Over $20M staked as ApeCoin staking goes live

Over $20 million worth of ApeCoin (APE) has been staked less than 24 hours after its staking feature went live, according to Etherscan data.

Horizen Labs tweeted on Dec. 5 that the rewards would start accruing by December 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.

Ape Staking Update: The day is finally here, $APE holders. https://t.co/sDan8JBxKa…is now LIVE!🎉
Pre-commitment period starts now.

1) Go to https://t.co/sDan8JBxKa
2) Connect your wallet
3) Stake your position

On December 12th, rewards start accruing. Get ready!

— Horizen Labs (@HorizenLabs) December 5, 2022

Apecoin has four staking pools

ApeCoin has four staking pools designed to cater for all classes of its holders.

The first staking pool is meant for those who hold the APE token but do not own 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.

As of press time, 2.7 million tokens have been staked in the BAYC pool, 1.5 million in the APE pool, and 858,651 and 211,442 staked tokens have been staked in the MAYC and BAKC pools, respectively.

Meanwhile, PeckShield reported that anyone who stakes in any of the three NFT 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.

#PeckShieldAlert If you stake ApeCoin in the NFT pools & sell your NFT you will lose the staked ApeCoin
Exploiter/Arbitrageur 0x8237 borrowed 82 $ETH from dydx
bought BAYC #6762 & got the staked 6.4k ApeCoin & swapped them for ~20 $ETH
sold BAYC #6762 for ~68 $ETH & repaid 82 ETH https://t.co/5qxFdzBS7t pic.twitter.com/bd41yxiWIv

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) December 6, 2022

The firm revealed that the trader got the 6,400 staked coins attached to the NFT, swapped them for about 20 ETH, and sold the BAYC for 68 ETH before repaying the loan.

U.S. ApeCoin holders are blocked

According to available information, ApeCoin holders in the United States, Crimea, North Korea, Russia, Cuba, Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Iran can’t stake their tokens because they are geoblocked.

While the firm cited regulatory concerns as its reasons, the crypto community was critical of the decision because most APE holders are in the United States.