Hundreds of millions of dollars now staked in APE, with its price reacting respectfully
ApeCoin (APE) increased in value by more than 50% during the calendar month. A possible reason for the increase was the launch of staking in early December. The event was highly anticipated in the community, and as of now, the number of APE held is 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.
Thus, an investor named Machi Big Brother staked 903,859 APE, equivalent to $3.9 million, according to Lukonchain’s report. The crypto enthusiast has a share of 1.57% of the total stake 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 a huge increase in the price of APE by bear market standards. Over the past 30 days, the coin’s quote has increased by 50% against the dollar, Ethereum and bitcoin.
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.
Finally, a third reason why betting APE might 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 ApeCoin’s vesting calendar, the unlocking of shares of Yuga Labs, its founders as well as various contributors will begin in the spring of 2023.
