How to check if you are eligible for priority participation in Chainlink v0.1 copyright staking
Chainlink 2.0 economics will enable sustainable growth, cryptoeconomic security, and more efficient value capture mechanisms for the Chainlink network.Author: Chainlink
Chainlink staking is a key element in achieving the security mechanism of the crypto economy, allowing stakers to deposit LINK tokens into smart contracts to provide collateral for the quality of oracle services. With the launch of staking, Chainlink's decentralized oracle network will scale up to provide services for more applications and higher-value use cases in Web3 and traditional Web2 industries.
Chainlink staking is part of Chainlink 2.0 economics. Chainlink 2.0 economics includes a series of plans focused on enhancing data security and functionality while reducing the operational costs of oracle services, increasing user revenue for Chainlink service providers, and allowing more service providers, including stakers, to participate in the Chainlink ecosystem. To learn more about Chainlink 2.0 economics and the development history of LINK token assets, please visit chain.link/economics.
We have taken a crucial step towards realizing Chainlink 2.0 economics and are excited to announce that the beta version of Chainlink staking (i.e., v0.1) is scheduled to launch on the Ethereum mainnet in December 2022. To this end, we have launched the Early Access Eligibility App, where you can log in to staking.chain.link to check your eligibility**. Check your eligibility This web application sets up a step-by-step process for community members and ecosystem partners to check if they qualify for early access to the v0.1 staking pool. Community members can connect their Web3 wallets to check their eligibility, and the system will filter based on a series of whitelist criteria (detailed below). Wallet address owners who meet any of the requirements will have the opportunity to participate in the v0.1 staking pool.
It is important to note that checking eligibility does not require submitting an on-chain transaction; instead, it only requires signing an off-chain message with a Web3 wallet to verify wallet address ownership.
Chainlink community members can use this "Early Access Eligibility App" to see if they qualify for early access to v0.1 staking.
Eligible community members will have priority access to the v0.1 staking pool and will have the opportunity to stake up to 7,000 LINK tokens directly. Staking will follow a "first come, first served" principle, and the staking pool will automatically close once it reaches capacity. Community members without priority access can also participate in a public staking round shortly after the "early access" phase ends, with a staking limit of 7,000 tokens per address (at least initially). Stakers can help secure the network through alerts or other functions and will receive corresponding rewards.
In addition to the allocation reserved for community members, each Chainlink node operator providing Chainlink Data Feeds will have the opportunity to stake up to 50,000 LINK tokens individually, with a minimum of 1,000 LINK tokens required for participation in the v0.1 round. Initially, we plan to reserve 3 million LINK tokens for node operators, meaning that community members will have access to 22 million LINK tokens in the v0.1 round. Given the security settings of the staking system, all LINK tokens staked in the v0.1 round will be locked until the subsequent v1 round is unlocked.
The initial staking cap for Chainlink v0.1 is set at 25 million LINK tokens, with plans to increase it to 75 million later. To date, Chainlink's TVE (Transaction Value Enabled) has reached $6.18 trillion, so we must prioritize the security of staking.
Chainlink staking will ultimately continue to scale to better provide security for Web3. As Chainlink covers more services and ensures higher value, the importance of Chainlink staking will also continue to rise.
Criteria for Early Access Eligibility List
The table below summarizes the three criteria for community members to gain early access. Chainlink v0.1 staking will launch in December on the Ethereum mainnet, at which point all community members meeting the criteria will be eligible for early access. Community members only need to meet one of the following three criteria.
It is worth noting that being on the whitelist only represents an opportunity to stake in the v0.1 pool, but does not guarantee that one will be able to stake, as the initial size of the staking pool has a cap. Therefore, the "Early Access Eligibility List" criteria favor active long-term ecosystem partners, who are typically well-informed about Chainlink and more likely to report quality issues and vulnerabilities in oracle services.
After the "early access" phase ends, any LINK token holder will have the opportunity to stake in the v0.1 round, with a staking limit of 7,000 LINK tokens per address (at least initially), until the staking pool reaches its cap.
Underlying Logic and Methodology for Setting Early Access Criteria
The v0.1 staking is the first step in implementing an explicit crypto economic security mechanism, securing the Chainlink decentralized oracle network through staking LINK tokens. The v0.1 round will introduce a decentralized alerting mechanism, laying the groundwork for future staking mechanisms. Additional features are also planned, including user fee rewards, a more advanced reputation system, a comprehensive penalty mechanism, and other measures to enhance security.
To establish a secure foundation, we need to adopt safe and pragmatic strategies during the implementation of v0.1 staking. This approach allows us to gain more buffer time to identify any unforeseen risks and opportunities before steadily expanding the functionality of the staking mechanism and covering more price feeds and services. Therefore, the initial cap for the staking pool is set at 25 million LINK tokens to ensure participant safety.
Since the staking pool has a cap, a fair mechanism (i.e., the early access list) can be established to determine who is eligible for priority staking in the pool. We place great importance on the inclusivity of the list and strive to accommodate various members of the Chainlink community, ensuring that the staking pool's allocation can more fairly cover many community members, including smaller participants. This will also enhance the security of the decentralized alerting system and future functionalities.
Equally important is ensuring that the data collected is completely objective and neutral. Therefore, when setting the criteria, the key is to ensure coverage of ecosystem partners who understand the Chainlink protocol and have contributed to Chainlink, as these individuals are most likely to issue alerts.
