As GameStop’s NFT push appears to be taking off, bets on ApeCoin (APE) have attracted over $20 million in just the last 20 hours
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GameStop entered the still-murky Web3 domain at a time when hype around cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the metaverse was moderating ahead of the current protracted winter that has encapsulated much of this nascent sphere. While GameStop’s approach to NFTs appears to be on increasingly shaky footing, ApeCoin (APE) and its affiliate Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) are still flying high, as evidenced by the coin’s staking contract which has attracted significant inflows they last hours.
To wit, Axios has cited its internal source as well as several LinkedIn posts to suggest that GameStop has laid off at least six software engineers recently, with much of that well-known ax concentrated on the company’s digital wallet initiative. Remember that GameStop also started a wave of layoffs back in July, when the company’s CFO was also put on the chopping block, so to speak.
As a refresher, GameStop’s dedicated NFT marketplace is built on Loopring’s technology and leverages the capabilities of Immutable X – an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) solution – to allow minting and trading of NFTs in a “carbon neutral” and zero-fee environment. To attract NFT creators, GameStop has created a $100 million fund denominated in Immutable X’s IMX tokens. In addition, GameStop has also launched a browser extension-based digital wallet that allows users to easily send, receive and store cryptocurrencies (ERC 20 tokens and Ethereum) as well as NFTs.
As if the declining interest in NFTs wasn’t bad enough, GameStop also partnered with now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX back in September. According to the company’s press release, the partnership was intended to “introduce more GameStop customers to FTX’s community and its digital asset marketplaces. In addition to partnering with FTX on new e-commerce and online marketing initiatives, GameStop will begin carrying FTX gift cards in selected stores.”
While GameStop appears to be on shakier Web3 footing, that is not the case for ApeCoin and BAYC. For the uninitiated, ApeCoin is supposed to power the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 profile pictures minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Developed by Yuga Labs, BAYC is an exclusive NFT-focused organization, with entry reserved only for those individuals who actually own a qualifying NFT. As a refresher, a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a kind of ownership agreement for a digital object, thus making it an asset. Remember that Yuga Labs did not create ApeCoin. Instead, it is the brainchild of the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) created to govern the token and its future development. Apart from serving as the governing token for BAYC, ApeCoin also intends to become the preferred payment medium for dApps and metaverse offerings.
The ApeCoin staking contract went live about 20 hours ago. Since then, the contract has attracted over $23 million in funding. To be eligible for stake rewards that will go live on the 12thth December, ApeCoin holders will have to unlock a certain number of coins on the staking contract, depending on the specific pool that such holders are targeting. Holders of bored or mutated monkeys can also participate in this staking activity by “committing” their eligible NFTs along with the required amount of APE, all assigned to a paired pool.
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APE staking started 11 hours ago, and as of now, 2.9 million $APE ($11.5 million) is the bet.
Official contract address: pic.twitter.com/CZkyuFoCz6
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) 6 December 2022
While GameStop ultimately aims to host billions of affordable in-game digital assets and NFTs, including digital real estate and in-game skins, thereby creating a significant new source of revenue generation, the ApeCoin effort is designed to reward early entrants over those who arrive later, with rewards decreasing over a three-year period. This activity will essentially unlock a certain proportion of ApeCoin’s supply, thus creating a theoretical argument for a price increase. In the short term, however, it continues to raise concerns that a “buy the rumor, sell the news” type of situation is afoot. So far, the coin is down just over 1 percent in the last 24 hours.
Do you think GameStop’s latest round of layoffs will have an effect on the wider Web3 sphere? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
