ApeCoin, the United States-based holders, could miss out on staking rewards after the US was added to a list of regions geo-blocked from using an upcoming APE staking service.
It has been reported that blockchain infrastructure company Horizen Labs, which is building the site on behalf of the ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), revealed the news in a November 24 update regarding ApeStake.io on Twitter, saying, “unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative.”
However, Canada, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Russia, and the Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk are also on the block list. There are likely ways to get around the geo-block. The update noted the website is only an interface to interact with the Ethereum-based open-source smart contract, and “several other” interfaces are being crafted by parties such as exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.
The report said that prominent Twitter user Zeneca told their 312,00 followers that those from regions geo-blocked by ApeStake.io will still be able to stake by interacting with the smart contract directly or using another interface without geo-blocks. Those in blocked regions could also use a VPN to spoof their location.
Likewise, the decision to block US users likely resulted from the probe in October by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into APE creator Yuga Labs. The regulator is investigating if the company’s nonfungible tokens (NFTs) act more like securities and are subsequently violating federal laws.
Some Bored Apes are still fetching high prices even during the depths of crypto winter. An NFT from Yuga Labs’ flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection sold for 800 Ether or almost $950,000 at the time of sale on November 23.
BAYC #232 was sold to pseudonymous NFT collector Keungz, who seemingly has multiple Yuga Labs NFTs, according to their OpenSea profile — by Deepak Thapliydal. He is the CEO of Web3 infrastructure company Chain and gained notoriety for making the Guinness World Records for buying the “most expensive NFT collectible” after purchasing CryptoPunk #5822 for 8,000 ETH, or $23.7 million, on February 12.
The sale of BAYC #232 was closely followed by another on November 24 for BAYC #1268 between two unidentified wallets for 780 ETH, or almost $940,000 at the time of sale. The sales are significant as the NFTs sold far above the current floor price for the collection which has seen a decline over the past months.
The community-led DAO made up of ApeCoin holders has launched its own marketplace to buy and sell NFTs from the Yuga Labs ecosystem. The aptly named ApeCoin Marketplace built by NFT infrastructure firm Snag Solutions was launched on November 24 and supports transactions of the BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and Otherdeed NFT collections.
Thus, the marketplace “respects royalties while heavily reducing fees,” according to Heerwagen. A 0.25% slice of each sale is held in a multi-signature wallet and used to fund DAO initiatives.
Source: Cointelegraph