What happened in the Staking Space from 23rd November to 30th November?

      We are glad to present you the 10th Staking Rewards Report. Here we will provide a weekly update on all things Staking. A general overview of the market highlighted research in the space, news on all launched staking networks, updates on upcoming Staking networks, the latest developments from Staking infrastructure providers, and a handful of Staking-Related events. 

      Citadel.One is the sponsor of the Staking Rewards Report.

      Citadel is a multi-asset non-custodial platform to manage and store crypto assets. Stake multiple tokens all within a single interface and seed phrase.

      Staking Rewards Report TL/DR

      • Eth2 is almost here
      • Free TON launch by end of the year
      • Orbs PoS v2.5 introduced
      • Ethermint Testnet is coming
      • Lido Testnet release

      …And many more!


      Staking Market Overview

      Total Value Participating in Staking (7d change): 

      $20,039,779,736 (+0.99%)

      Top 7 Coins by Value participating in Staking (7d change):

      • Polkadot: 
        • $3,612,647,879 (-4.75%)
        • 674,001,470 DOT (+1.81%)
      • Cardano: 
        • $2,886,175,635
        • 17,096,070,009 ADA
      • Tezos: 
        • $1,697,672,772 (-0.65%)
        • 687,316,911 XTZ (+1.76%)
      • Algorand: 
        • $1,212,349,527  (-1.82%)
        • 3,693,608,813 ALGO (+0.26%)
      • Avalanche: 
        • $1,067,717,885 (-8.26%)
        • 285,486,065 AVA (-1.15%)
      • Cosmos:
        • $1,041,253,802 (-5.46%)
        • 188,291,826 ATOM (-0.5%)
      • Tron: 
        • $818,569,045 (-12.45%) 
        • 25,350,629,732 TRX (+1.02%)

      Staking Research

      ‘Sustainable decentralization’: TON Network will have 440 validators in weeks

      More than 440 validators are set to be involved with Free TON by the end of the year, making it one of the largest and most scalable proof-of-stake networks that the industry has to offer. Free TON’s goal is to achieve “true decentralization.” At present, the blockchain’s multi-threaded architecture delivers an average block time of just 0.2 seconds, far faster than what’s currently offered by rivals. With 440 validators and a 0.2-second block time on the horizon, Free TON’s members shared figures that show how it compares with competitors:

      • Polkadot: 239 validators, six-second block time
      • Cosmos: 262 validators, seven-second block time
      • Solana: 383 validators, 0.4-second block time
      • Near: 152 validators, one-second block time

      Learn more in the article above.

      Elrond builds the internet-scale blockchain right now by Everstake

      Authors have highlighted several key features of the Elrond platform:

      • High throughput — the Elrond network can process up to 16,200 transactions per second; 
      • Minimum fees — users will pay only $1 for 1,000 transactions. This is about 1,000 times less than average Ethereum fees. 
      • Updatable and portable smart contracts — developers can improve contracts and fix errors in the source code. In addition, smart contracts can interact with each other: transactions can be conducted between shards. 
      • High performance — the Elrond network operates on the Arwen WASM virtual machine — the most advanced one in the blockchain ecosystem. 
      • Royalty — smart contracts creators receive 30% of the gas that is spent on transactions related to their contracts.

      Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC): The TCP/IP Protocol of Blockchains, Bridges & Trends

      This article explores the main breakthrough innovation that the forthcoming Cosmos Network’s hub upgrade brings to the Cøsmos ecosystem and Distributed Ledger Technologies in general: The Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. The article also explains the function of bridges as they are going to be of paramount importance post-IBC on Cøsmos.

      Sharing Secrets Ep 11 – Josh Cincinnati, formerly of Zcash Foundation

      Episode 11 of Sharing Secrets is an interview with Josh Cincinnati, the former Executive Director of the Zcash Foundation. Tor asks Josh: What secrets did he learn trying to bring privacy to the cryptocurrency space? Why is privacy education and communication so challenging? What are the biggest threats to privacy and our greatest opportunities to solve them? And what relationship is there between protecting privacy and decentralization? Do they go hand in hand – or are they at odds?


      Live Networks Updates

      Orbs PoS V2.5 Official Launch

      The Orbs Network will now include the following improvements: 

      • automated reward distribution on the protocol, empowering Guardians to determine the level of distribution to Delegators;
      • allowing Delegators to collect their rewards on their own schedule;
      • streamlining validator node operations; 
      • moving additional parts of the PoS system to Ethereum; 
      • imposing a minimum self-delegation requirement; 
      • creating a more sustainable reward rate;
      • adopting a new architecture for reducing gas prices based on the state of the art contract design patterns that are gaining popularity in yield farming contracts.

      Cosmos Big Bang Testnet-2 

      The Big Bang Testnet, the community-led testnet aimed at the wider Cosmos ecosystem & independent zone developers is restarting.

