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ApeCoin (APE) gained more than 50% in value during the calendar month. The likely reason for the increase was the launch of staking at the beginning of December. The event was highly anticipated in the community, and by now, the number of APE blocked in staking stands at 57.5 million coins, equivalent to $250 million.
As provided by Nansen, of this number, 21% or 12.2 million APE are provided by ApeCoin Foundation, 76% are provided by unknown investors and minority stakes are in the region of 1% by large APE holders.
57.5M $APE (~$247M) has been staked
— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) December 12, 2022
With 21% (12.2M APE) funded by the ApeCoin Foundation
Other notable stakers incl. Machi Big Brother and dingaling who have staked 903,859 APE and 378,535 APE respectively pic.twitter.com/YGxd7pYKf3
Thus, as Lookonchain reports, an investor nicknamed Machi Big Brother staked 903,859 APE, equivalent to $3.9 million. The crypto enthusiast accounted for 1.57% of the total staked amount.
Is APE staking profitable?
Post factum, buying APE a month ago was clearly a good investment decision, but whether staking is profitable now is debatable.
The first reason is the huge increase in APE's price by bear market standards. The token's quotes have gained 50% against the dollar, Ethereum and Bitcoin in the past 30 days.
The second one could be the absence of a lock-in period on staking deposits, which forms the risk of chaotic withdrawal of staked APEs and selling them into market corrections, which would directly affect the token's price and indirectly the annual percentage yield paid also in APE.
Vladislav SopovFinally, the third reason why staking APE may not be as profitable as it seems is that only 36% of all tokens are in circulation, if CoinMarketCap data is to be believed. According to the vesting calendar of ApeCoin, the unlocking of shares of Yuga Labs, its founder as well as various contributors will start in spring 2023.
Alex Dovbnya
Godfrey Benjamin
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin