Persistence: Creating Liquid Staking and Re-Staking Innovations in the Cosmos Ecosystem

Persistence, as an application chain within the Cosmos ecosystem, has taken the lead in integrating IBC, CosmWasm, and the liquid staking module (LSM). By continuously deepening its focus on POS and liquid staking related products, Persistence has built a complete liquid staking and re-staking architecture for the Cosmos ecosystem.

On December 5, 2023, the Cosmos community voted to allocate 600,000 ATOM to pSTAKE to promote the development of liquid staking. In return, pSTAKE will share 15% of the liquid staking revenue with Cosmos Hub.

Overview of the Persistence Ecosystem

According to official data, the total locked value of the Persistence ecosystem ( TVL ) has reached 14.78 million USD, with an IBC trading volume of up to 15 million USD in the last 30 days, and the average transaction cost is less than 0.005 USD.

Data shows that Persistence has established 121 channels with 44 other zones in the Interchain network, highlighting its high interconnectivity. 74.7% of the tokens ($XPRT) in the network are in stake, with an annualized staking yield of 16.7%. This high staking rate usually indicates that the network has a higher level of security and participation.

The infrastructure of Persistence consists of 6 nodes and 100 validators, working together to maintain the decentralization and security of the network.

In the last 24 hours, the IBC trading volume of Persistence reached $260,800, with a total of 4,955 transactions, of which 616 were IBC transactions. There were 932 active addresses and 86 IBC active addresses. It is worth noting that IBC inflows continue to exceed outflows, which may indicate that more and more value is flowing into Persistence and participating in staking.

Technical Support

Persistence supports the CosmWasm framework, allowing developers to write secure and interoperable smart contracts using the Rust language. DApps developed based on CosmWasm can achieve cross-chain operation through IBC, providing convenient, secure, and efficient technical support for liquid staking.

Persistence connects with 54 Cosmos application chains through IBC, enabling trustless communication, transfer, staking, and liquid staking of tokens, laying the foundation for staking and liquid staking in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Utilizing Interchain Accounts (ICA) technology to achieve ICA liquid staking allows an account on one chain to perform operations on another chain, enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of staking and restaking.

Cosmos Ecosystem Staking and Network Security

The liquid staking of the Cosmos ecosystem involves two roles: validators and delegators. Delegators can choose the validator node to delegate to when staking. Validators are responsible for running hardware and blockchain applications based on the Cosmos SDK, reaching consensus with other validators, and proposing and verifying new blocks on the chain.

If a validator engages in misconduct, the delegator's stake deposits may be reduced. For example, if the validator accidentally or maliciously goes offline, the delegator's stake deposits will be reduced by 0.1%; if the validator engages in extreme malicious actions such as double signing, the stake deposits will be reduced by 5%.

This mechanism prevents malicious behavior through economic incentives and penalties, with validators and delegators sharing responsibility to maintain network efficiency and security, while earning token rewards.

pSTAKE staking platform

pSTAKE provides a simple staking process for the Cosmos ecosystem. Users only need to select the token to stake and the chain they are on to proceed with staking. Once staking is completed, the pSTAKE protocol will issue corresponding staking rights tokens to the user's wallet, for example, staking ATOM will yield stkATOM.

The features of pSTAKE include:

1. Automatic compounding: Taking stkATOM as an example, the user's daily staking rewards (ATOM) will automatically enter the stake and continue to earn rewards. This means that the amount of staked ATOM corresponding to each stkATOM will increase, allowing users to receive more ATOM when they unstake.

2. Unstaking: Users need to wait 21-25 days when canceling their stake; they can also pay a 1% fee for a flash unstake. When retrieving the stake, the corresponding stk assets will be destroyed.

3. Staking Yield: pSTAKE supports multiple assets for staking, and the estimated compound annual yield for each asset is calculated based on the yield of the day.

Notes

pSTAKE currently supports the following five tokens: ATOM from Cosmos Hub, OSMO from Osmosis chain, DYDX from dYdX chain, STARS from Stargaze, and HUAHUA from Chihuahua, as well as those minted on the Persistence chain.

When users choose to stake native chain tokens, the pSTAKE staking process consists of two steps: transferring assets cross-chain to the Persistence chain via IBC, and then calling the liquid staking module of the Persistence chain to stake the assets.

Therefore, regardless of which chain's assets are staked, a certain amount of the Persistence chain's native token $XPRT is required as GAS fees, but the GAS fees on the Persistence chain are very low.

stake derivatives

Persistence and the Cosmos ecosystem have launched various stk asset derivatives. For example, stkATOM can be directly exchanged for ATOM on the DEX without the need to unstake or pay additional fees. Moreover, stk assets can be combined with native assets to add liquidity on the DEX, yielding higher returns.

$XPRT stake

As an independent blockchain, Persistence also requires staking to enhance network security. Users can easily stake $XPRT on the Persistence official site or in the Keplr wallet.

stake security

Persistence and pSTAKE are both open-source programs, which is an important guarantee of security. The pSTAKE program involves 72 developers, with the most recent code submission made two days ago.

In addition, Persistence and pSTAKE collaborate with multiple security organizations to provide comprehensive support for the security of staking and re-staking. These organizations include well-known blockchain and cryptocurrency security audit firms, global security research and consulting companies, smart contract security audit and consulting agencies, DeFi bug bounty platforms, and real-time monitoring and alert networks for blockchain security.

Re-staking Innovation

Persistence is building a Restaking infrastructure in Cosmos that allows users to deposit liquid staking tokens (such as stkATOM, stTIA, stkDYDX, etc.) into Persistence through pSTAKE, Stride, and Quicksilver. This enables users to restake their assets and secure additional chains while earning extra rewards.

The re-staking module of Persistence supports staking requests for various assets, including staking equity tokens, stablecoins, LP tokens, etc.

Re-staking Alliance

The re-staking module of Persistence is developed based on the Alliance module. Alliance is an open-source Cosmos SDK module built by Terraform Labs that allows assets to be staked from one blockchain to another, facilitating inter-blockchain staking to enable mutually beneficial relationships between blockchains.

Re-staking alliance shares staking rewards, and the stakers of various assets distribute the rewards according to the asset's reward weight. The reward weight for $XRPT is 1, and the reward weights for other assets are determined and adjusted through decentralized governance.

Re-staking income source

The tokens used by users for re-staking will be locked and native tokens will be minted proportionally. The minted native tokens enter the staking module to be staked to validators in the role of delegators. For example, stkATOM and stTIA staked by users will be locked in the re-staking module on the Persistence chain and $XPRT will be minted proportionally. These $XPRT will be staked to validators, and the staking rewards earned will be distributed to stakers of stkATOM and stTIA.

Summary

Persistence provides an effective and secure economic infrastructure for liquid staking and restaking within the Cosmos ecosystem. Through liquid staking products, Persistence is gradually deepening its influence in the Cosmos ecosystem, bringing higher security, asset liquidity, and ecological participation to the ecosystem.

Persistence has established an economic alliance for stakers through its innovative re-staking program. This alliance forms a cross-chain community of interests among stakers, which not only enhances mutual security but also improves the level of decentralization within the re-staking alliance of the Cosmos ecosystem.