We organized a group of data scientists and subject matter experts who spent considerable time studying the whitelist structures of other projects to draw on successful experiences, including other staking mechanisms and access criteria. Below is the underlying logic and methodology for establishing the Chainlink v0.1 staking "Early Access List":
List Size: To cover a wide range of community members and ecosystem partners while ensuring a high level of participation in the early v0.1 phase, we created a whitelist covering a large number of addresses, with an estimated total of 250,000 addresses. Since not all whitelisted addresses will participate, and some participants may not stake the full 7,000 LINK tokens, we optimized the list to balance accessibility and participation.
Staking Limit per Staker: Each staker can stake a maximum of 7,000 LINK tokens, with a minimum of 1 LINK token required. This setup aims to enhance the inclusivity of the list and prevent a few participants from dominating the allocation in the early stages. At the same time, it ensures that the staking cap is high enough to maintain a certain level of participation. In v0.1, both the early access phase and the subsequent public staking phase (at least initially) have set caps for the staking pool.
On-Chain Considerations: We conducted a series of robust on-chain analyses to determine the criteria for filtering token holders, including the duration of token holdings over a period. To cover both long-term and short-term token holders, we set two sub-criteria based on this. The first criterion is that token holders must have held LINK tokens from the launch of the Chainlink mainnet (May 30, 2019) to the release of the Chainlink staking roadmap (June 7, 2022). The second criterion is that token holders must have held tokens from SmartCon #1 (August 5, 2021) to the release of the Chainlink staking roadmap (June 7, 2022). Both criteria include the use of LINK in top Ethereum dApp protocols during this period.
Cross-Chain Considerations: To account for cross-chain activities (e.g., bridging LINK tokens to non-Ethereum networks) when filtering token holders, we lowered the proportion of holding time to enhance inclusivity. We set a 50% holding time for long-term token holders from 2019 to 2022, with the midpoint of this period (December 2, 2020) coinciding with the rise of cross-chain activities. For short-term token holders from 2021 to 2022, we set a 90% holding time to cover recently active community members while still accommodating some special cases.
Off-Chain Activity Considerations: We also established a series of off-chain standards for builders and educators as a complement to the on-chain standards. This includes various active contributors such as Chainlink advocates, technical experts, and hackathon participants, recognizing their contributions to the development of the Chainlink ecosystem.
Centralized Exchanges: The most significant exception is support for centralized exchanges. Covering users of centralized exchanges presents challenges such as lack of transparency and trust. Additionally, activities on these platforms cannot be objectively measured in a trust-minimized manner, so users of centralized exchanges cannot directly enter the "early access phase." However, after the "early access phase" ends, staking will be open to everyone, allowing users of centralized exchanges to participate in Chainlink v0.1 staking, with the staking pool size expanding thereafter.
The "Early Access Eligibility List" employs objective criteria to filter various Chainlink ecosystem participants, but the final determination of the whitelist is a nuanced and complex process that cannot fully satisfy everyone's demands for fairness. Ultimately, this list is just the starting point for the Chainlink staking mechanism, and v0.1 is merely the first round of staking.
Transition to Chainlink 2.0 Economics
v0.1 is the initial version of Chainlink staking, marking a turning point in the security and economic model of the Chainlink network. v0.1 enhances the cryptographic security of oracle services and opens the door to Chainlink staking, which is bound to become a key economic mechanism for ensuring network security in the future. Chainlink staking will continue to iterate and play a crucial role in the transition to Chainlink 2.0 economics. In addition to staking, Chainlink 2.0 economics includes, but is not limited to, the following plans:
Chainlink BUILD: The Chainlink BUILD program is an initiative launched by Chainlink Labs to accelerate the development of early and mid-to-late stage projects within the Chainlink ecosystem, providing them with more Chainlink services and technical support. In return, project teams are required to commit to paying network fees and other incentives to stakers and other Chainlink service providers.
Chainlink SCALE: SCALE stands for "Sustainable Chainlink Access for Layer 1 and 2 Enablement," a program launched by Chainlink Labs. Under this initiative, blockchain projects commit to offsetting the operational costs of the oracle network to accelerate ecosystem growth and support the long-term sustainability of Chainlink oracle services.
Technical Innovations: This includes a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing the functionality and economic viability of oracle services, such as Off-Chain Reporting (OCR) 2.0, blockchain fast lanes, and data feed optimization, which leverage more cost-effective blockchains and L2 networks to better meet user needs.
All these efforts aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Chainlink network and ultimately establish a successful Web3 paradigm based on cryptographic guarantees. We will release more information about the beta version of Chainlink staking (v0.1) in the future.
Chainlink 2.0 economics will enable sustainable growth, cryptographic economic security, and more effective value capture mechanisms for the Chainlink network.
To learn more about Chainlink staking and 2.0 economics, please follow the channels below:
Chainlink 2.0 economics webpage:
https://chain.link/economics
Chainlink staking webpage:
https://chain.link/economics/staking
Sergey Nazarov's keynote speech at 2022 SmartCon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMHaQGB1Wdc
To learn more about Chainlink, please visit the Chainlink official website and follow Chainlink's official Twitter for the latest news and announcements.
