Moon Mag #9

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Editorial

A note from Lisa…

Mmmm - it’s that time...MASSIVE MONTHLY MOON MAG !! This month is another huge issue, those that read the mag would know my love for STACKOS, and that is why we have featured aleph.im. Decentralized computing services are the way of the future, and right now is the time to start HODLing. We deep dive into one of Terra Lunas, young projects, break down DAOs as these are essentially be the start of the next bull run, start stacking sats for these now. And most importantly Daniel Jimenez breaks down ETH so it is easy to understand why this is such an important transition to staking and validating on ETH 2.0 POS, and we are doing this all while throwing on some GMT moon boots and STEPN our way to dollars! I really hope you enjoy reading this month’s mag as much as I have Lisa

A note from Josh…

The development and growth in the crypto industry is optimistically competitive. Every month brings handfuls of new projects and new start ups and these force the, dare I say it, ‘old’ crypto companies to consider a makeover or release a ground breaking feature that solidifies there position and puts the new kids on the block back in their place. Whilst this is healthy for the industry overall, individually, crypto ventures contend in a dog eat dog world, often just a single decision from disaster (or greatness!). From a HODL’ers point of view, we can never truly sit back and put our feet up for the long term, safe in the knowledge that our investment is sitting comfortable. I make a point of regularly checking in to my HODL bag and looking at what the competition is doing as it helps me weigh up how the project I’ve invested in is reacting to the fresh ideas. Projects that shy away or believe they have a unique selling point that no one can replicate concern me I’d much rather invest in a project that takes a healthy interest in its competition, learns from it and adapts. A peripheral perspective leads to growth and therefore, time in the market.

Enjoy this issue of the Moon Mag!

Aleph.im The cross-chain decentralized cloud

06

Astroport 12

DAO The new way of governing and generating income

18

What is ETH2 30

STEPN 46

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CONTRIBUTORS

Aldrich Shillian Aldrich (or Rhys to those in the Signals group!) has been HODL’ing since 2017 and is proud of surviving bear markets, rug pulls and still trading successfully enough to have paid off all debts.

Recently, he’s jumped head-on into NFT projects - particularly ones that combine his love of gaming.

Daniel Dudek I am a Quantitative Biology PhD student with a small addiction to crypto. One of my favorite things about crypto is its ability to revolutionize everything we do, from payments to culture. Real implementation and interoperability between projects are what I am passionate about in this space.

Kel Udeala I’m a quantitative analyst and a mechanical engineer. I took an interest in crypto because my line of work led me down the financial trading and investment rabbit hole, and it’s only a matter of time before you reach crypto. I enjoy researching different crypto projects, and attempting to forecast their roles in the future financial and technology systems. I also find the volatility of the charts and the resulting crypto-Twitter posts very thrilling.

Daniel Jimenez Daniel has been a blockchain technology evangelist since 2012 and is a faithful believer in the Crypto ecosystem. Daniel also writes for Coin Telegraph!

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The cross-chain decentralized cloud Aleph.im is the future of cross-chain decentralized computing services, enabling developers to decentralize several parts of their blockchain-enabled application regardless of the blockchain it’s on. There have been discussions surrounding how decentralized applications actually are since they are all running on centralized computing services. Like many platforms touting to be a decentralized version of google cloud or AWS, few have become as blockchain agnostic as Aleph.im has, as well as having a real-world institution-grade product ready for adoption. Whether it’s the integration from nearly all major applications running on solana, such as Orca, Serum, or Raydium, or being utilized in Ubisoft’s NFT gaming platform, Aleph.im has underpromised and overperformed.

Decentralized cross-chain computing and storage services are integral to the future of Web3 if society is to escape centralized technology services or government censorship.

