US stakers blocked from ApeCoin, two Apes sold for $1M a piece, marketplace launched

Key points:

• US-based ApeCoin holders may miss out on staking rewards after the US was added to the list of geo-blocked regions from using the upcoming APE staking service.
• The decision to ban U.S. users likely stemmed from an investigation by the U.S. SEC into APE inventor Yuga Labs.
• An NFT of Yuga Labs’ flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection sold for 800 Ether, or roughly $950,000, at the November 23 auction.
• BAYC #1268 was sold between two unidentified wallets on November 24th for 780 ETH, or nearly $940,000 at the time of the sale.
• A community-led DAO of ApeCoin holders has launched its own marketplace for buying and selling NFTs from the Yuga Labs ecosystem.
• The marketplace allows trading and stacking of Bored Ape NFT families.

Blockchain infrastructure company Horizen Labs, which is building the site on behalf of the decentralized autonomous organization ApeCoin (DAO), announced on Twitter on Nov. 24, news about ApeStake.io, stating "unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative."

Canada, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Russia, and the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk are also on the blacklist.

There are ways to potentially bypass geo-restrictions. The update notes that the website is just an interface for interacting with open-source Ethereum-based smart contracts, with “several other” interfaces being developed by parties such as exchanges and DeFi platforms.

Prominent Twitter user “Zeneca” told his 312,000 followers that those from ApeStake.io geo-blocked areas can still stake by interacting directly with the smart contract or using another non-geo-blocked interface. Those in blocked areas can also use a virtual private network (VPN) to spoof their location.

The decision to ban U.S. users likely stemmed from an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into APE inventor Yuga Labs in October. Regulators are investigating whether the company’s non-fungible tokens (NFTs) violate federal law by acting more like securities.

Two Bored Ape NFTs Sell for Nearly $1M Each

Meanwhile, even in the depths of the crypto winter, some bored monkeys are still selling at high prices. An NFT of Yuga Labs’ flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection sold for 800 Ether, or roughly $950,000, at the November 23 auction.

BAYC #232 was sold by Deepak Thapliydal to pseudonymous NFT collector "Keungz" - who appears to own several Yuga Labs NFTs according to his OpenSea profile.

Thapliydal, CEO of Web3 infrastructure company Chain, set a Guinness World Record for the purchase of the "Most Expensive NFT Collectible" after selling CryptoPunk #5822 for 8,000 ETH or $23.7 million on March 12.

Following BAYC #232, BAYC #1268 was sold between two unidentified wallets on November 24th for 780 ETH, or nearly $940,000 at the time of the sale.

Sales have been strong as NFTs are selling well above the series' current base price, which has dropped in recent months.

According to NFT Price Floor, at the time of writing, a boring monkey's lowest price was just under 63 ETH, or about $75,600, which is 80% lower than its all-time high price of 144.9 ETH on May 1, or more than $391,000.

ApeCoin DAO launches the marketplace

A community-led DAO of ApeCoin holders has launched its own marketplace for buying and selling NFTs from the Yuga Labs ecosystem.

The aptly named ApeCoin marketplace, built by NFT infrastructure firm Snag Solutions, launched on November 24 and supports trading for the BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and Otherdeed NFT families.

In a Nov. 24 Twitter post, Snag Solutions CEO Zach Heerwagen said the marketplace includes “unique features” specific to the NFT community, including the ability to stake APE.

According to Heerwagen, “the marketplace respects licensing fees while reducing fees substantially.” A 0.25% share of each sale is kept in a multi-signature wallet and is used to fund the DAO initiative.

Royalty marketplace support comes from a number of other NFT marketplaces such as Solana-based Magic Eden and Ethereum-based LooksRare that remove royalty enforcement for creators by default.

Others, such as OpenSea, have continued to enforce royalty payments and even developed a tool to help NFT creators enforce on-chain royalties and allow them to blacklist NFTs sold on royalty-free marketplaces.