The LINK token hit a four-week high following Chainlink unveiling the details and the roadmap of its upcoming staking program, set to launch in the second half of 2022. Holding LINK tokens will strengthen the network’s cryptographic security and allow holders to earn 5% APY.
Soon after the announcement, the LINK token surged, rising by nearly 17% and going from around $7.77 to $9. As of press time, it’s trading around $9.16.
Chainlink Economics 2.0
The upheaval in the price of LINK can be attributed to the publication of its updated roadmap that introduces staking to the protocol. Staking would incentivize the proper operation of the network by enabling a system of rewards and penalties. The roadmap was first defined in April 2021 in a whitepaper. A teaser followed the whitepaper in January 2022.
Staking on Chainlink would allow users in the ecosystem to earn passive income and give them the ability to increase the security guarantees of oracle services by backing them with staked LINK. We can see the program’s initial implementation, titled VO.1, launched as early as the second half of 2022. The launch will mark the beginning of Chainlink Economics 2.0. Chainlink stated in a tweet,
“Staking marks the start of #Chainlink Economics 2.0, a new era for the long-term security and sustainability of oracle networks. In this update, we define the long-term goals, roadmap, and initial implementation of staking in the Chainlink Network.”
Chainlink also spoke about the integration of Chainlink oracles with leading crypto applications and the increase in oracle security, stating,
“The increase in oracle security and user assurances brought about by staking will be key in helping the multi-chain smart contract economy scale to eventually secure multi-trillion-dollar markets across major global industries.”
Similar Approach To Chainlink Price Feeds
Chainlink also stated that the rollout of the staking mechanism would follow how the Chainlink price feeds were deployed. The price feeds started with a single price feed for ETH/USD, which was operated by three oracle nodes. From these humble beginnings, it grew to support almost a thousand price feeds which are powered by over 50 node operators across blockchains and layer-2 solutions.
Chainlink and its price feeds are trusted by some of the most popular DeFi protocols such as Compound, dYdX, Aave, Synthetix, and more. Just last week, Solana too added support for Chainlink price feeds.
Goals Of The Staking Program
Chainlink has outlined four clear goals that it expects to achieve with its staking program, with the protocol stating that these are long-term goals, with details of staking subject to change in the near future. The stated goals of Chainlink staking are
- Increasing the crypto-economic security and user assurances of Chainlink services.
- Enabling greater participation of the community in the Chainlink network.
- Generation of sustainable rewards from long-term use.
- Empower node operators by giving them access to high-value jobs through staking.
The goals listed above were already outlined in the updated whitepaper 2.0.
Details Of Staking Rewards
The initial staking pool will have 25 million LINK and will look to expand to 75 million LINK in the months following the launch. To ensure participation from the larger community and a fair entry mechanism, the VO.1 staking pool will be capped in size. Chainlink gave its reasoning behind this decision, stating,
“This entry mechanism will aim to prioritize long-term token holders, who are most likely to actively participate in the alerting mechanism.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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