ApeCoin Staking feature launch results in Massive Success!

Key Takeaways:

• Ape Foundation launches the highly awaited staking functionality for APE tokens and its affiliated NFTs such as the BAYC and MAYC.
• While APE price hasn’t reacted very much when the news broke, on-chain fundamentals indicate a positive reaction to the news.

ApeCoin, which has been one of the most talked about tokens in the past year – having been launched less than a year ago when it was airdropped to Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT holders for free back in March 2022. In this little a timespan, ApeCoin has jumped up the ranks to become the top metaverse crypto by market capitalization, which is no mean feat when you factor in older players like Decentraland, Sandbox and the likes.

In this interim, it has also gone on to launch a new metaverse called Otherside, and NFTs to own land on that metaverse called Otherdeed too. And now, on 6 December, 2022 – in a Twitter announcement made by blockchain development company Horizen Labs, staking feature for ApeCoin holders had been launched, with the pre-commitment period underway. This had been a much awaited functionality for quite some time now.

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

Now, about 24 hours later – the move has been extremely successful as in this interim, over $30 million worth of APE tokens had been deposited into the staking smart contract by the Ape Foundation. So, holders can now stake their APE tokens or BAYC/MAYC NFTs on ApeStake.io to start earning rewards on 12 December. According to the company website, about 96.2 million APE tokens (worth around $390 million as of writing this article) has been allocated as a reward for users who participate in the staking initiative.

As of writing, according to data from Etherscan.io, around $34.5 million worth of APE tokens and BAYC or MAYC NFTs have been staked to the staking smart contract.

Source: Etherscan.io

APE TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

APE/USD | Source: Tradingview

ApeCoin’s native crypto token APE price has begun a decently strong journey of recovery from the middle of November 2022, having rallied nearly 50% from its YTD lows. That is definitely a good sign, despite the overall bearishness in the market. However, the other thing to note is that the staking feature launched on 6 December has had practically no effect on the APE price whatsoever. This is certainly surprising and difficult to understand would require some more time to analyse and see how the market plays out.

On the technical front, APE price is certainly still weak despite the near 50% rally in the past two weeks. It is currently stuck in a descending triangle pattern, which is a strongly bearish price pattern. However, it is pretty close to breaking out of that descending triangle pattern on the chart and is supported by decently strong Relative Strength Index level of 55 as of writing. APE price has also broken above the 50 day moving average so that would also bring some support going forward too.

Read more: Apecoin Price Prediction

APE supply on exchanges takes a hit

APE Supply on Exchanges | Source: Santiment

In a major positive sign, APE’s supply on exchange has dipped significantly in the past couple of days, and even in the past 24 hours since the staking news broke. According to data provided by Santiment, APE’s supple on exchanges as a percentage of total supply has fallen from 5.2% on 7 November to around 4.5% as of now, presenting a 13.5% fall. This indicates that a large number of the cohort holding APE for the short term have now resorted to becoming HODLers by transferring their APE tokens outside of exchange wallets and possibly stake it to earn rewards as passive income.

Spike in daily active addresses

APE Daily Active Addresses | Source: Santiment

Daily active addresses for APE has also depicted a spike amid the breaking of the staking story, indicating that there is a large number of people who were HODLing onto APE tokens had now become active once again, quite possibly with the intention of staking their tokens to earn rewards.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it seems all indications point to the same direction. The staking feature for APE tokens and its affiliated NFTs was something that the community was excited about and is finally getting it. Simply having an asset makes no sense unless you can earn some sort of passive income from it too, other than the usual price appreciation. Thus, it seems APE is well positioned to recover on a stronger footing going forward.

Prices as on 7 December, 2022.