Total Supply: 500,000,000 / Fully Diluated MC: $122,670,441 Circulating Supply: 199,383,073.33 (40%) / MC: $48,916,819 Contract Addresses: Ethereum: 0x27702a26126e0b3702af63ee09ac4d1a084ef628 Binance Smart Chain: 0x82d2f8e02afb160dd5a480a617692e62de9038c4 Solana: CsZ5LZkDS7h9TDKjrbL7VAwQZ9nsRu8vJLhRYfmGaN8K xDai: 0x4bc97997883c0397f556bd0f9da6fb71da22f9a2 Avalanche: 0x969A3f4481583843dB706332E344412235c0892a

Token Allocation 1. a.

2. a.

3. a.

4. a.

5. a.

6. a.

Innovation Pool (50M) 0x788673200ED5F75453a10cDf54A20be2c79CAde5 Marketing Pool (60M) 0x139552FcFd8f77038da072730E6ba2e641929f7C Company Pool (150M) 0x44C8F0416614D7B06DCf5CdE85f18dc154E81A2f Business Developments Pool (120M) 0x1C7449c294363982d5198C96858312BD17E0748c Incentives Pool (100M) 0xaAf798d5F80dAEE72AEe8557B890809E9f5B6072 NULS Foundation Pool (20M) 0x23097E57F2DcCaf6d2cB9129B5d9a8e5446c5B77

Website https://aleph.im/#/ White Paper https://github.com/aleph-im/aleph.im-papers/blob/main/ Aleph.im_Light_OnePager_20210114.pdf Twitter https://twitter.com/aleph_im Telegram https://t.co/lb9ZuXogab Github https://github.com/aleph-im

Where To Purchase the Token CEXs: Gate.io, KuCoin, FTX, MEXC, CoinEx, LATOKEN, Probit Global DEXs: Raydium, Serum, Uniswap, PancakeSwap, SushiSwap

aleph.im

Token Information

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Core Team Jonathan Schemoul Founder / CEO https://twitter.com/jon1012 https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanschemoul Jonathan has been a developer since 2007, working on blockchain projects and as a consultant. He founded one other business in 2008, Paris Envies, before eventually founding aleph.im in 2019. He does not have a flashy LinkedIn like some of the developers, CEOs, and Founders of other VC-backed projects but within the aleph.im community and web3 space, he is regarded as a leader and genius. Talent comes in all forms and just because a CV doesn’t include fortune 500 companies, doesn’t mean the individual is lacking. Jonathan is an extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and skillful developer who is constantly innovating.

Follow him on Twitter and learn from this great intellect.

Claudio Pascariello Co-Founder / Marketing https://twitter.com/claudioALEPH https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiopascariello Claudio is another veteran systems engineer and UI/UX designer starting in 2001. He has worked for a myriad of companies and done various UI/UX freelance work before founding aleph.im with Jonathan.

Claudio is another extremely talented individual and revered character within the aleph community.

Ashley Richardson Strategy / Business Development https://twitter.com/acrich31 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleychinrichardson Ashley has been involved in law since 2012, working at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as a law clerk. She worked in the public sector in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD area before transitioning into the private sector. From that point on, she focused on legal and strategic legal consulting in the blockchain space. She currently works for both aleph.im and is the COO / Head of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency at MDBUBB Financial LLC. She is a powerful ally to have in crypto during a time when the globe seems to be close to regulating blockchain and cryptocurrency.

What Is $ALEPH and How Do You Benefit?

Aleph.im is a cross-chain decentralized cloud platform, providing use-cases such as document certification, real-time DApps, censorship-resistant social media, KYC metadata for Decentralized Digital Identity, website hosting, DEX order books, NFT metadata storage, and document management systems. Aleph.im can provide all of these services across Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, BSC, Solana, Avalanche, Polygon, and Tezos. This type of interoperability allows apps to interoperate with each other, access liquidity on all supported chains, and remove centralized cloud databases. $ALEPH is the token that secures this off-chain P2P network layer and enables you to pay for all of the decentralized services being provided.

As an $ALEPH holder, you can easily participate in staking through their DApp (https:// account.aleph.im/#/). What is truly unique about staking during this phase of network development is that this is done through aleph.im messages signed by eth addresses holding the ERC-20 tokens. This means that the tokens never actually leave your wallet!

