Two apes were sold for $1 million apiece, and a marketplace for ApeCoin has been formed.
ApeCoin in the United States
tickers $3.26 lower
After the United States was added to a list of countries that were blocked from accessing a future APE staking service, holders risked missing out on staking incentives.
Horizon Labs, a provider of blockchain infrastructure, revealed the information in a Nov. 24 update regarding ApeStake.io on Twitter, adding, “Unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative.” Horizon Labs is building the website for the ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
On the list of countries to be blocked are also Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, which are all under Russian control.
Related: Despite the opening of the ApeCoin DAO Marketplace, ApeCoin prices fell by 3.42%.
There are probably methods to circumvent the geo-block. The update stated that “many alternative” interfaces are being developed by parties such as exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and that the website is merely an interface to engage with the Ethereum-based open-source smart contract.
Zeneca, a well-known Twitter user, informed their 312,000 followers that people from geoblocked areas can still stake by engaging with the smart contract directly or through an alternative interface. Those who are in restricted areas can disguise their location by using a VPN.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Yuga Labs, the company that created APE, undoubtedly had an impact on the decision to prohibit U.S. users. The regulator is looking into whether the company’s nonfungible tokens (NFTs) behave more like securities and so break the law.
Selling two bored ape NFTs for about $1 million each
Even in the depths of crypto-cold, some bored apes are still fetching high prices. An NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection by Yuga Labs sold for 800 ether (ETH).
Down $1,216 on the tickers
or about $950,000 at the time of the Nov. 23 sale.
Deepak Thapliydal sold BAYC #232 to fictitious NFT collector Keungz, who appears to own several Yuga Labs NFTs based on their OpenSea profile.
Thapliydal, the CEO of Web3 infrastructure company Chain, became well-known after he bought CryptoPunk #5822 on February 12 for 8,000 ETH, or $23.7 million, breaking the Guinness World Records for the “most expensive NFT collectible” purchase.
Following the sale of BAYC #232 on November 24, BAYC #1268 was also sold for 780 ETH, or about $940,000 at the time of sale, between two undisclosed wallets.
The sales are important since the NFTs sold well over the collection’s current floor price, which has been declining over recent months.
As of this writing, the minimum price for a Bored Ape is a little under 63 ETH, or over $75,600, which is 80% less in U.S. dollars than the price at which it reached its all-time high on May 1 of 144.9 ETH or more than $391,000 at the time.
launch of the ApeCoin DAO marketplace
A marketplace for buying and selling NFTs from the Yuga Labs ecosystem has been established by the community-led DAO made up of ApeCoin holders.
The NFT infrastructure company Snag Solutions created the aptly named ApeCoin Marketplace, which allows transactions between the BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and other NFT collections. The marketplace started on November 24.
Zach Heerwagen, CEO of Snag Solutions, said on Twitter on November 24 that the market has “unique features” made just for NFT communities, like the ability to stake APE.
According to Heerwagen, the market “respects royalties while drastically cutting fees.” A multisig wallet is used to save 0.25% of each sale, which is then used to finance DAO projects.
Related: A business leader explains why protecting against NFT fraud falls on the brand and not the marketplaces.
A number of other NFT marketplaces, such as the Ethereum-based LooksRare and the Solana-based Magic Eden, have stopped automatically imposing royalties on creators.
Others, like OpenSea, have kept on enforcing royalties and even made a tool to help NFT developers enforce royalties on-chain, which makes it impossible for their NFTs to be sold on royalty-free marketplaces.
