Introducing: sTLOS— Single Asset Staking With Benefits
It brings great pleasure to the entire Telos team to witness our user base — which grows consistently — leverage the opportunities provided by the increasing number of dApps that reside on our tEVM. However, as many new community members connect with our network via MetaMask, they often do not interact with Telos native. As a result, these users miss a lucrative opportunity to stake their $TLOS for an attractive APR of approximately 13.6%.
As a blockchain that prioritizes the best interest of our community, we are committed to supporting an increase of the TVL (Total Value Locked) on Telos and aim to make our tEVM even more attractive for our users. As such, the Telos Core Development and Telos Foundation Business Development have partnered with several of our valued DEFI colleagues to bring fully supported SINGLE ASSET STAKING for TLOS to our EVM very soon!
A Quick Refresher on Staking
If you’re a relative newcomer to crypto markets, you’ve probably noticed a slight bit of volatility (ahem) when glancing at the charts. To counteract this, projects provide staking opportunities for holders, which involves locking their tokens for a certain period. Doing so contributes to a more stable token economy, and as a reward for their vote of confidence, stakers receive APY (Annual Percentage Yield), or interest, on the locked tokens.
The Challenges
Single Asset Staking, or REX, as referred to on Telos Native, is not available on tEVM. In addition, unstaked $TLOS does not offer an incentive for users to lock value without additional risks of impermanent loss (IL). Staked TLOS on native reduces liquidity for exchanges on our EVM due to high staking rewards / REX rewards of approximately 13.6% APR. The same issue would also apply to “simple” staked Telos tokens on EVM.
We want to improve TVL significantly on Telos to match other chains; however, utilizing staked TLOS to leverage the overall value is currently impossible on our native chain. Therefore, further support is required to kickstart our DEFI ecosystem and attract even more users to our leading, fastest, no-front running Ethereum Virtual Machine.
This conundrum has led us to devise new opportunities for the larger part of our community! This includes:
- Existing tEVM users who are searching for a “safe” staking option.
- New tEVM users that we attract through an appealing APR.
- Users that do not want to interact with Telos Native but profit from staking APRs.
- “Degen” “hardcore” DEFI users hunting high yields, lending, and borrowing.
- dAPPs developing high yield products.
- Investors and dApps attracted by boosted TVL based on multiplier pools and farms utilizing sTLOS.
The Solution: sTLOS Single Asset Staking With Benefits!
OpenZeppelin recently published a new standard for single asset staking entitled ERC4626: Tokenized Vault Standard, which likewise strives to be a new standard for staked ERC20 assets, from our perspective.
In close communication with our current DEFI applications, the Telos Core Development team has decided to be an early adopter of the above standard and build the sTLOS contract on ERC4626.
Amendments to add staking/unlock timers are in progress, as those are not implemented in the current ERC4626 contract proposals. We are also adding features to wrap/unwrap TLOS to wTLOS as the standard applies to ERC20 tokens only.
Our sTLOS will act as a transferable receipt token for the staked TLOS, thus opening up a broad range of applications.
The existing reward pools of REX (Resource Exchange) “staking” rewards on Telos Native will be connected and balanced with sTLOS’ APR on tEVM. Both will be drawn from a reserve that releases a fixed number of tokens every 30 minutes and done in a way that maintains an equilibrium so that if TVL increases, APR of REX and sTLOS will decrease to the same degree. In contrast, if TVL decreases, a proportionate increase in rewards will follow. Due to its nature, staking rewards are accumulated to the pool without requiring users to execute claim transactions. This design adds additional benefits and ease of use to our single asset staking.
Once users wish to unstake the tokens, they will be transferred to an ESCROW contract and no longer accumulate rewards. In addition, a timer is applied to each position (max. 10–15 per account). Unlike other solutions, the timer will not reset if the user adds an unstake position.
The required changes on the Telos Native contracts are in progress and subject to a Block Provider / Community vote to approve the redirection of reserves to sTLOS.
We want to emphasize that all staking rewards originate from a dedicated reserve with no impact on the total supply of $TLOS, which has been stable since the foundation of the network. Any adjustment of the reserves requires a community vote, clearly demonstrating our robust governance model.
Telos Native REX vs. sTLOS — comparission
All staked tokens on Telos Native allow accounts to participate in the governance processes of our network; this includes BP- and Worker Proposal Votes, which are a crucial component of our chain governance.
The REX staking logic is appropriate for governance focussed holders, of which the details are as follows:
- 4-day maturity timer.
- Matured funds are immediately accessible, allowing an immediate reaction to market trends.
- Savings feature with a 4-day unstaking period for improved security.
- No DEFI enabling.
- sTLOS is a more DEFI and yield-focused way of staking. Therefore, we decided to apply a different logic:
- 5–10 day (to be determined) unstaking period to sTLOS.
- Multiple unstaking positions are possible.
- No timer reset for previews unstaking transactions.
- No voting/governance participation for the initial implementation.
- Full DEFI enabling — Staking with Benefits!
DEFI APPs now receive an additional tool to leverage their TVL and develop attractive products, such as lending/borrowing or pools and farms.
TLOS aims to be one of the most attractive and easy-to-use liquidity staking products of all EVMs in crypto. Integrations to our block explorer Teloscan are in progress, as is support for the existing exchanges.
The impact on TVL will further separate Telos EVM from competitors and provide all community members, from “degens” to “novices,” with a more attractive investment opportunity. Find more information in our latest Telos Tech Talk AMA.
About Telos
The Telos EVM is the most powerful and scalable Ethereum Smart Contract platform built to power Web 3.0. Telos features a robust, third-generation, ESG compliant evolutionary blockchain governance system, including smart contracts, advanced voting features, and flexible and user-friendly fee models. In addition, Telos supports the blockchain ecosystem by serving as an incubator and accelerator for decentralized applications through development grants. Come build with us.