      Reef Finance and Stafi Protocol are Working Together to Unlock the Liquidity of Staked Assets in DeFi Markets

      With this partnership, Reef users will be able to use Stafi’s Staking Contracts to issue rREEF tokens for the assets that they have staked on Reef’s platform. These rREEF tokens will be liquid and tradable, while the original assets remain locked in their native blockchain network.

      Terra Core v0.4.1: “Soft fork” upgrade recommendation

      Terraform Labs is recommending a “soft fork” upgrade of Terra Core software to v0.4.1 (Columbus-4.1). This update applies to all relevant parties within the Terra ecosystem, including validators, exchanges, and service providers. The rationale for this intermediary update is to better support Terra smart contracts and Dapps that are scheduled to ship in 2021.


      Upcoming Networks Updates

      The next 5-10 years for eth2 from Vitalik Buterin’s point of view

      “Roadmap below reflects my own views, others (including future versions of me) may have different perspectives! Details may of course change as we discover new info or new tech.”

      Also check a special Phase 0 Genesis Edition of EF Eth 2.0 Researchers’ AMA to learn more about phase launch parallelization, data sharding updates and other insights.

      Ethereum 2.0 Staking Guide 

      The Launch of the biggest upgrade in blockchain history is right around the corner. The current genesis date for eth2 to launch the Beacon Chain has been set for December 1st, 2020, and 524,288 ETH has already been sent to the deposit contract. This update sets new standards for Staking and provides attractive returns for participants. If you plan on staking or not, make sure to read the ultimate eth2 staking guide.

      Ethermint Testnet to Launch

      The purpose of this initial public testnet will be to allow developers to deploy and test existing smart contracts from Ethereum or any new code they would like to write on this exciting new platform. Users are also encouraged to connect to these contracts using Web3 tooling and to test existing functionality. Validators and infrastructure providers may also connect to the testnet to become familiar with the software, but this first testnet will not be incentivized.

      Bluezelle March to Mainnet: Progress Update II

      The Bluzelle soft-mainnet has successfully surpassed 1,500,000 in block height. With the team’s hard work and effort, the new test network is now ready for public testing. This is a rehearsal for network hard fork to the production mainnet. Check what was fixed and improved in this update via the link above. 

      Orion Terminal’s Main Net is almost here

      Orion Terminal is the first gateway to the entire crypto market: aggregating the liquidity of every centralized exchange, decentralized exchange, and swap pool into one decentralized platform. Access to the first phase of the terminal will be prioritized based on share ranking through a referral scheme. Platform updates will be continually rolled out over the month following the launch of Orion Terminal, including ORN staking in early Q1.

      Desmos is increasing Morpheus validators set

      The number of active validators on the  testnet was capped to 100. This particular value is the default one that appears on all Cosmos-based chains and has been chosen in order to avoid having a too-large validators’ set that could cause a slower block production. Although since now this value has fitted properly for the testnet,  the team has decided to increase the number of active validators doubling to 200. 

      Uniswap Liquidity & Staking program for LTO network

      LTO Network has successfully deployed a staking farm for ETH – LTO liquidity providers. This means LTO tokens can now be bought on Uniswap, where it is common for coins to be “farmed” for extra rewards.


      Staking Providers Updates

      Lido Testnet Launch

      Lido is a liquid Ethereum staking solution letting you earn staking rewards with no lock-ups or minimum deposits whilst contributing to the security of the Ethereum 2.0 chain. The testnet launch sees the deployment of contracts – on Goerli testnet – to test Lido in dynamic conditions and gain operational experience for participants. An added bonus is that the testnet will demonstrate the simplicity of staking Ethereum with Lido.

      Tendermint & Lunie: Extended Support for the Cosmos Hub

      With the sunset of hosted Lunie products imminent, Tendermint’s taken steps to ensure that ATOM holders who prefer using Lunie can continue doing so. Tendermint and the Interchain Foundation have been working with the Lunie team to develop Lunie Light, a wallet specifically aimed at supporting the Cosmos Hub and blockchains built on recent versions of the Cosmos SDK.

      Ankr To Support Seamless Stacking on Stacks 2.0

      This partnership means whether you’re a trader or holder looking to earn rewards, or a developer looking to engage more deeply with the upcoming Stacks 2.0 network, you’ll have an easy path to running a node through Ankr, minimizing your security risk as well as your time to manage it.


      Upcoming Staking Events


      Staking Rewards Updates

      New Provider Ranking for all assets

      All Rankings of Staking providers and validators have been updated to reflect the order by descending total balance hold per provider. See e.g. for Tezos, Polkadot, Cosmos, and so on. We are mapping multiple validators into one entry and always calculate the total balance per provider.

      About The Authors

      Rina Spasenkova

      is the CMO, and blockchain analyst at Citadel.one. Being in crypto since the age of 17, she mainly focused on the topics related to PoS systems of passive yield, smart contracts, and social construction of cryptocurrency

      Mirko Schmiedl

      is the CEO & Co-Founder at Staking Rewards. He was included in the Forbes 30 under 30 class and raised over $4M to advance Staking Rewards on its mission to make Staking easy for everyone.