You simply connect, allocate to a node, and reap the rewards. The downside is that the staking process is only available for ERC-20 tokens now. However, if you are holding on Solana, you can participate in Raydium liquidity mining pools.

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Market Opportunity

The RoadMap (2022)

Aleph.im at this current market evaluation of under $100mln could be one of the most asymmetric market opportunities you will come across. Let me explain the three main reasons to make my case.

●The roadmap is quite extensive but the team is extremely transparent with what they have completed and intend to complete over the coming months and years. For more information on their 2021, 2023, and 2024 roadmap goals, follow the website link and click on their “Roadmap” tab.

First, aleph.im is integrated heavily into the Solana ecosystem. Aleph.im is providing indexing solutions to the largest Dapps within the ecosystem, along with being backed by Alameda Research. There is a strong connection between aleph.im, solana, and Alameda Research, especially due to Serum indexing. Being connected to FTX, one of the most influential exchanges on the globe, although not stated outright this can be inferred through the products they launch and how aleph.im is aiding in the decentralization process.

Second, Ubisoft is an infrastructure partner and runs a core infrastructure node on the network. Ubisoft is bringing triple-A gaming to the masses through their Ubisoft Quartz platform (https:// quartz.ubisoft.com/), which utilizes the Tezos (Proof-of-Stake) Blockchain for transactions and aleph.im as the decentralized NFT storage solution. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint is the first game to launch on this platform and there will be many more to come. Do you want to participate in the network providing core infrastructure?

Lastly, Coinbase has listed Aleph.im as one of the projects under consideration for listing during Q2. When this happens we could see significant price appreciation to match the strong fundamentals of this project. https://blog.coinbase.com/increasingtransparency-for-new-asset-listings-oncoinbase-e06f2edb095e

Q1 • • • • • • • •

Solana Lending Protocol Indexers - Complete ●Swim.io Indexing - Complete ●Port Finance Indexer - Complete Load balancers on aleph.cloud - Complete Tezos integration - Complete Monitoring Aleph VM Executors - Complete (CPU used, duration, ...) - Complete The incentive for the Resource Nodes (Hold Aleph) - Complete

Q2 • • • • • • • • • • • • •

●Neon Devnet Indexer - Complete Indexer Framework Release - (In progress) Metamask Encryption Integration - (In progress) ●Solana Aggregator Indexer - (In progress) ●Solana Stakingpool Indexer - (In progress) Secret Management in Virtual Machines (R&D) - (In progress) Long Running VM’s Custom Domain Resolution on Load Balancers Aleph Token on Tezos Go-Live Decentralized Identity (DID) system Storage Resource Nodes Service Payments (Pay-as-you-go) Network Health Status Page

Q3-Q4 • • • • • • • • • • •

●Secret Management in Virtual Machines ●Oracle Indexer EVM Chains Indexer Tezos Indexer Launch VM’s with a Transaction (SOL, ETH) Decentralised Load Balancer Reproducible Virtual Machines ●Shared Volumes between VMs IPFS on VM executors Channel Sharding Permission Delegation to other Addresses

Conclusion What makes me extremely excited about this project is that it is not a heavily VC-backed project promising to put out a product. Aleph. im is quite the opposite. They are backed by a few significant partnerships due to their ability to create a truly revolutionary product.

The community is organically growing and the future is bright with Ubisoft as their core infrastructure partner. Ubisoft is responsible for some of the most successful triple-A game franchises in history, including Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six Seige, etc.. Imagine being a participant in the network responsible for providing the computing and storage solutions for the next generation of triple-A games incorporating NFTs. Those of you who are gamers will likely understand the magnitude of this partnership more than those not so digitally native. But make no mistake, in the coming years we will see Ubisoft continue to consume the market share of this NFT gaming market, and Aleph.im will be at the heart of their technology.

