Author: The community (facilitated by @rdm_41)

ABSTRACT

TLDR: This is the same proposal as AIP-5 which got voted down, with some changes to the amounts & timeframes. Simplifying the entire process & making an annual staking allocation vote with the amount of $APE listed below.

This proposal presents the total ApeCoin allocation for the staking pools (AIP-6) and the 1st year of staking pool allocations. Each year following approval of this proposal a new proposal would need to be put forth to determine the subsequent year’s staking pool allocations.

MOTIVATION

The creation of a staking process for ApeCoin as outlined in AIP-6 is designed to work with 4 simple pools of $ape staking. AIP-7 presents the initial staking pool and staking duration of 1 year with an annual vote moving forward.

RATIONALE

As stated in AIP-6, in order for ApeCoin to become the preferred token of web3, early NFT adopters and existing and potential ecosystem participants should be incentivized through participation in activities benefitting the $APE Ecosystem.

The initial ApeCoin staking period and staking pool size proposed here is designed to incentivize participation in the ecosystem over the staking period, regardless of whether a participant stakes ApeCoin alone, or modifies that stake by committing BAYC ecosystem NFTs.

KEY TERMS

• Staking Pools: The total ApeCoin pools that participants can earn from.

• Staking Pool Type: The pool specifically assigned to a digital asset class; there are four in total.

• Staking Period: Each period is 12 months.

• Staking Pool Allocations: The total amount of ApeCoin allocated to each Staking Pool Type per period.

• Total Staking Period: A total of 1 year, with subsequent allocation amounts needing a new proposal and vote annually

SPECIFICATIONS

Total ApeCoin Staking Pool: 10% of the total ApeCoin supply to be distributed over the first year of $APE staking. This will be funded by the Ecosystem Fund.

Staking Pool Periods:

Year One: 100,000,000 ApeCoin tokens (10.0% of the total ApeCoin supply)

Note: Unclaimed ApeCoin remains in the contract indefinitely until it is claimed. It cannot be recalled by the contract owner.

Staking Pool Types:

ApeCoin Staking Pool: 30,000,000 ApeCoin Tokens

BAYC Staking Pool: 47,105,000 ApeCoin Tokens

MAYC Staking Pool: 19,060,000 ApeCoin Tokens

BAKC Staking Pool: 3,835,000 ApeCoin Tokens

Note: The combined Staking Pool Allocations for the Initial Staking Period adds up to 100,000,000 ApeCoin tokens, or 10% of total ApeCoin Supply.

The Staking Pool Allocations for Staking Periods following the Initial Staking Period will be voted on annually by $APE token holders.

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT

Upon deployment of the AIP-4 Staking smart contract on Ethereum, the total allocation of ApeCoin for this initiative will be sent to this smart contract.

TIMELINE

Upon completion and deployment of AIP-6

OVERALL COST

As the development of the staking contract is complete prior to AIP-5 becoming active, the deployment of the ApeCoin isn’t an additional cost. This is presenting the pool to be utilized only.

ABSTRACT

TLDR: This is the same proposal as AIP-4 which got voted down, with two major changes. First, there is a limit on how much $APE can be staked per each NFT, otherwise known as a cap & second the cap for each NFT included in the proposal will float & adjust monthly based on a TWAP (time weighted average price) of the floor price.

This AIP proposes a rewrite to the staking system proposed by Animoca Brands in AIP-4 for ApeCoin and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT ecosystem: Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC).

Yuga Labs has done a phenomenal job for all of us in the community, but releasing the token & then dropping 5 proposals written by other companies, without giving our community a way to contribute or the proper time to discuss, caught many members of the community off guard. While we trust Yuga always has our best interests at heart we want to be a part of this process & contribute to running this DAO.

Why is a rewrite needed? There are three main reasons:

1. Because the current proposals by Animoca Brands are already in need of work as cited by their CEO here: https://twitter.com/ysiu/status/1507056660405112849?s=20&t=NKnOYl76-jPmih8dD3rGjQ

2. Because staking is an important mechanism, long term, for our community & it only feels right that we write this proposal.

