Chainlink Staking represents a new era of cryptoeconomic security for the industry-standard oracle network.
Staking provides Chainlink ecosystem participants with the opportunity to earn rewards for increasing the security guarantees and user assurances of oracle services by backing them with staked LINK tokens. Chainlink Staking initially launched with v0.1 and is evolving with the upcoming v0.2 upgrade.
v0.1 Stakers will have the opportunity to migrate their v0.1 stake and rewards.
Those who qualify for early access have the opportunity to stake LINK.
Anyone can stake LINK until the Chainlink Staking v0.2 Pool is full.
Staking helps improve the cryptoeconomic security of oracle networks, initially through alerts around predefined performance standards.
Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.
Staking enables community members to play a key role in the Chainlink Network and support a world powered by cryptographic truth.
Ecosystem participants including token holders and node operators will have the opportunity to stake LINK as Chainlink Staking evolves. Learn more about Staking v0.1 Early Access Eligibility and the Chainlink Staking roadmap.
A 7,000 LINK per-participant staking cap was set to promote greater inclusion and reduce the risk of a few participants dominating the pool in the early stages. At the same time, the staking cap was set high enough to help ensure a sufficient amount of engagement is generated. The per-staker limit exists for both the early and at least the start of general access phases of v0.1. More information can be found in the following blog post.
Each Chainlink node operator currently servicing Chainlink Data Feeds will have the opportunity to individually stake up to 50,000 LINK, with a 1,000 LINK minimum if choosing to stake during Chainlink Staking v0.1. This cap was implemented to mitigate potential centralization risks that could arise if one or a small number of node operators dominate the staking pool, such as has historically been seen across other protocols with staking and mining pools.
It is currently anticipated the per-node operator stake limit will be raised over time, particularly as more Data Feeds are supported by Chainlink Staking and the mechanisms deployed become more proven in production.
Following a security-conscious approach, the initial pool size for v0.1 is capped at 25M LINK to help ensure robust security of the Chainlink ecosystem and the larger Web3 economy that relies on Chainlink services. It is planned for Chainlink Staking v0.1 to expand over time. The planned staking roadmap can be found in this blog post. Additional opportunities to stake LINK are planned to be introduced over time.
Chainlink Staking v0.1 is an initial beta implementation that introduces the ability for stakers to raise alerts if node operators on supported feeds fail to meet predefined performance conditions. To increase the decentralization of alerting, and to support other functionalities in future implementations such as stake slashing, an allotment of the v0.1 staking pool is made available to the Chainlink community.
Node Operator Stakers are expected to have a baseline rate of 5% per year in LINK against their committed stake, as well as rewards sourced from the 5% delegation fee derived from Community Staker rewards. Assuming an entirely filled 25M LINK pool, Node Operator Stakers can earn an effective annualized reward rate of ~7%.
The community stake portion of the pool is expected to have a baseline rate of 5% per year in LINK against their committed stake for helping secure the Chainlink Network. From those annualized rewards, a 5% portion of Community Staker rewards is expected to be directed to Node Operator Stakers as a delegation reward. The result is an effective reward rate of 4.75% on an annualized basis for Community Stakers in v0.1.
More information can be found in the recent v0.1 launch details blog.
Due to the security parameters of the Staking system, both Node Operators and Community Stakers will initially have their staked LINK and accumulated rewards locked up in a smart contract until a future release of Staking. Research and development is already underway for Staking v0.2, planned for release in approximately 9-12 months, at which point v0.1 stakers can unlock or migrate their staked LINK and rewards.
More information can be found in the recent v0.1 launch details blog.
Many Web3 wallets, such as MetaMask, allow you to connect to hardware wallets as an additional layer of security. Refer to the official support documentation of your Web3 wallet and hardware wallet providers for best practices around using wallets in tandem.
Here's a video demonstrating how you can connect your Ledger or Trezor hardware wallet to MetaMask to stake LINK.
If you have any additional questions, please follow up with your hardware wallet manufacturer.
Chainlink Staking currently supports widely used Web3 wallets including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and WalletConnect-enabled wallets. Smart contract wallets are also supported. Refer to the official support documentation of the above Web3 wallet providers for more information on connecting to Web3-enabled websites.
Token holders can stake their LINK using the staking.chain.link webpage. For a step-by-step tutorial for staking your LINK, refer to the following guide.
In order to stake LINK, you’ll need to have LINK tokens on Ethereum in a self-custodial wallet, where you can connect to the frontend interface using a Web3 wallet such as MetaMask. Your wallet will also need to contain ETH to pay for Ethereum network transaction fees.
Here's a video tutorial showing you how to self-custody crypto, and another on how to connect your hardware wallet to MetaMask.
The Brave Wallet in the Brave web browser may conflict if the MetaMask browser extension is also installed. In order to resolve this issue when using MetaMask on Brave, the Brave Wallet must be disabled or a different web browser must be used.
No—Proof of Stake is a consensus mechanism used by some blockchain networks to validate blocks of transactions. Staking within decentralized oracle networks aims to achieve a fundamentally different goal to staking within blockchains—that is, the creation of reliable and tamper-resistant oracle reports that accurately reflect the state of the external world. Learn more about the long-term goals of Chainlink Staking.
Staking v0.1 serves as the first release of an explicit cryptoeconomic security system where Chainlink DONs are backed by staked LINK. The initial v0.1 release is an early-stage beta which will set the foundation for future staking implementations by introducing a more decentralized and public alerting system, which is planned to be supplemented in the future with additional functionalities for increased security assurances. More information on the evolution of Chainlink staking can be found in this blog post.
Staking in v0.1 will require an on-chain transaction on Ethereum mainnet. Users should be aware of the dynamics around blockchain network resource availability.
Chainlink Staking v0.1 will support the staking of LINK on Ethereum mainnet.
Staking v0.1 is the initial beta implementation of staking in the Chainlink Network, setting the foundation for future implementations by introducing a decentralized alerting system. This is planned to be supplemented in the future with additional functionalities such as user fee rewards, a more advanced reputation system, comprehensive stake slashing mechanics, and other mechanisms for increased security assurances. The roadmap for the evolution of Chainlink Staking over time can be found in this recent blog post.
Node Operator Stakers and Community Stakers will not see their committed stake slashed during v0.1. However, if a valid alert is raised for excessive downtime, then up to three months of accrued staking rewards can be slashed from node operators currently serving the ETH/USD Data Feed on Ethereum.
Actively staking node operators who are not serving the ETH/USD Ethereum Data Feed will not see their rewards slashed during v0.1. More information can be found in a recent blog post.
The staking v0.1 smart contracts have undergone multiple audits from a number of independent and industry-leading auditors. The codebase also underwent a time-limited competitive audit program on the Code4rena platform.
The official webpage to stake your LINK will be located at staking.chain.link.
Make sure to bookmark this page and verify the URL when v0.1 launches to help protect yourself against spoofing and phishing websites. Additional security best practices for crypto can be found by the Ethereum Foundation here.
Due to the numerical precision in the Staking v0.1 smart contract, any amount of LINK staked beyond six decimal places will be automatically returned to the staker. The result is that LINK can be staked in multiples of MicroLINK (0.000001 LINK). This numerical precision is taken into account by the Chainlink Staking web page (https://staking.chain.link), but stakers who interact directly with the v0.1 smart contract may see a small amount of less than one MicroLINK returned. Note this is the intended behavior of the Staking v0.1 smart contract.