For those not so enticed by the allure of NFT gaming, remember that aleph.im is decentralizing everything in the Solana ecosystem and is continuously expanding into DApps on other chains. $ALEPH is sitting below a $100mln market capitalization and it will not stay there forever.

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Astroport & the ASTRO Token Incubated by Delphi Digital and IDEO CoLab Ventures and developed through a joint venture of builders made up of Delphi Labs, We3, Attic Lab, and Terraform Labs (the “Astroport Joint Venture”), Astroport seeks to become Terra’s next-gen Automated Market Maker (AMM). $ASTRO is the native token for this decentralised, extensible and community-owned exchange.

Astroport offers one of the best user interfaces and user experiences for a decentralised exchange. It can provide an outstanding user experience because it prioritises flexibility, combining various specialised pool types and routing seamlessly across them in a single AMM system. The liquidity and composability of an AMM is a core building block for a wide range of other DeFi applications hence having a great AMM is critical to the success of any blockchain. Astroport seeks to become the liquidity hub for the Terra DeFi ecosystem with this built-in flexibility and composability.

The Terra ecosystem is in its infancy, and Terraswap was the first DEX in the ecosystem. Astroport has improved on many of the shortcomings of Terraswap concerning flexibility, composability, UI and UX. Unsurprisingly, Astroport became the second-largest DEX in early April with a 24hr volume of about $725 million. As the Terra ecosystem continues to grow, so will Astroport, given its importance in the ecosystem.

Data All Data Is Current At Time Of Writing Terra Circulating Supply: 124,093,984 Max Supply: 10,000,000,000 Total Supply: 10,000,000,000 Terra Contract Address: terra1xj49zyqrwpv5k928jwfpfy2ha668nwdgkwlrg3 Token Allocation Liquidity Providers: 49% Astroport DAO Pool: 10% Lockdrop: 7.5% Airdrop: 2.5% LBA: 1% Builder Token Lockup: 30% Website https://astroport.fi/en White Paper https://astroport.medium.com/astroport-litepaper-1fab783b77b5 Twitter https://twitter.com/astroport_fi Telegram https://t.co/kiLJmeeuTU Medium https://astroport.medium.com/ Discord https://t.co/L8WA4KjRJ9

Where to purchase ASTRO token

The $ASTRO token is available on the Astroport and Terrastation DEXs and the centralised exchanges MEXC Global and CoinEX. Buying the token from a DEX requires using Terra’s algorithmic stable coin, UST, available on Binance and KuCoin. For instance, one could buy UST on Binance, transfer the UST to a compatible crypto wallet, connect to Astroport or Terrastation and swap the UST for $ASTRO.

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Core team

Do Kwon Founder & CEO, Terraform Labs Do Kwon is the most recognisable name within the Terra community. The Stanford educated computer scientist is the founder and current CEO of Terraform Labs, and he is currently building Terra, a digital currency made for Web3. Before founding Terraform Labs, Do Kwon was the Founder and CEO of Anyfi, a firm that builds peer-to-peer connectivity solutions using mesh networks.

Sergey Vasylchuk CEO, Attic Labs Sergey is the Founder and CEO of Attic Lab, a team of bankers, software developers and cryptographers offering innovative solutions for the fintech and blockchain sectors. He is also the Founder and current CEO of Everstake, a staking service that enables investors with PoS digital assets to earn a return on their holdings. Sergey has also worked as a Managing Partner and CEO of Codex, a fully licensed Estonian cryptocurrency exchange built on vanguard security. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Software Engineering and a master’s degree in Computer Science from the National Technical University of Ukraine’s ‘Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’.

Daniel Hodd Co-founder & Venture Partner, IDEO CoLab Ventures Daniel has a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Fordham University and has co-founded two companies, of which IDEO CoLab is one. The other is the Digital Asset Investment Company, a firm specialising in digital asset and blockchain investments, where he also worked as a General Partner. Daniel has worked as a Trader for Citi Group, covering blockchain and digital assets and the global securitised markets. He was also an Infantry Unit Leader for the US Marine Corps. He led 40 Marines through infantry operations in Iraq while managing operational risk and finding creative solutions to emergent mission-critical problems.

