NFT Staking Launching on the Ethereum Blockchain
Cargo will soon be launching our utility and governance token — Cargo Gems. Gems will act as a governance token on the platform — supporting the Cargo DAO. They will also support Cargo Creator Grants which will help subsidize the costs of projects in the NFT space. They will be used as a payment option on Cargo and they open the door to a unique NFT staking model created by Cargo, which is the topic of this article.
Cargo’s NFT staking contract is a prime example of how the provable ownership of NFTs can be used as a means of verification in interoperable applications.
What is NFT Staking?
NFT staking using Cargo’s staking portal is the first of its kind. According to the NonFungibles.com 2019 NFT report the NFT market cap was $210,558,198 and they’ve forecasted $315,712,346 in 2020. That means there’s A LOT of NFTs out there — did I mention that these NFTs are all interoperable with compatible platforms and smart contracts? Cargo’s staking contract and portal turn compatible NFTs into an autonomous vaults that hold Gems and earn rewards in the form of Cargo Gems and Cargo Credits (the ERC-20 token used to mint NFTs on the Cargo platform). To learn more about how rewards are calculated you can read this article.
Cargo’s NFT staking portal is where you can go to stake Gems in your NFTs. The staking portal uses Cargo’s existing NFT infrastructure to display all your NFTs which are eligible for staking. The staking contract supports all ERC-721 NFTs, but as a reward to early supporters and Cargo backers only NFTs originally created on Cargo will be eligible for staking at first. This promotional period will last for a limited time before we open staking to all ERC-721 NFTs.
Transferrable NFT Liquidity
By using Cargo’s staking portal to stake Gems within NFTs those NFTs become instantly liquid. You can withdraw Gems and rewards at any time using the staking portal, or Cargo’s JavaScript library. Low value NFTs can become valuable and valuable NFTs can become even more valuable due to the Gems locked inside. NFTs can be transferred to new owners and when they are transferred access to the Gems locked inside is transferred as well — including any pending rewards. This is made possible by the interoperable nature of NFTs and the secure ledger of ownership the ERC-721 standard provides. Once an NFT is transferred to a new owner that person will be able to see it in the staking portal where they will be able to claim rewards and withdraw Gems.
Earning Cargo Credits
As stated, staking Gems within NFTs earn rewards in two different tokens — Cargo Gems and Cargo Credits. The Cargo Credit rewards can then be used the create NFTs on the platform. Credits are available for purchase on the Cargo website and will eventually be available on decentralized exchanges, but earning Credits through staking rewards provides an easy cost effective way to gain the token required to mint NFTs on the Cargo platform. This could be beneficial for creators on the platform.
How to Get Gems
An initial distribution of Gems will be airdropped to early supporters of the Cargo platform and to those that participated in the Polyient Games Founder Key sale. As a reward for supporting Cargo and Polyient Games these addresses will be the first to stake their NFTs and begin earning rewards. Following the airdrop Gems will be available on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and the upcoming Polyient Games DEX. Gems can of course also be earned as rewards through staking NFTs and will be available through creator grants in the future.
Important Links
Sign up for Gem announcements including the official launch announcement:
Follow Cargo on Twitter to stay up to date:
https://twitter.com/BuildWithCargo
Join the discussion on Telegram:
Cargo website:
https://cargo.build
