Energy Web Community Staking: Where we’ve been and where we’re going next

The Energy Web Token consortia staking pool will end on December 18, 2022. In this blog post, we present a short summary of Energy Web Token (EWT) staking performance so far and share new information about upcoming EWT staking pools.

The first staking mechanism was launched by the Energy Web community in December 2021. It was the first ever Web3 token staking pool that used decentralized identifiers (DID) and verifiable credentials (VC) to authenticate users. Stakers were required to verify their email address to receive a VC issued to their wallet address (their DID). Only DIDs with this VC were able to stake EWT in this pool.

A second staking pool (the consortia pool) was launched in March 2022. It also required users to have the VC issued after verifying an email address. The primary innovation being proven in the consortia pool was the snapshot mechanism. At random blocks, the snapshot function checked users’ EWT balance staked in the consortia pool. Users, who staked more than 1 EWT received a snapshot VC. In total between March and December, there will have been 6 snapshot VCs issued.

The snapshot mechanism verifies the consistency of staking. Consistent staking (that is, staking economic value without removing stake at different intervals) is mission critical to increasing the cybersecurity of Energy Web solutions via Energy Web Tokens. New enterprise solutions like Green Proofs, Asset Management, and Data Exchange will use EWT staking as a cybersecurity measure where the combined EWT stake of all users provides economic security and adds an additional layer of security against a variety of attack vectors (for more information on this topic, in this blog post).

Users, who stake consistently increase the economic security of connected Energy Web solutions and therefore provide a valuable service to the entire Energy Web ecosystem. This is why the current staking pool is designed to reward consistent stakers. So far, the consistency of staking has been high with both the total staked amount and the number of stakers continually increasing. We provided a detailed analysis of the staking performance in two previous blog posts: one in August and one in September.

Energy Web Community Staking Snapshot Awards

As planned, the snapshot function will randomly check the staked balance of users 2 more times before the end of 2022. Finally, before the end of the year, 2 new verifiable credentials will be issued: Silver OR Gold.

Silver VCs will be issued to users who staked consistently but joined the consortia pool some time after launch. More specifically, all users who currently have snapshot 4 and stake consistently until the end of the pool (as verified by the 2 more balance checks) will receive Silver Snapshots.

Gold VCs will be issued to users who consistently staked EWT from the beginning of the Consortia pool. All users who currently have snapshots 1, 2, 3, and 4 and stake consistently until the end of the pool will receive the Gold VC.

Energy Web Community Staking in 2023 and Beyond

After the consortia staking pool ends on December 18, three new staking pools will be launched (in December): Silver, Gold, and Green.

The Silver pool will be only accessible to users with Silver VCs. It will run for 1 week and will distribute additional rewards to stakers with a Silver VC. The Gold pool will only be available to users with a Gold VC. It will also run for 1 week and will distribute additional rewards to stakers with a Gold VC. The APY for Gold stakers will be higher than for Silver stakers to reflect longer, more consistent staking performance. The specific values related to the rewards, APY, and total pool cap will be confirmed immediately prior to launch since these values will be determined by the staking performance of the consortia pool between now and December 18.

The new Green pool will be open to everyone, subject to email verification (just like the previous pools). The daily rewards will be set at 0.0168%, which is equivalent to an APY of 6.32%.

The Green pool will also have a snapshot functionality that will randomly check staked EWT balances. Users who stake consistently will earn new “Green Proof” VCs. These VCs will enable stakers to run a new family of nodes under development by Energy Web, Green Proof nodes, in 2023. A more in-depth article about this pool will be released in Q1 2023!

To sum it all up:

• Consistent stakers in the consortia pool will receive Silver or Gold VCs if they continue to stake EWT until the end of the current Consortia pool (Dec 18, 2022)
• Silver and Gold VCs allow users to receive additional rewards. These rewards will be distributed in the Silver and Gold staking pools, which will go live on December 22, 2022.
• Everyone will be able to participate in the new Green pool, launched on Dec 13. Consistent Green stakers, who stake enough EWT will earn a Green Proof VCand are able to be rewarded with additional features!