CyberKongz Introduces ‘Stakeless Staking’ With ERC-721x

The team behind CyberKongz, an Ethereum-based NFT collection, has published an upgraded version of the popular ERC-721 nonfungible token standard.

ERC-721x was designed to add layers of security for NFT holders by allowing users to participate in non-custodial staking and designate a “Guardian” to provide two-factor authentication (2FA) protection for transactions.

“The Guardian Contract allows you to enjoy the convenience of a hot wallet while adding the security of a cold/hardware/multi-sig wallet on top,” CyberKongz said in an announcement.

CyberKongz said the feature protects against scams that prey on token approvals or compromise seed phrases, and can also guard assets residing on a hardware wallet.

Elliptic, a blockchain intelligence firm, recently estimated that hackers stole more than $100M worth of NFTs between July 2021 and July 2022.

NFT Activity Picks Up

The news comes as NFTs are showing early signs of recovery following a protracted downtrend.

Floor prices of many popular collections were eviscerated in the past 18 months, with the recent woes surrounding Yuga Labs exacerbating the bearish momentum for certain leading collections.

The floor price of CyberKongz stands at $14,900, a 34% loss since the start of the year and a 98% drawdown from its October 2021 high of $492,000. Like many other collections, CyberKongz is suffering from severe illiquidity, recording only around five dozen trades since the start of the year, according to NFT Price Floor. The collection ranks 49th by market capitalization.

However, the recent launch of Blend, an NFT lending protocol from the top marketplace, Blur, drove a surge in activity, signaling strong demand for products integrating DeFi with NFTs. Blend accounted for 82% of May’s $375M in loan volume. NFT transaction volumes on Solana also doubled in May.

Stakeless Staking

ERC-721x also allows users to “lock” their NFTs utilizing the token standard’s lock registry. The feature prevents assets from being moved without authorization.

Locked NFTS can participate in “stakeless staking,” allowing them to accumulate rewards while being held using the lock registry. The lock registry can be used for parallel staking, allowing assets to accumulate rewards from multiple systems.

“Stake your assets without losing ownership,” CyberKongz said. “You no longer need to send your asset to a staking contract.”