million worth of the tokens has been deposited into its contract.

The token, which is the native currency of the Yuga Labs ecosystem, was airdropped to holders of the Web3 collective’s mainstay non-fungible token (NFT) collections, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club, back in March.

The price of the token itself hasn’t changed much in the weeks leading up to the staking – at the time of writing, APE was trading at about $4.20, the same price as two weeks ago. At its peak in the days before Yuga Labs’ Otherside metaverse land sale last April, APE was trading for over $22.

Holders can stake their APE tokens or Bored Ape/Mutant Ape NFTs on ApeStake.io to start earning rewards on Dec. 12. According to the company’s website, 96.2 million $APE (worth around $391 million as of writing) has been allocated as a reward for users who participate in staking.

Staking remains restricted in several countries, including the U.S., where the majority of Bored Ape holders live. The Ape Foundation, which is a decentralized autonomous organization run by a handful of prominent community members, cited regulatory concerns as reasoning.

“Unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative,” the company said in a statement.

An important thing for people considering staking their NFTs should note: If someone staking their Bored Ape NFT sells it, they will also be giving up their staked APE to the new buyer, a problem that a handful of Bored Ape holders have already fallen victim to. Community members have made an effort to alert stakers of the caveat via Twitter:

On Tuesday morning, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, announced that an APE staking program would be arriving to its NFT marketplace when rewards begin accruing on Dec. 12.

The staking hoopla has done little to energize prices for Bored Ape NFTs, which are still down significantly (more than 50% in ETH) since the summer. At the time of writing, the floor price for a Bored Ape on NFT marketplace OpenSea was just under 70 ETH, worth about $87,000.