Seiya is live! Stafi is inviting validators to join its first testnet.
Since 2019, Stafi has been working on making liquid staking possible. After 1.5 years of development — Seiya, the first testnet of Stafi Protocol, is ready to be rolled out! Seiya is the main network of Stafi protocol. In the future, Stafi protocol will create many staking contracts (SC) on Seiya to provide liquidity for staking assets. Let’s dive into the first stages of Seiya!
For more than a year, we have been comprehensively developing SC and tested it on Tezos, Cosmos, Polkadot and Ethereum. Now, we are proud to say that we reached a solution that we believe is safe and reliable! However, the blockchain world is ever-changing, so as our ideas. With the emergence of more PoS chains, our thoughts are becoming riper. We need a more stable underlying network to implement SC — and here comes Seiya.
Seiya at the current stage does not include the code of SC. We plan to test the functions of different types of SC when Seiya is stable enough. In order to run a stable staking network, we will start node recruitment — welcoming validators to join Stafi’s node ecosystem.
In order to avoid attacks such as Nothing at Stake and long-range attacks, most PoS chains have a locking mechanism, from 2 days to 28 days, when users initiate redemption of tokens. This makes the token holders bear the risk of the token price loss caused by the fluctuation of the token price in staking. With this worry in mind, many are avoiding Staking. Furthermore, the locking mechanism of Staking makes Staking and DeFi contradict each other.
When the income of DeFi is greater than that of Staking, it will promote the flow of Staking Token to DeFi, compromising the security of the project.
Stafi helps users issue alternative rTokens through SC to solve the liquidity problem of locked assets. On the one hand, it allows users to enjoy both Staking income and liquidity. On the other hand, it improves the network security of PoS projects. We believe rToken is also a better base asset for DeFi.
If you think deeper about it, Seiya is basically a Staking network, which means a staker-oriented one.
On a single PoS chain, the validator participates in the consensus to make the PoS chain safer by providing computing and storage resources, while on Seiya, validators can enhance the security for all PoS projects and at the same time, provide a better user experience for stakers.
We welcome validators with extensive verification experience to join Stafi’s Staking network and make the overall network environment safer!
Now onto the details…
NPoS Mechanism
Drawing experience from Polkadot, Stafi’s consensus also adopts the NPoS mechanism. NPoS is an improved version of DPoS, which solves the problem of Stake’s tendency to be over-centralized. In the NPoS mechanism, stakers are divided in two roles: a nominator and a validator.
Unlike DPoS, the block-producing reward is distributed to all the validators of the current validator group, while in DPoS, it is done by the propotions of Staking Tokens delegated. In this way, the nominators will automatically balance the delegation among multiple validators, avoiding the Matthew effect. For more about NPoS, please check here.
For more about Nominator and Validator, please check here.
The Incumbent Validators
The Stafi chain — Seiya — starts with 50 open validator positions, and plans to gradually increases the number of validators. The top 50 validators with heaviest Staking weight can be elected. The upper limit of the number of validators has not been determined yet.The final decision must strike a balance between network security and consensus efficiency. Stay tuned for our technical-economic series as we develop the model further.
Rewards & Slashing
Anyone can apply to become a validator candidate. As for the rewards, all incumbent validators have the same weight to produce blocks and under random algorithms, all of them have almost the same chance to be rewarded. That means validators with a lesser FIS stake can earn more FIS rewards.
The inflation rate of FIS is 10% in the first year. The rewards for a validator are determined by Staking rate. Initially, 50% will be set as a benchmark. For validators with a staking rate below 50%, an 10% annual interest rate will be set up. For those higher than 50%, the rewards will be below 10%. In general, the rewards are in reverse proportion to the staking weight.
The slashing mechanism in NPoS is similar to other PoS projects. For those who are offline (or unresponsive) too often, or do such evil as double-signing, their collateral will be confiscated — slashed. The slashed amount will include FIS belonging to the nominators and the Slash severity is determined by the exact case. Check here for the detailed Slash ratio. The validators with a high staking rate can attract nominators by their strength to earn higher delegation.
Lockup Period for FIS: 14 days
Users can engage in NPoS by Staking FIS on Stafi. They can earn inflationary rewards for their “work”. However, in order to prevent malicious activity, staked FIS must be locked for a period of time. It takes 14 days from the initiation of unlocking to redeem FIS back. Unlike other PoS chains, Stafi Protocol will create SC to unlock Staked FIS so that users can trade rFIS directly to obtain liquidity even within the lock period of FIS.
Hardware Requirements
We recommend that validators adhere to the standard hardware requirements at least, to ensure that they can process all blocks in a timely manner. This is not a total minimum requirement, but if you decide to run with a hardware standard lower than this, you may encounter performance issues, such as slashing due to unresponsive cases.
Recommended configuration
- System: Ubuntu 18.04
- CPU: 4 cores, Intel Core
- Memory: 8G
- Hard disk: 500G
Basic configuration standard
- System: Linux or Macos, Ubuntu 18.04 is recommended
- CPU: At least 2 cores, Intel Core
- Memory: 8G
- Hard disk: at least 200G, regularly evaluated
How to run a validator node?
Please check the Stafi node operation document if you want to join the Stafi as a node operator. When the open testnet is stable, we will enter the phase of the incentivized testnet. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the public testnet first to get a lead in the subsequent incentive testnet.
Service providers that have provided validation services on various PoS networks are recommended to join Stafi’s network to help all Stakers with the issuance of Staking derivatives! In addition to the original PoS chain incentives, Stakers will also be rewarded by Stafi.
If you want to learn more about running a validator node on Stafi network, you should join our validator community, and we’d love to hear your thoughts about the testnet. There are many intricacies and balances in the design of the validator incentive mechanism, and we look forward to iterating the system with the help of the community. Join us on Telegram: t.me/stafi_protocol
About Stafi Protocol
Stafi is the first DeFi protocol unlocking liquidity of staked assets. Users can stake PoS tokens through Stafi and receive rTokens in return, which are available for trading while still earning staking rewards. FIS is the native token on Stafi Chain. FIS is required to provide security to the network by staking, pay for transaction fees on the Stafi chain, mint & redeem rTokens.
Website: www.stafi.io
Twitter:@Stafi_Protocol
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/stafi_protocol
Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/stafi_ann