Apecoin, the governance token powering the BAYC metaverse, is soaring high in valuation, jumping to new all-time highs as it nears the $20 mark, but is ApeCoin staking a thing yet?
Yuga Labs have recently confirmed the news of their upcoming "the other side Metaverse" project. This news has positively hit the prices of ApeCoin, enabling the crypto to soar in late April.
The newly launched Apecoin will be responsible for powering the BAYC ecosystem, but does Apecoin be used for staking purposes?
Can Apecoin Be Used For Staking?
Yuga Labs does not officially allow ApeCoin staking for now, but this could change quickly depending on its community proposals. The ApeCoin forum has multiple AIPs that propose ApeCoin staking ideas.
These AIPs (proposals) are now live, with holders set to vote on them. If they pass, they will pave the way towards ApeCoin staking.
These proposals have not gone smoothly, however. AIP-5, which first proposed staking, was voted against by the community. Crypto influencer Cobie also published a Substack questioning the ApeCoin staking proposal, which sought to distribute 17.5% of the APE supply to stakers in the next three years.
"Isn’t it just paying people in ApeCoin to hold ApeCoin?" he asked, before describing ApeCoin staking as a "bribe" to not sell.
Others in the AIP-5 discussion and Twitter Spaces questioned the lack of staking caps and disproportionate rewards for BAYC holders.
AIP-21 and 22 have re-proposed staking, albeit with changes (staking caps) they hope will help pass the staking votes. These add caps to the amount that can be staked against the NFTs held.
However, if you can't wait until these AIPs pass, there is another, unofficial option.
How To Stake ApeCoin
vEmpire, a decentralised Metaverse, GameFi, and NFT investment organisation has introduced a staking pool for Apecoin.
By staking APE on vEmpire, the company will use the investor's stake by purchasing other ape-based assets and playing games within the Ape ecosystem.
Of course, this is slightly different to how traditional forms of staking and staking pools work, given its separation from the official ApeCoin ecosystem. Until the official ApeCoin staking passes, this is one of the only ways to 'stake' the coin.