3. Because this DAO has a major chance of success. The members of ApeCoin DAO have both a major financial incentive and a deep passion for our community. You can’t ask for more, when asking people to be members of a DAO. We are the community. We are the DAO. LFG APES.

After much thought & discussion by the community in our Twitter Spaces, the general opinion is that Yuga was likely heavily involved with drafting & overseeing the drafting of the previously proposed AIPs from Animoca Brands. There are many considerations that we need to consider like whether or not what we are doing will make any of our NFTs or tokens considered a security, what the tax implications are of what we are proposing, & many other complex issues that have likely already been thought through in this initial proposal. With all of these things in mind the community feels it would be best to re-propose a very similar proposal, written by the community, with some minor changes, like a cap on initial staking amount per NFT & a few other minor tweaks & clarity.

In this proposal staking participants will be able to stake ApeCoin and use the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem NFTs to receive ApeCoin from a preset pool over a set period of time, with the BAYC ecosystem NFTs remaining in their owners wallets at all times & remaining tradeable at all times.

MOTIVATION

Staking models should seed the growth of the related token and NFT ecosystem, for the long term benefit of NFT holders, $ape coin investors, & members of the overall ape community (dogs are members too). Staking models do this by expanding the audience while incentivizing early adopters and existing ecosystem participants.

The pools will be set up to specifically recognize the varied assets within the ecosystem, with a total of four distinct pools being active during each staking period.

RATIONALE

The core goal of this AIP is to ensure that the staked BAYC ecosystem NFTs remain tradable regardless of a specific NFT’s status in relation to a stake, so that the growth of the ecosystem isn’t constrained by the lockup of staked assets. This helps to provide liquidity or the option of liquidity to NFT holders, helps to ensure that sales still happen of the NFTs which Yuga Labs makes a cut of (a very good thing for this community), & allows anyone in the world to join the community at any time & participate in staking.

SPECIFICATIONS

The eligible ecosystem assets for staking or committing to staking pools are ApeCoin, BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC NFTs. ApeCoin can be staked directly up to any amount during the Period.

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.

A BAKC cannot be committed on its own, regardless of any direct ApeCoin being staked. It must always be paired 1:1 with a BAYC or MAYC NFT in order to be initially committed. This requires ApeCoin to be attributed to each of the NFTs. Once the BAYC or MAYC is paired with a BAKC, the BAYC or MAYC cannot be paired with another BAKC, unless the original BAKC that was paired is uncommitted to the incentive pool.

ApeCoin Token Lock and Claim:

Accumulated ApeCoin can be claimed at any time without the need to also claim staked ApeCoin and without affecting the commitment status of an NFT. All accrued ApeCoin generated from a stake is claimed at once, when initiating a claim. The staked ApeCoin can be claimed, along with its accrued ApeCoin, directly by the original staking wallet. However, these are two separate transactions.

Staked ApeCoin is still valid to be used to vote in the ApeCoin DAO as well as unclaimed ApeCoin as well. Just to clarify, all ApeCoin earned from staking, bought on the open market, & earned from staking but unclaimed will be counted as ApeCoin to be able to be used in the voting process for ApeCoin DAO.

To claim the accrued ApeCoin from a committed NFT, the same NFT needs to be present in the wallet to claim. If another user has an NFT that is committed to a stake, they can make the claim even if they didn’t make the original NFT commitment. Think of this as the NFT being the key to access the staking incentives.

Users can stake ApeCoin and commit NFTs to the staking pool at any point during the Period, the longer the ApeCoin is staked the more ApeCoin balance will build up. The NFTs can be uncommitted from the staking pool by the NFT holder at any point in time.

