Despite a challenging macro environment, the closure of several systemically important crypto banks, and regulatory action against industry leaders, the crypto market started 2023 with a bang. This after the FTX implosion dragged the market to a multi-year low in Q4 2022. Crypto assets increased by ~ 50%+ Q/Q across the board, reaching their highest levels in the last year. Driven by regulatory action against Binance's bUSD and US bank failures, stablecoins were the only asset class to buck the positive trend. Stablecoins shed another $7BN Q1 2023, after losing $11BN in Q4 2022.
On April 12th at ~ 6:27 PM EST the Ethereum network will upgrade via the Shanghai and Capella ("Shapella") hard forks. The Shapella forks will enable transfers between Ethereum's consensus and execution layers. This will make it possible to access staking rewards, exit from the validator set, or un-stake and withdraw funds.
Shapella allows stakers to upgrade their withdrawal credentials from BLS to ETH keys. Stakers must upgrade the credentials for all their validators to access rewards, un-stake or withdraw funds.
Sometime during 09/10/22 - 09/20/22, the Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake (PoS) system. This will mark the end of proof-of-work (PoW) for Ethereum, and the full transition to PoS. Staked will manage the entire validator upgrade process, including the addition of MEV software to earn MEV fees. No action is necessary for stakers.
Transfers and withdrawals of ETH from the Beacon Chain will remain disabled until the Capella hard fork, 3 - 6+ months post merge. As a result, staked ETH and validator rewards on the Beacon Chain will remain locked until then.
Post-merge, Ethereum validators will continue earning rewards for block proposals and attestations. Importantly, validators will also start earning the transaction fees and MEV currently earned by PoW miners.
Unfortunately, the ETH2 key (BLS) used for the withdrawal credentials in staking deposits can't receive funds. These addresses are only designed for signing consensus messages, but can’t sign transactions. The option to upgrade from ETH2 credentials to a standard ETH address on-chain will be available in the Capella hard fork, 3 - 6+ months post merge.
For security purposes, Staked can only distribute the transaction fees and MEV to verified ETH addresses. As a result, stakers will earn the new fees and MEV, but won't receive them until upgrading their withdrawal credentials on-chain. A complete accounting of all validator rewards will be available via Staked’s reporting.
Stakers who used a standard ETH address in their staking deposit will receive the new fees and MEV on a bi-weekly cadence immediately post-merge.
To account for the new fees and MEV earned by validators, Staked will be moving to a commission-based pricing model. Post-merge, Staked will charge a 10% commission on all rewards and fees earned by validators (validator + transaction fees + MEV). Stakers will earn 90% of all rewards and fees. Staked will cancel all existing recurring subscriptions as of the merge.
Staked will charge a percentage that is equal to 10% of all rewards (validator + transaction fees + MEV). To remain non-custodial, Staked will collect this fee from the transaction fees and MEV earned by the validator (and not from the rewards distributed at the protocol layer to the validator). All rewards distributed at the protocol layer to the validator (sync committee, block proposals and attestations) will continue accruing to the validator. Because Staked will charge this fee on the transaction fees and MEV only, the percentage will be higher than 10%.
Stakers on the 1-time payment plan will only pay a 10% commission on transaction fees and MEV until transfers are active. They will not pay a commission on validator rewards (sync committee, block proposals and attestations). Once transfers are active, Staked will charge a 10% commission on all rewards and fees earned by all stakers.
Tornado Cash Sanctions
Staked believes in the importance of crypto being censorship-resistant and permissionless. As a leading ETH validator we are carefully monitoring the discussion on the potential implications of Tornado Cash sanctions for validators.
FAQs
As a result of regulatory uncertainty in the United States, Staked will be shutting down the Robo-Advisor for Yield service (RAY) on November 1, 2022. RAY was an innovative experiment that worked well for depositors. Every depositor made money, earning a higher yield than they would have elsewhere. We’re disappointed that RAY will be shut down, but the landscape has evolved rapidly and the cost of dealing with undefined regulations is too great.
We kindly request that you withdraw your funds from RAY as soon as possible. On November 1, 2022, we will use our administrative keys to return all deposits to depositors, remove access from the Staked.us website and turn off the oracles that update RAY on a regular basis.
The RAY smart contracts remain open source and available for anyone to carry the torch. The Github repo is available here: https://github.com/Stakedllc/robo-advisor-yield
Seeking Yield by Staked - Issue 96: ⛓️ Tracking ETH2, ✅ Solana Rewards, 📊 State of Staking Report Q1 2021, 📊 Current Staking and Lending Yields, & More
Staked chased technical performance over double-signing robustness and that’s not a good trade off. No customers were harmed in this interaction but it was an expensive lesson for Staked and we are sharing our learnings in case they help others.
Seeking Yield by Staked - Issue 95: ⛓️ Tracking ETH2, 🖥️ State of Staking Webinar Recording, 📊 State of Staking Report Q1 2021, 📊 Current Staking and Lending Yields, & More
Seeking Yield by Staked - Issue 94: ⛓️ Tracking ETH2, 📊 State of Staking Report Q1 2021, 📰 Staked Media Mentions, 🖥️ State of Staking Webinar, 📊 Current Staking and Lending Yields, & More
Seeking Yield by Staked - Issue 93: ⛓️ Tracking ETH2, 📰 Staked Media Mentions, 🖥️ State of Staking Webinar, 📊 Current Staking and Lending Yields, & More
Seeking Yield by Staked - Issue 92: ⛓️ Tracking ETH2, 📰 Staked Media Mentions, 📱 Elrond Maiar Wallet, 📊 Current Staking and Lending Yields, & More