#43: Staking Academy
New contributor Robert and intro to the Staking Academy. NEAR and SKALE token sales and other staking network updates.
This newsletter is supported by Chorus One, a provider of staking services in decentralized networks.
Dear readers,
Today we’re excited to announce that we have a new contributor joining us to assist with Staking Economy updates: Robert Dörzbach. Robert is working on communications and marketing at Staking Facilities, a validator and node operator based in Munich, Germany focused on providing industry-grade staking services for a thoroughly vetted portfolio of networks.
Robert joining our newsletter is based on a shared greater goal that all of our companies strive towards: making it easier for people to participate in and understand the staking ecosystem through educational and informational content.
Introducing the Staking Academy
The Staking Academy is a content aggregation platform focusing on Proof-of-Stake networks and their ecosystem. It provides new users with an information source to get started. More seasoned stakeholders (pun intended) can browse through a curated list of articles, podcasts, and events. Despite being launched and maintained by Staking Facilities, the Staking Academy is a collaborative effort with the ultimate goal to accelerate the diffusion and adoption of PoS protocols.
The Basics of Staking
Felix recently wrote an article on the basics of staking for Crypto Valley Journal, a Swiss-based outlet that seeks to objectively inform readers about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. This guest post gives an overview of the market and players in the staking ecosystem, highlighting how this industry developed over the past two years.
Network Updates
Polkadot Parachains and Transfers: Almost three years after the first token sale, DOT tokens became liquid this week after a governance vote enabled transfers. In addition, the supply of DOT tokens was adjusted by 100x following a vote to change the denomination. More here. In addition, the first testnet (Rococo) to experiment with cross-chain messaging was launched.
Cosmos Peggy Bridge and GaiaFlex Testnet:GaiaFlex, a test network to experiment with governance-gated smart contract ability for Cosmos blockchains went live. Furthermore, the Althea team published an update about how Peggy, their Cosmos-based Ethereum relayer, and its performance. Peggy is slated to go live as a module on the Althea chain at the end of this year and could potentially be added to other Cosmos blockchains, including the Hub itself.
NEAR Sale and Rainbow Bridge: With a few complications, the NEAR token sale on CoinList concluded raising more than $30m. Shortly after this first public sale, the NEAR team published details about the design of their trustless bridge to Ethereum.
Eth2 Testnet Bug: The Medalla testnet stopped finalizing blocks for about 90 minutes due to an issue with the Prysm Eth2 client. An incorrect automatic clock adjustment, caused by one of 6 default roughtime servers configured by the Cloudflare client library was found to be the root cause. The adjustment caused validators to incorrectly propose blocks and attestations for future slots. The Prysm client has since been updated to not automatically adjust clocks of client machines. One takeaway is the importance of a beneficial distribution of validators across a variety of Eth2 clients. Read more in the well-written post-mortem and response report.
SKALE’s token launch was delayed after a wave of bot activity was detected in the minutes leading up to the launch. The SKALE and Consensys teams decided to postpone the auction, to prevent a small number of investors from purchasing a majority, if not all of the token supply. Since then, new details have been announced. A new distribution method will be used to ensure that all interested parties have an equal chance at participating.
Solana Wallets and Custody: $SOL holders are now able to store their assets with Coinbase Custody. This announcement comes just a short while after Dokia Capital launched Solflare, a non-custodial Solana wallet with staking functionality and Ledger support.
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Staking Economy is written by Felix Lutsch from Chorus One with contributions by Chris Remus (Chainflow), and Robert Dörzbach (Staking Facilties). Join us in the Staking Economy Telegram to discuss staking. Opinions expressed are our own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our companies. All content is for informational purposes only and not intended as investment advice.