Staking mechanism

Time factors

• Protocol time: A time period defined within the protocol.

• First reward delay: The time it takes for users to earn their first rewards after staking.

  • Note: First reward delay is different from the waiting period, which measures the time it takes for one’s stake to be used to secure the protocol.

• Reward frequency: The time between each distribution of staking rewards.

• Unbonding period: The time it takes for users to unstake and be able to transfer their staked tokens.

Lifecycle

✅ : If stake or rewards are unlocked and can be moved, the lifecycle diagram will show this with a green checkmark.

❌ : If stake or rewards are locked and cannot be moved, the lifecycle diagram will show this with a red X mark.

Must know before staking

• Minimum stake amounts: Flag whether there is a minimum amount of tokens that must be staked.

• Partial stake changes: Flag whether a portion of active stake could be unstaked or additional stake could be added to active stake.

• Partial reward withdrawals: Flag whether a portion of staking rewards can be withdrawn.

• Compounding: Flag whether staking rewards are automatically staked again, effectively compounding the rewards.

• Penalty: Flag whether there is any penalty for stakers. A penalty is issued by the protocol to any validators who have made a minor offense, such as prolonged downtime. The deducted stake amounts will be minor compared to slashing. Validators will be able to join the validator set again relatively easily.

• Slashing: Flag whether there is any slashing for stakers. A slashing is issued by the protocol to any validators who have made a serious offense, such as equivocation. The deducted stake amounts will be significant. Validators will be tombstoned and forced to exit from the validator set.

Validators

• Total validator cap: The total number of validators that can be active at once.

• Validator requirements: The amount of self-stake required from validators.