BAYC Co-Founder Gargamel Shared His Thoughts On ApeDAO Staking

Bored Ape Yacht Club Co-Founder Gargamel shared his thoughts on AIP-4 and AIP-5 and what he thinks $ApeCoin DAO staking should be.

“First off, I don’t want to see NFTs become locked away in “staking” contracts or really any kind of contract, Gargamel wrote. “To me, that goes against the ethos of the APE ecosystem. Your NFT is/can be your metaverse identity. That shouldn’t be something that gets locked away in a contract. I think members should have custody of their own NFTs. Whatever happens here, I want to encourage ApeCoin DAO voters not to push forward a system where we’re forcing users to lock away their NFTs in a contract.”

As the Bored Ape Gazette previously reported, ApeCoin DAO is holding its first ever vote. Two of the proposals $Ape holders are being asked to vote on are AIP-4 and AIP-5.

These two proposals were put forth by Animoca Brands. Animoca Brands Chairman, Yat Siu also serves as a Board Member of the Ape Foundation. In the two proposals, Siu and Animoca Brands lay out the staking process and staking pool allocations.

In AIP-4, Animoca explains that the “first step to ApeCoin becoming the preferred token of web3, early NFT adopters and existing and potential ecosystem participants should be incentivized.”

In order to incentives participation, Animoca is proposing the creation of four distinct staking reward pools. One for Bored Apes, one for Mutant Apes, one for BAKC dogs and one for $Ape coin.

Unlike traditional staking where holders of an NFT would have to stake their asset, Animoca Brands proposes people stake $ape coin instead.

“ApeCoin can be staked directly up to any amount during the Period,” AIP-4 states. “Users can commit any number of BAYC, MAYC, and/or BAKC NFTs to the incentive pool during the Period. Committing an NFT is the act of attributing ApeCoin for a specific NFT, which then allows that NFT to earn and claim incentives, as long as the ApeCoin remains attributed. Think of it as if the NFT is a safety deposit key. The NFT provides access to the staked ApeCoin tokens previously attributed to it.”

Gargamel told the community in his post that he personally approves of Animoca Brands Staking mechanics and thinks they’re “really cool.”

“In this respect, the staking mechanism that Animoca Brands has proposed in AIP 4 is really cool,” he wrote. “It’s a novel mechanism that allows NFTs to remain in the owner’s custody, while still incentivizing participation from those who hold NFTs. I like that about it.”

Gargamel thoughts on the staking mechanics echo what Siu has previously said about staking.

On March 17th, during a Twitter Space titled the ApeCoin Chat With the DAO Board, Siu explained the staking protocol and the benefits of staking $ape rather than an NFT. “In fact, we put forward two proposals, but specifically on AIP four. Really, I think it is worth mentioning that this staking proposal, I think is unique in the sense that it's probably the first proposal of its kind, and it was based on the experiences when we started playing around with. You know, NFT staking," Siu said in the Twitter Space hosted by Farokh. “What's unique about this is that you don't just stake fungible tokens as an ape for reward, which is, you know, a very classic model, but you have to use your NFT, but the NFT itself becomes more like a key rather than being something where you have to lock the NFT to receive rewards for it. You basically lock the tokens and the ape itself becomes a key that unlocks it, which means that you can still trade Your NFTs. And then that's I think unique because it means that you don't lose the ability to sort of continue to have the tradability and the flexibility or the utility because that's the other thing that dissolves as well, which is that you know, owning an ape doesn't necessarily mean that it's just for staking. That’s just one function. What if you want to use your ape inside a game, and if you or someone else wants to give it to utility within a game, for instance, or another. So, this is a way in which we can combine the best of both worlds and I think would be the very first sort of NFT project in the world that implements sort of the NFT staking in such a manner.”

While Gargamel and Siu both think that the staking mechanics are interesting and give holders the ability to do more with their apes, Gargamel acknowledged that AIP-4 and AIP-5 are written to vague.

“The main source of confusion and concern I’ve seen from DAO members is about whether owning just one NFT is enough to access a corresponding staking pool to an unlimited degree. For example: Could a whale with a huge amount of APE and just 1 NFT still skew the staking pool that is allocated for that NFT collection? Under the current wording of AIP-5, the answer appears to be yes. I think the solution here is to cap the amount of ApeCoin that can be associated with any 1 specific NFT. If AIP-5 passes in its current state, this would require an addendum to be passed. It sounds like Animoca is already planning on submitting an addendum like this, and personally I would support it.”

Earlier today, Siu took to Twitter and explained what he and Animoca Brands plan to do to address BAYC members concerns with the staking mechanics.

“@apecoin@BoredApeYC frens first and most importantly we hear you loud and clear,” Siu tweeted. “It is difficult to convey over text my emotions but I am both touched, honored and proud of how the community has generally engaged in this discussion #WAGMI #NFT @animocabrands. It is living proof of how the future can be operated by a #DAO at a rate that is faster & better - these discussions are important to have and @apecoinis demonstrating early active engagement on this evolution of how #DAOs might operate in the future. We will make a new proposal in the form of a new AIP very shortly to address the question of the stake-per-NFT (i.e., a cap) for pools 2,3 and 4 a point that was unclear in AIP 4 and 5 which will likely include a community vote on the size of said cap. This would be in addition to AIP 4 & 5 and is only relevant should it be passed (we will get it out before the AIP voting is closed) so that you can make a more informed decision. The proposal was always meant to keep the spirit of @apecoin which means rewarding the legacy of the @BoredApeYC #NFT fam while also being more inclusive to grow the adoption of the $APE community which is why we suggested different pools in an attempt to strike a fair balance. one more thing @animocabrands will not be voting on any of the proposals that we are the proposer of i.e. AIP 4 and 5 and any future ones we may propose #WAGMI.”

Gargamel closed his thoughts on AIP-4 and AIP-5 by reiterating his belief that $Ape should be staked, not NFTs. “Another suggestion I’ve seen on Twitter is to have a staking proposal where users do not need any ApeCoin in order to “stake” ecosystem NFTs. These users are proposing a system where you can directly stake some ecosystem NFTs, and then accrue ApeCoin for holding those NFTs (without holding or staking any ApeCoin at all). To me, this goes against the spirit of the DAO. All NFT holders were already provided an airdrop claim of APE. I think it is valuable to encourage and incentivize continued long-term NFT holders to participate in the DAO, but only to the extent that they are also thinking about the long-term health of the DAO, which is best displayed by holding ApeCoin themselves.”

Only time will tell how the ApeCoin DAO votes, but one thing is for sure, the BAYC community is active and filled with apes who want to get this right.

“Yuga gave US the keys to build the DAO," BAYC member CoolMattEth tweeted. “let's build it properly.”

Apes who are interested in reading Gargamel’s full comments can find them here: https://mirror.xyz/garga.eth/6ANFtbXyUpwia1XJKk1VtjQ27wf7fiz_WndakRhBSvg

Also, be sure to read AIP-4, AIP-5, and the new proposal that Animoca Brands is set to release soon here: https://snapshot.org/#/apecoin.eth