Key Takeaways:
- ApeCoin stakers will start accruing their staking rewards from December 12.
- User says Apecoin staking feature increases the chance of NFT theft.
- ApeCoin (APE) has dropped by over 20% in the last 30 days.
LAGOS (CoinChapter.com) — The much-anticipated ApeCoin staking is finally live, but it has not received overwhelming support from the crypto community as users continue to kick against its staking policy.
In detail, several users have expressed concern over the ApeCoin staking feature, which they pointed out isn’t user-friendly. Horizen Labs announced on Dec. 5 that the pre-commitment period of the APE staking is live, and users can start accruing rewards by Dec. 12.
The staking update had experienced early delays due to a Bug Bounty AIP, which led to the decision to keep the pre-deposit period to one week. However, after ApeCoin staking finally went live, many users highlighted controversial aspects of the blockchain platform policy.
UpOnly host Cobie, via his official Twitter handle, argued that the ApeCoin staking protocol is anti-user friendly. He indicated that many of the features surrounding the stacking protocol are aimed at enriching the platform, not the users.
“They made a staking system that is complicated and prone to either 1) fluctuating apecoin price arb, and 2) increasing the pain of an nft theft. […] BAYC was one of the most “stolen” assets in 2021-2022. So they decided to make that worse!”
Cobie said.
Meanwhile, PeckShield also reported that anyone who stakes in three NFTs of Apecoin’s four pools and then sells their NFT would lose their staked tokens. The blockchain analytical firm highlighted one address that took advantage of this to borrow 82 ETH from dYdX and buy a staked BAYC.
The firm revealed that the trader got the 6,400 staked coins attached to the NFT. The trader then swapped them for about 20 ETH and sold the BAYC for 68 ETH before repaying the loan.
Many users also condemned the segregation of some countries due to regulatory issues. The community especially was critical of the decision to geo-block the US. Notably, users in the US, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Russia, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk are geo-blocked from staking.
About Apecoin Staking
ApeCoin has four staking pools designed to cater for all classes of its holders.
The first staking pool is meant for those holding the APE token but not owning any of the Bored Ape-related NFTs. The other three pools are meant for Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) holders.
While BAYC and MAYC holders can stake their NFTs independently, BAKC holders have to pair theirs with one of the former NFTs to get the staking benefits.
At press time, 2.7 million tokens have been staked in the BAYC pool and 1.5 million in the APE pool. Additionally, 858,651 and 211,442 have been staked tokens have been staked in the MAYC and BAKC pools, respectively.
Notably, staking is a common cryptocurrency process that lets token owners earn rewards by locking up and holding their assets using a specialized smart contract. Smart contracts are essentially the software that powers decentralized apps and NFT projects.
ApeCoin (APE) Token Price Down 20% After Controversy
The cryptocurrency community’s complaint seems to be impacting the value of the Ethereum-based token. At the time of publication, Apecoin (APE) is down 20% in the last 30 days, according to data from Coingecko.
Apecoin is priced at $4.09 and has slumped by 85% since hitting an all-time high of $26.7 in April. However, it is not all gloom for the token, as it was up by around 2% on the day. Additionally, in the last week, only three other coins ranked in the top 100 have posted larger gains than APE.
