What is Wrapped Banano?
Wrapped Banano (wBAN) is a token pegged to $BAN, created on the Binance Smart Chain. The peg links $wBAN and $BAN, and the pair will always have the same value. ApeSwap was chosen as partner for the project and three pool were launched at the beginning of June. Banano loving monkeys had the option to stake wBAN and wBAN LP in paring with Binance USD (BUSD) or Binance Coin (BNB).
Up in the Banano Tree!
To climb in the Wrapped Banano Tree, the DeFi Monkey must visit https://bsc.banano.cc/ and swap $BAN into $wBAN. The wBAN had instant success after launch as the TVL surpassed the expectations.
The BSC pools can be accessed by logging with MetaMask and the once the $wBAN tokens are created, they can be staked for rewards. I staked the Banano treasure in the wBAN pool. I noticed that the pool APY was 0% and after informed the Dev Team about the error. In few minutes, this issue was sorted and 2% APY was the real value. The whole experience was covered in the Banano Picking Season article.
Did wBAN meet the expectations?
Week 1 - The Banano picking season started for all the potassium lovers and I claimed the tree since day 1. The staking amount farmed 4 Banano in 24 hours. I was considering to stake them as a BUSD pairing but I decided to wait for the market to stabilize. However, this didn't happen at all, as the bear market continues to put crypto enthusiasts in depression.
Week 2 - At one point during week two I had 18.27 wBAN earned. Probably by now I covered the BNB fees I paid for staking. In about 10 days, the wBAN - BUSD APR dropped from 100% to 56%
Week 3 - Only three weeks later and the value of my staked Banano halved because of the bear run, from an approximate value of $465 to only $277. The wBAN reward in the pool was 32.66 $wBAN. I can't explain why, but the APR grew up to 60% and I never seen before an APR growing back after it dropped to lower values. But again... wBAN is special!
Week 4 - I noticed since last week that the APR for wBAN staking was boosted from 2% to 3% wBAN rewards. The wBAN - BUSD APY is now 58% and I am starting to feel sorry for not making the LP weeks ago.
While I was writing on this one month update, Banano also published an official wrapped Banano update. Behold the power of the BAN FAM as only 24 hours after launch, one million USD were staked in the wBAN farm and nearly half million USD of liquidity in wBAN-BNB and wBAN-BUSD.
The reward rate will be reduced by a quarter, from 1.5 M BAN / 4 weeks to 1.125 MBAN / 4 weeks while the wBAN staking reward will be reduced by 50% for the next four weeks. After that the pool will be closed.
The wBAN-BNB and wBAN-BUSD farms will remain active, as they bring liquidity to the project.
Conclusion
Even if the reward for staking wBAN is not so great, the residual income is creating an incentive for other DeFi users to put Banano to work. The APR rise from 2% to 3% means a 50% increase in wBAN rewards.
The wBAN experiment was successful in my opinion, as Banano entered the DeFi world as smooth as a fluffy banana bread. When the wBAN staking will stop I will decide what will happen next, but probably I will add my wrapped Banano as wBAN - BUSD LP.
A big thank you for all the monkeys involved in the project and a big congratulations for delivering the product!
Residual Income:
DeFi bounty at CakeDeFi with $30 DFI for new users
The fountains: PipeFlare ZCash, GlobalHive ZCash & Get.ZEN
Publishing bundle: Publish0x, ReadCash, LBRY & Presearch