NFT Initial Staking Cap Limits (1st month only, then TWAP):

Each NFT in the BAYC ecosystem is different and will carry a different cap on the initial amount of $ApeCoin that it will allow to be staked in the respective pool. These limits are as follows:

Bored Ape - 10,094 $APE Mutant Ape - 2,042 $APE Bored Kennel Club - 856 $APE

Example: A bored ape will allow an initial stake amount of no more than 10,094 $APE. You can stake less than that initially & always add to that initial stake balance, but you cannot contribute more to that balance per each NFT. This works the same for mutants & dogs.

Monthly Adjusting NFT Cap (TWAP or Time Weighted Average Price):

In order to allow for each NFT in the ecosystem to provide the most benefit to it’s owner, the $ape cap should adjust on a monthly basis. The formula for adjusting this cap will be as follows:

12,992 $APE x (the NFT’s Cap %)

BAYC Average Floor Price + BACK Average Floor Price + MAYC Average Floor Price = Total Floor Price

BAYC Average Floor Price/Total Floor Price = BAYC Cap %

MAYC Average Floor Price/Total Floor Price = MAYC Cap %

BACK Average Floor Price/Total Floor Price = BAKC Cap %

Average floor prices are to be taken daily (at the same time) via an automated process and Opensea is to be used as the marketplace of record. If possible & easy enough it would provide the most clarity to the DAO to publish this data regularly & autonomously. Floor prices are to be valued in ETH terms.

ApeCoin Accrual:

The ApeCoin that can be accumulated from staked ApeCoin, or any ApeCoin attributed to NFTs, is dependent on the amount of ApeCoin staked by the user, the duration of the stake, and the total amount of staked ApeCoin in the relevant staking pool.

Maintained NFT Tradability:

Only ApeCoin is ever staked. The owner of a specific NFT at the claim point is able to claim the accrued ApeCoin tokens attributed to that NFT, even if they were not the one who originally initiated the staking commitment.

The Foundation’s website UI will be updated to have an option to enter the BAYC, MAYC, or BAKC token ID and check the following:

Does the MAYC, BAYC, or BAKC currently have $APE attributed to it via a staking pool?

Does the BAYC or MAYC have a committed BAKC companion NFT?

NFTs that are currently committed will have an updated status in a UI that serves as a notification for potential buyers, so they’re aware of the commitment status, and the amount of ApeCoin that NFT has earned, before purchasing.

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT

A proposal to be drafted and approved via the ApeCoin DAO for the allocation of ApeCoin for AIP-6, and the duration of the Period. (Pre AIP Approval Time)

Development of the AIP-6 staking smart contract (1 month)

Website design & implementation to include: staking and unstaking UI, for both direct ApeCoin stake and commitment of NFTs to stake, status of staking pools: amount remaining, accrual rate: current accrued, current weight (1 months in simultaneous timeframe as the smart contract work)

Smart contract security audit and QA (1 month)

The overall time frame for this project is projected to be 2-3 months but all members of this community want to reaffirm that we want to do it right, whenever & if ever the project comes to a decision point to do it right & delay a bit longer versus rush something out the door, we want the project leads to choose to do it right.

OVERALL COST

$200,000 – $300,000

This estimate includes smart contract engineering, full stack engineering, UI/UX design, Project Management, QA, and auditing services by a qualified company to be announced within two weeks of the approval of this AIP.

Also, this project will be completed by a qualified company to be chosen by the ApeCoin DAO Council

Anything written in italics is directly quoted from the ApeCoin website, things written in normal text are my opinions or more information on the process as I see it.

The steps to write and get an AIP approved are as follows:

PHASE 1: AIP IDEA

An AIP Idea is submitted as a post in Discourse and must receive moderator confirmation that it complies with DAO-approved guidelines before it appears to the community. The person or people submitting the AIP Idea will be referred to as the author or authors (please note that multiple members can work together on an AIP idea, but it should be submitted only once). The AIP idea informally gathers comments via Discourse for seven days. The author cannot edit the original post — if the author wants to propose changes to the original idea, they must do this via the comments.

