Raising the stakes: Collect PRIME rewards by staking $PDT
Editor’s note February 2023 — while this post contains good historical context, it also contains some details that are currently outdated. Please visit our Staking page for the most recent FAQs and pop into our Discord with any questions!
How soon is now?
After months of design, toil, alignment and strategically avoiding answering the question “WEN?”, we’ve finally launched PDT staking — a novel staking model that allows $PDT holders to claim rewards paid in blue-chip Web3 game tokens.
Get to know how our staking model works below, explore our Staking dashboard to see how it works in practice, and refer to the FAQs at the end of the article for any questions!
Information in this post is not financial advice, and is subject to change. Do your own research and invest responsibly. Our Treasury Dashboard was designed to help you use your own assumptions to make smarter investment choices about $PDT.
ParagonsDAO is not affiliated with Parallel or the Echelon Prime Foundation.
tl;dr
- You can stake your PDT to receive PRIME rewards (and in future, rewards from other metaverse economies)
- We have the largest claim to PRIME. 30% of the PRIME we receive is currently dedicated to our staking reward pools (may increase in future).
- You’re encouraged to remain staked via a time-weighted multiplier that continuously increases your share of the rewards pools (and resets if you unstake).
- PRIME rewards will be claimable at the end of a given reward epoch. It’s currently Epoch 0, and remains so until PRIME is transferable (at which point, we’ll fund the reward pool for Epoch 1).
- You can start building your multiplier now in preparation for Epoch 1 and beyond.
Rewards that help you directly benefit from Parallel’s success
Our largest investment is in game assets for Parallel — the highly anticipated play-to-earn (P2E) game that influenced our inception. Parallel players will compete for the PRIME token, which recently launched and is being rewarded to Parallel NFT collectors before the game launches.
At ParagonsDAO, we’re entitled to the largest claim of PRIME tokens (initially, almost 1% of the total supply), and our staking model is a key way for us to directly share some of these rewards back to you — allowing investors to collect direct passive income in our top asset holding (and in the future, other metaverse economies we’re involved with) without inflating $PDT.
Rewarding our investors in PRIME also promotes activity within the ecosystem where we have our greatest investment, helping build greater value for $PDT and PRIME holders. When we have liquid exposure to other game economies we’re invested in, we’ll incorporate rewards for those tokens into our staking model too.
💡 Remember, PRIME is not transferable until earliest Q1 2023, when holders can vote to unlock it. You can start building your time-weighted multiplier (see below) by staking $PDT, which will increase your share of PRIME rewards once it’s transferable.
Claim your rewards at the end of an epoch
Our staking model is built around reward epochs — periods of time in which ParagonsDAO can earn PRIME to fund the staking reward pools.
Each epoch, you earn a share of the total reward pool based on your amount of PDT staked, time staked in that epoch, and multipliers (see below). At the end of an epoch, the contract calculates how these variables impact your share of the pool (compared to everyone else), and allows you to claim your entitlement. You’ll need to remain staked until the end of an epoch to earn a share of its rewards.
We intend to fund each epoch’s staking reward pools with 30% of the total PRIME we’ve claimed by the end of the previous epoch (editor’s note Dec 10 2022: subject to analysis of reward sustainability/spread per below).
💡 Over time, we’ll analyze whether the PRIME we direct towards staking rewards needs to be increased or spread across epochs to ensure staking rewards remain balanced, sustainable and attractive. This analysis will consider our future PRIME revenues through our play-to-earn (P2E) model as well as token rewards from other games we’re involved in.
A multiplier rewards your long-term commitment
To reward the most dedicated PDT holders, we use a time-weighted multiplier. As your multiplier grows, so does your share of the total staking reward pool and therefore, the PRIME you’re eligible to claim at the end of a reward epoch.
💡 Since we just launched, now is the best time to begin building your multiplier (as there are no earlier stakers who’ve accumulated an advantage).
When you stake, your multiplier starts at 1x and begins growing linearly. Every six months, the multiplier increases by 1x (that’s about 0.042x per week or 0.167x per month).
We apply a new multiplier to each staking event — an amount of $PDT staked today will have a greater multiplier than a future amount staked. Unstaking removes all your staked $PDT from the contract and resets your multiplier.
💡If you foresee yourself unstaking a portion of your staked balance and don’t want to reset your multiplier, you may consider staking that portion from another wallet.
Example
You have 10,000 PDT and decide to stake all of it today. Every 3 months, you buy and stake another 10,000 PDT. Your total staking multiplier reflects the average current multiplier for the tokens from each staking event.
If you decide to unstake your PDT, you’d lose the benefit of the multiplier you’ve built (and therefore the weighting of your PDT).
Start building your multiplier in anticipation for future PRIME rewards
We’re currently in Epoch 0, which will last until PRIME holders vote to make it transferable (expected in Q1 2023), allowing us to fund Epoch 1’s reward pool. As Epoch 0 doesn’t have a reward pool, it’s primarily your opportunity to start building your multiplier to earn a greater share of the rewards in Epoch 1 and beyond.
💡 While Epoch 0 will not emit PRIME rewards, we expect Epoch 1’s rewards to make up for this.
