Introducing Quicksilver
Cosmos is the second largest proof-of-stake ecosystem, with 50 zones and almost $25 billion worth of assets currently staked. Considering the amount of Zones about to deploy and in development, this number is set to dramatically increase in the coming year.
Within most Cosmos zones, only 5% of staked assets are actually slashable, leaving a whopping 95% of staked tokens completely unused. Because most tokens are locked in staking, this represents a serious barrier to DeFi on Cosmos.
While existing Liquid Staking protocols allow users to participate in DeFi, unbonding periods make the experience unappealing for existing stakers. Furthermore, most existing protocols offer a white-listed set of validators to choose from, which in turn negatively impacts network security and decentralization.
Finally, going through a tedious onboarding process for both validators and zones can hamper the growth of liquid staking on the zones.
Quicksilver eliminates those problems.
How?
Scalability
Through a combination of Interchain Accounts and the Liquid Staking module, both due to be part of the Cosmos-SDK’s Theta release in march 2022, Quicksilver will be able to seamlessly onboard any Cosmos-SDK based zone using these modules in a permissionless manner — All that is required is the community’s approval. As a sovereign zone, Quicksilver is controlled by its token holders: All decisions are determined by the voting power of the Quicksilver community.
A frictionless UX
Thanks to our interchain design, Quicksilver will be able to provide staking on any Cosmos SDK zones that our community votes to onboard. Anyone staking on these zones will be able to switch to a liquid staking model without having to unbond their assets. Lastly, onboarding new zones will require little to no effort from neither these zones nor their validators.
An enhanced staking experience while maintaining governance rights
Decentralization and security of all onboarded zones are paramount. Through a permissionless validator set, Quicksilver will allow anyone to become a validator, or stake with any validator of their choosing. Users will be rewarded with the QCK native token for using Quicksilver, including bonuses for choosing performant and decentralized validators. Lastly, users will maintain their voting rights through our unique governance mechanism, which will make it possible for them to continue voting on the networks they are invested in, while taking full advantage of the benefits of Liquid Staking. We believe that inter-chain liquid staking without inter-chain governance is incomplete.
In short
Enabling users, zones, and interoperability is central to Quicksilver’s vision. With this project, we aim to redefine staking on Cosmos and provide a platform where users can maximize returns on their assets.
Stay in touch
The Quicksilver testnet will be launching in Q2 of 2022 — Follow our social channels to stay up to date on our latest news, airdrops, and events.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicksilverzone
Telegram: https://t.me/quicksilverzone
Discord: https://discord.gg/xrSmYMDVrQ
Website: https://quicksilver.zone
