It’s official, ApeCoin staking is live, and as of December 12, the first $APE rewards have accrued. But whether you’re an early Bored Ape holder that claimed every subsequent Yuga Labs airdrop, or an NFT enthusiast who only recently purchased their first bit of $APE, staking can seem like a daunting task. A process that has long been a facet of the crypto industry, if done right, staking has the potential to be a significant win for token holders. But if mishandled, it can have catastrophic consequences.

With so much misinformation being circulated throughout the metaverse, it’s become more important than ever for Web3 communities to do their due diligence before jumping on a bandwagon. The same is true with ecosystem expansions like ApeCoin staking. So to clear up any would-be misconceptions and to provide a one-size-fits-all approach to ApeCoin staking, we’ve created a short but effective guide stuffed with everything any Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) member should know.

What is ApeCoin?

First, a bit of background on ApeCoin/$APE. Although at times, the moving parts of Yuga Labs, BAYC, and ApeCoin can seem one and the same, it’s important to make the distinction between each entity. While Yuga and its NFT offering are forever bonded as creator and creation, ApeCoin was created to exist separately from the Yuga empire.

At its core, ApeCoin is the native token for the BAYC universe, not the Yuga ecosystem. Billed as a “token for culture, gaming, and commerce used to empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of Web3,” it was conceived by the ApeCoinDAO, which was formed solely to create and launch ApeCoin.

You can learn more by reading nft now’s full article on the topic here, but those are just the basics of ApeCoin. As a cryptocurrency created for the benefit of BAYC universe inhabitants and NFT holders, ApeCoin is nothing less than the lifeblood of the BAYC ecosystem. And now, those within the BAYC ecosystem can lock up their $APE in a smart contract and reap benefits over time through staking.

What is staking?

Crypto staking has been an integral part of the blockchain ecosystem for years. In its most basic form, it can be thought of as a sort of decentralized, high-yield savings account. With a general savings account, bank members can lock up their funds and receive interest on their balance over time. During this period, banks often use members’ locked-up savings to lend out to others, ensuring that the bank always has sufficient liquidity for use by members.

Staking is essentially the same and asks users to lock up their token holdings to be used for liquidity to receive interest over time. One major difference between traditional savings and token staking (other than the fact that one is crypto/blockchain-based and one is not) is that interest rates for staking are often much higher than those for bank savings. While this is common knowledge to those who have engaged in decentralized finance (DeFi), general Web3 enthusiasts might be shocked to find that, while banks offer an average of 0.19 percent interest on savings accounts, even the lowest level of ApeCoin stakers could earn roughly 3.83 percent in a single year.

How to stake ApeCoin

So, how do you stake ApeCoin, and how do you start accruing interest on your staked tokens? First, let’s get the most important piece of information out of the way. Only ever trust information from the official ApeCoin, Yuga Labs, or Bored Ape Yacht Club Twitter accounts. Similarly, only ever stake ApeCoin via ApeStake.io, or with trusted centralized exchanges like Binance that have been confirmed through official ApeCoin channels. These channels include those of prominent blockchain infrastructure company Horizen Labs, which is responsible for the ApeCoin staking system buildout.

Starting December 5, $APE holders had the option to pre-deposit funds in preparation for rewards accrual to begin on December 12. With that period now over, rewards for staked $APE are now live and accruing, and all ApeCoin or BAYC NFT holders can join in on staking. Unfortunately, due to regulatory concerns, ApeStake is not available to residents of the United States, Canada, North Korea, and more (see the full list here).

Until secondary staking channels have been established with additional centralized exchanges, users of these geoblocked territories will need to either stake by way of Binance, directly via the open-source smart contract, or by using a VPN. For those unfamiliar, VPN stands for “virtual private network.” A VPN works to protect users’ online activity and privacy by hiding their true IP address and creating a secure, encrypted tunnel to access the internet. By and large, utilizing a VPN to engage with staking on ApeStake.io has been the most popular workaround by users in the U.S. and Canada.

Keep in mind, this is not legal advice.

But, once a user has gained access to ApeStake, staking is as easy as connecting a software wallet and validating a transaction. But while ApeCoin staking benefits can be significant, they are not created equal for all within the BAYC universe. Depending on how much $APE you hold, and whether or not you own a Bored Ape NFT (or Kennel Club Dog or Mutant Ape), your benefits could vary greatly.

ApeCoin staking rewards

When staking $APE, users will have to decide which pool to allocate their holding. To begin, there are four primary staking pools, accessible to those with either BAYC (or related) NFTs and $APE tokens. Within the first year of staking, 100 million $APE will be released across staking pools as rewards. Here’s what that looks like divided up:

• $APE Staking Pool: 30,000,000 $APE Tokens
• BAYC Staking Pool: 47,105,000 $APE Tokens
• MAYC Staking Pool: 19,060,000 $APE Tokens
• BAKC Staking Pool: 3,835,000 $APE Tokens

While staking $APE directly is relatively straightforward, those hoping to stake their BAYC or related NFTs will need to take part in a commitment process beforehand. To complete this process a holder will need to own the NFT(s) at the time of staking, commit the NFT(s) utilizing $APE, and designate their paired pool if applicable. It might as well be noted that whether you stake an NFT or just straight-up ApeCoin, you’ll need $APE to engage with the staking system.

It’s also incredibly important to note that if a BAYC NFT holder sells their NFT while it’s committed, they’ll lose all of their staked $APE. ApeCoin strongly recommends that users uncommit their NFTs before selling, stating that users should “think of a BAYC or MAYC [NFT] like a box that holds $APE. If you sell the box, the new owner gets the box plus all of its contents.”

All in all, the most important takeaway for those looking to stake their tokens is that knowledge is power. Always triple-check the source of information and the websites/services you use. To learn more about ApeCoin staking, including how to keep your assets safe in the process, visit the official ApeCoin website here, in addition to ApeStake.io to get started.

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