There does not seem to be a category for submitting AIP ideas on the www.forum.apecoin.com website but I can tell you which category not to use: General, as per this tweet if you do it will be rejected:

https://twitter.com/apecoin/status/1506734118612176902?s=20&t=ztLu5L0SJkCiBbftvDNahA

For my staking proposal I will be using the process category when it becomes available. Also, one last very important point here, DONT edit your AIP Idea post once submitted, if you want to change the idea you need to leave a comment, per the process.

PHASE 2: AIP DRAFT

Once the seven-day feedback window has passed and a moderator closes the Discourse topic, a moderator will send the author the proposal template and next steps for submission and voting. They may also suggest a proposal category, if not already specified in Discourse.

The author will fill out the template, incorporating any Discourse feedback that helps the idea better serve the DAO. The author can add additional fields to the template if necessary to fully communicate the intentions, specifics, and implications of the AIP Draft. The moderator may also inform the author of incorrect or missing information that needs to be changed or clarifications that need to be made. If the author does not respond to those moderator requests within 30 days, the AIP Draft will be automatically rejected.

When the moderator confirms an AIP Draft complies with DAO-approved guidelines, they assign a number to the AIP for identification purposes throughout the rest of the process. From this point on, the AIP is referred to as “AIP-#: (Name) - (Category)”. For example the first AIP is “AIP-1: Proposing the DAO - Process”.

It’s all pretty straightforward here, just note if you don’t submit the draft in 30 days the idea dies and you have to go back to step 1.

PHASE 3: AIP ANALYSIS REPORT

The AIP Draft is reviewed by a project management team engaged by APE Foundation who will provide an AIP Analysis Report to ensure costs, steps to implement, legal considerations, third-party review requirements, potential conflicts of interests, and any further implications have been identified. Given that AIP authors may be submitting drafts with little to no resources, this service for the DAO community ensures that DAO members have enough information about proposals to make informed decisions when voting.

I like this aspect of managing things, it gives us some good support as a DAO community. I assume this will currently be the Cartan Group: www.cartan.group

PHASE 4: AIP MODERATION

The AIP Draft + Analysis Report (DAR) Package is reviewed by a team of moderators and either approved or not approved based on whether it adheres to the DAO-approved guidelines. If approved, it becomes a Pending AIP and moves to Phase 5. If not approved, it is eligible for resubmission, except in cases of violation of the law or reasonable suspicion of fraud or other misleading information.

I would like some clarity on how long this part takes, but overall understandable that it is needed.

PHASE 5: POST-MODERATION TAGGING

Pending AIPs that have passed AIP Moderation are tagged as “Straight to Vote” or “Needs Administrative Review.”

The “Straight to Vote” tag is given to a pending AIP whose costs, content, and implications are considered straightforward and of no risk to the well-being of the DAO. Any Pending AIP that is tagged as “Straight to Vote” will skip to Phase 7.

The “Needs Administrative Review” tag is given to a pending AIP whose costs, content, or implications are considered complicated or a potential risk to the well-being of the DAO. Any Pending AIP that is tagged as “Needs Administrative Review” must go through Phase 6.

Very clear and makes sense. TLDR: if the AIP is ready to go then jump to step 7, if not go through an administrative review, again clarity would be helpful here on time frames, but I assume the turn arounds are reasonable.

PHASE 6: ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW

For Pending AIPs that have been tagged with “Needs Administrative Review,” the Board, serving in an administrative capacity, will determine whether clarification or action is required before moving a Pending AIP to Phase 7. If clarification or action is not needed, the Pending AIP is tagged as “Approved for Voting” and proceeds to Phase 7. If the Board decides to return a Pending AIP for further clarification or action, they must provide a clear explanation of why and tag it as either “Return for Clarification” or “Return for Reconstruction.”