We intend for future reward epochs to be 90 days long (starting with Epoch 1), allowing stakers to claim PRIME rewards quarterly. This may change or be influenced by any PRIME distribution intervals set by the Echelon Foundation, which could impact when we can claim PRIME to fund our staking reward pools.
💡 While several future reward epochs will partially rely on our initial claim of PRIME rewards from caching and Prime Events, we’ll continue to fund staking rewards through ongoing PRIME earnings through Paraset and Catalyst Drive caching, and capture a significant portion of Echelon’s large P2E Pool (which will be continuously replenished) through our P2E model.
By the numbers
💡 We already possess of over 35% of this PRIME. It’ll be totally claimable by July 2023.
This does not include future revenues through play-to-earn (P2E) model and ongoing Paraset and Catalyst Drive caching, which will receive an ongoing percentage of PRIME sinks.
💡 This leaves 756,000 PRIME to back our Treasury to reward competitors, fund promotions, use PRIME sinks and more!
This does not include future play-to-earn revenues and PRIME sink replenishment of caching pools.
💡 This chart shows a simple estimate of how the estimated PRIME we’ll earn might fund our staking pools (after applying some basic smoothing). It only takes into account the 324,000 PRIME from our “initial claim”, and again, doesn’t factor in play-to-earn revenues and PRIME sink replenishment of caching pools.
We couldn’t be more excited to offer this first-of-it’s kind staking solution to you, and we hope you’ll agree that it’s been well worth the wait!
FAQ
Editor’s note February 2023 — these are outdated. Please visit our Staking page for the most recent FAQs!
Has the staking contract been audited?
Yes. The contract went through two independent audits from Certik and Peckshield, both of which found no significant issues with the contract. You can find the Certik audit here, and the Peckshield audit here.
Why doesn’t the staking dashboard show APR/APY?
PRIME is not currently tradable, and therefore doesn’t have a market value. Instead we show your total estimated share of that epoch’s staking reward pool, your staking multiplier, and an estimate of how much PRIME you’ll earn. When PRIME has a market value, we’ll add an estimated APR.
Can I still use my $PDT for voting in ParagonsDAO’s governance if it’s staked?
Yes. Snapshot (our voting platform) will recognize if you’ve staked $PDT and allow you to vote with your total staked and unstaked $PDT.
What is a reward epoch?
A reward epoch is a period of time in which ParagonsDAO can earn PRIME to fund the staking reward pools and pay rewards to stakers. You can only claim PRIME rewards once an epoch ends, which is when the contract calculates how your time staked during the epoch and multipliers impact your claim. You’ll need to remain staked until the end of an epoch to earn a share of its rewards.
Do I need to be staked for the entire epoch to earn PRIME rewards?
No. You can begin staking after an epoch begins, and the staking contract will calculate how long you were staked during that epoch and allocate rewards accordingly. However, you’ll need to remain staked until the end of an epoch to earn a share of its rewards.
Are all reward epochs the same length?
Epoch 0 will last until PRIME holders vote to make PRIME transferable. Epoch 0 does not have a reward pool, but is an opportunity to build your multiplier in advance of Epoch 1 and beyond.
We intend for future reward epochs (starting with Epoch 1) to be 90 days long, allowing stakers to claim PRIME rewards quarterly. The actual length of reward epochs will be influenced by any PRIME distribution intervals set by the Echelon Foundation.
Can I claim PRIME rewards any time?
No, you can only claim PRIME rewards once an epoch ends. This is when the contract can finalize how your time staked during the epoch and multipliers impact your claim, compared to everyone else.
How does the multiplier work?
To reward the most dedicated PDT holders, our staking contract uses a time-weighted multiplier. As your multiplier grows, so does your share of the staking reward pool and therefore, the PRIME you’re eligible to claim at the end of a reward epoch.
The staking contract applies a new multiplier to each staking event — an amount of $PDT staked today will have a greater multiplier than a future amount staked. Unstaking removed all of your staked $PDT from the contract, and resets your multiplier.
How fast does the multiplier increase?
When you stake, your multiplier starts at 1x and begins growing linearly. Every six months, the multiplier increases by 1x — that’s linear growth of about 0.042x per week or 0.167x per month.
What happens to my multiplier when I unstake?
Unstaking removes all your staked $PDT from the contract and resets your multiplier. If you foresee yourself unstaking a portion of your $PDT in the future and don’t want to impact the multiplier on your full balance, you may consider staking a portion from another wallet.
Does ParagonsDAO have enough PRIME to keep paying attractive staking rewards?
For the near future, absolutely. When the Parallel game launches, we’ll be able to replenish our staking reward pools by productively using our cards through our P2E model. The biggest risk is if Parallel’s game launch is significantly delayed. We will further analyze if/how we should spread some of our PRIME earmarked for staking rewards to future epochs and we’re open to community proposals on the topic.
When will the PRIME reward for early PDT holders be paid?
In March 2022, $PDT holders voted to direct 7,680 PRIME to early supporters who held through a February 11 snapshot. Once PRIME becomes transferable, this will be addressed.
Can vesting vouchers/unvested PDT be staked?
ParagonsDAO founders and early contributors were awarded $PDT vouchers that linearly vest over a 2-year or 1-year period, respectively. Unvested $PDT from these vouchers cannot be staked. Any vested $PDT from these vouchers can be claimed and then staked.