Reasons to tag as “Return for Clarification” may include but are not limited to:

• Cost to implement unclear/not able to be calculated

• Would use more than 5% of the DAO treasury

• Conflicts with another proposal

Reasons to tag as “Return for Reconstruction” may include but are not limited to:

• Proposal is at odds with the mission/values of the DAO

• Proposal is at odds with the well-being of the DAO

• Violations of law, or against advice of counsel for APE Foundation

• Reasonable suspicion of fraud or other misleading information

Overall good, just again would say time frame clarity but I understand not holding yourself to one, who knows how many AIPs will be active at one time, we have a big community and anyone holding $ape can make an AIP so it could be a lot.

PHASE 7: LIVE AIP

Drafts that have passed their respective approval processes will become Live AIPs on Snapshot during the next Weekly AIP Release, which is when new AIPs are released in batches Thursdays at 9PM ET. Once live on Snapshot, Live AIPs are open to voting until Weekly Voting Close, which is at 9PM ET on the Wednesday following their release. Moderators are the only ones that can post AIPs to Snapshot because they must confirm that each one has gone through the correct approvals process.

This is where the magic happens.

PHASE 8: FINAL AIP

If a Live AIP has not gotten any votes or is tied by the Vote Close Time, it will be tagged as “Stalled” and be eligible for Resubmission. In all other cases, Live AIPs are moved to one of two Final AIP categories. Rejected Final AIPs can be resubmitted via the appropriate Resubmission Template if the author contacts a moderator. Accepted Final AIPs move into Implementation.

Either passed or failed by this point.

PHASE 9: IMPLEMENTATION

For Accepted Final AIPs, implementation will begin based on the steps outlined in the AIP template. The project management team engaged by the APE Foundation is responsible for making sure this happens, but is not responsible for doing it themselves.

Now we wait till the AIP is live. Some clarity around the fact that it appears the ApeCoin DAO Council does the bidding out of the work & finds a company to help complete it would be nice here, but that appears to be the process.

PROPOSAL CONFLICTS

If a suggested proposal directly conflicts with a proposal that is currently up for vote, the second proposal should not go for a vote until a decision is made on the first proposal to avoid approval of opposing requirements.

A suggested proposal that directly conflicts with another approved proposal cannot go to vote for three months after the original proposal has been implemented to avoid wasting community assets.

Author: The community (facilitated by @rdm_41)

** **

ABSTRACT

** **This AIP proposes a rewrite to the staking system proposed by Animoca Brands in AIP-4 for ApeCoin and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT ecosystem: Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). 

Yuga Labs has done a phenomenal job for all of us in the community, but releasing the token & then dropping 5 proposals written by other companies, without giving our community a way to contribute or the proper time to discuss has not sat well with the community. We need a rewrite of the staking proposal as well as a rewrite of the proposed AIP-5 as well.

Why is a rewrite needed? There are three main reasons:

1. Because the current proposals by Animoca Brands are already in need of work as cited by their CEO here: https://twitter.com/ysiu/status/1507056660405112849?s=20&t=NKnOYl76-jPmih8dD3rGjQ

2. Because staking is an important mechanism, long term, for our community & it only feels right that we write this proposal.

3. Because this DAO has the biggest chance of success of any DAO ever created. If ApeCoin DAO doesn’t work no DAO will ever work. We have both a major financial incentive and a deep passion for our community. You can’t ask for more, when asking people to be members of a DAO. We are the community. We are the DAO. LFG APES.

Staking participants will be able to stake ApeCoin and use the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem NFTs to receive ApeCoin from a preset pool over a set period of time, with the BAYC ecosystem NFTs remaining in their owners wallets at all times & remaining tradeable at all times.

** **

MOTIVATION

Staking models should seed the growth of the related token and NFT ecosystem, for the long term benefit of NFT holders, $ape coin investors, & members of the overall ape community (dogs are members too). Staking models do this by expanding the audience while incentivizing early adopters and existing ecosystem participants.

The pools will be set up to specifically recognize the varied assets within the ecosystem, with a total of four distinct pools being active during each staking period.

RATIONALE

The core goal of this AIP is to ensure that the staked BAYC ecosystem NFTs remain tradable regardless of a specific NFT’s status in relation to a stake, so that the growth of the ecosystem isn’t constrained by the lockup of staked assets. This helps to provide liquidity or the option of liquidity to NFT holders, helps to ensure that sales still happen of the NFTs which Yuga Labs makes a cut of (a very good thing for this community), & allows anyone in the world to join the community at any time & participate in staking.

SPECIFICATIONS

The eligible ecosystem assets for staking or committing to staking pools are ApeCoin, BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC NFTs. ApeCoin can be staked directly up to any amount during the Period.

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.

A BAKC cannot be committed on its own, regardless of any direct ApeCoin being staked. It must always be paired 1:1 with a BAYC or MAYC NFT in order to be initially committed. This requires ApeCoin to be attributed to each of the NFTs. Once the BAYC or MAYC is paired with a BAKC, the BAYC or MAYC cannot be paired with another BAKC, unless the original BAKC that was paired is uncommitted to the incentive pool.

ApeCoin Token Lock and Claim:

Accumulated ApeCoin can be claimed at any time without the need to also claim staked ApeCoin and without affecting the commitment status of an NFT. All accrued ApeCoin generated from a stake is claimed at once, when initiating a claim. The staked ApeCoin can be claimed, along with its accrued ApeCoin, directly by the original staking wallet. However, these are two separate transactions. 

Staked ApeCoin is still valid to be used to vote in the ApeCoin DAO. To claim the accrued ApeCoin from a committed NFT, the same NFT needs to be present in the wallet to claim. If another user has an NFT that is committed to a stake, they can make the claim even if they didn’t make the original NFT commitment. Think of this as the NFT being the key to access the staking incentives.

Users can stake ApeCoin and commit NFTs to the staking pool at any point during the Period, but the duration of an active stake directly affects the accrued ApeCoin, due to the time-weight combination incentive structure. The NFTs can be uncommitted from the staking pool by the NFT holder at any point in time.

ApeCoin Accrual:

The ApeCoin that can be accumulated from staked ApeCoin, or any ApeCoin attributed to NFTs, is dependent on the amount of ApeCoin staked by the user, the duration of the stake, and the total amount of staked ApeCoin in the relevant staking pool.

Maintained NFT Tradability:

Only ApeCoin is ever staked. The owner of a specific NFT at the claim point is able to claim the accrued ApeCoin tokens attributed to that NFT, even if they were not the one who originally initiated the staking commitment. Although tradable, committed NFTs cannot be recommitted, unless a holder has previously uncommitted the NFT.

The Foundation’s website UI will be updated to have an option to enter the BAYC, MAYC, or BAKC token ID and check the following:

Is the MAYC, BAYC, or BAKC currently committed to a staking pool?

Does the BAYC or MAYC have a committed BAKC companion NFT?

NFTs that are currently committed will have an updated status in a UI that serves as a notification for potential buyers, so they’re aware of the commitment status, and the amount of ApeCoin that NFT has earned, before purchasing.

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT

• A proposal to be drafted and approved via the ApeCoin DAO for the allocation of ApeCoin for AIP-6, and the duration of the Period. (1 month)

• Development of the AIP-6 staking smart contract (2 months)

• Website design & implementation to include: staking and unstaking UI, for both direct ApeCoin stake and commitment of NFTs to stake, status of staking pools: amount remaining, accrual rate: current accrued, current weight (2 months in simultaneous timeframe as the smart contract work)

• Smart contract security audit and QA (1 month)

The overall time frame for this project is expected to be 4 months but all members of this community want to reaffirm that we want to do it right, whenever & if ever the project comes to a decisions point to do it right & delay a bit longer versus rush something out the door, we want the project leads to choose to do it right.

OVERALL COST

$300,000 – $500,000

This estimate includes smart contract engineering, full stack engineering, UI/UX design, Project Management, QA, and auditing services by a qualified company to be announced within two weeks of the approval of this AIP.

**

**

Things that I still think we need to discuss:

1. Staking Mechanic

2. Time & costs to implement agreed upon staking mechanic