Luke Saunders CTO, Delphi Labs

DELPHIDIGITAL.IO

Luke holds a degree in Computing and a master’s degree, with a Distinction, in Artificial Intelligence and has a software development career spanning 20 years, including with various start-ups. He has also been part of a founding team and Lead Developer of a project that scaled to over 3 million unique visitors per day and achieved a successful eight-figure exit. Luke also co-founded AmaZix, one of the premier crypto community management and advisory firms, which at its peak had over 150 staff and generated over seven figures in monthly revenue.

He leads all things technical within the Delphi Digital team, working to identify and implement technology initiatives that feed into Delphi’s long-term goals and maximize value to their stakeholders.

What does ASTRO do for investors?

Holding $ASTRO at this early stage of its inception is potentially an asymmetric bet, especially if it amasses a similar trading volume to Uniswap and reaches an equal market capitalisation. Nonetheless, aside from future token price appreciation, token holders can accrue a portion of all trading fees on the Astroport DEX. To accrue trading fees, token holders must ‘stake’ their tokens. Staked $ASTRO yields xASTRO, giving the holder governance votes. Staking xASTRO yields vxASTRO, further increasing fee accrual and governance votes. xASTRO is transferable, but vxASTRO is not. vxASTRO is not tokenised. Instead, it allows users to leverage their xASTRO to access additional benefits within the Astroport ecosystem, such as increased protocol fees and governance powers. Astro staking is live, and as of April 11, the APY was sitting comfortably at 105%.

Market Opportunity Astroport is replacing Terraswap, a widely known and used AMM for the Terra ecosystem, which faced several issues that Astroport seeks to address. For instance, Astroport will integrate non-Terra assets like wrapped-staked-Ethereum (wstETH), staked-Solana (stSOL), and staked-LUNA (stLUNA), all offered through Lido Finance and the Wormhole cross-chain bridge.

Furthermore, Astroport seeks to be the Terra ecosystem’s Uniswap, Balancer and Curve finance. The Uniswap comparison is straightforward — an AMM Dex. Balancer is a multi-token AMM that functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio protocol, allowing participants to create or add liquidity to customisable pools and earn trading fees. Compared to a typical constant product AMM model, Balancer uses a generalisation formula that could be adjusted to any number of tokens at any amount of weightage.

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On the other hand, the Curve Finance model could cause significant value appreciation for $ASTRO holders. Curve Finance token holders — CRV holders — can stake their tokens to receive a share of the protocol fees, but the exciting aspect of the model is the voting or governance aspect. Token holders can vote to allocate higher APY/APR to pools within the protocol. This model then incentivises interested parties to buy CRV tokens, acquiring greater voting weight and assigning greater returns to specific pools, thus increasing the revenue those pools/projects accrue. In short, interested parties buy CRV to bribe voters, appreciating the price of CRV as a result. This state of affairs is termed ‘The Curve Wars’. Astroport adopting such a model would result in $ASTRO appreciating in price over time.

The roadmap Having achieved the tasks preceding its launch, Astroport seeks to continually improve based on feedback from the community. They have launched a bug bounty in collaboration with Immunefi, which enables white-hat hackers to find project exploits before they are known widely and users affected. The AstroportImmunefi bug bounty currently sits at $3 million and focuses on preventing governance activity disruption and theft of any funds.

Astroport seeks to evolve into a fully decentralised and self-sustainable DAO with a formalised decision-making process. Hence, the development team have launched the Astroport Improvement Framework to guide xAstro and vxAstro holders through a standardised way of interacting with the wider DAO and defining its future shape.

Conclusion If Astroport succeeds, especially with the significant TVL growth of the Luna ecosystem, its TVL and market capitalisation, and thus its token price, could see significant appreciation. With the youth of the Terra blockchain, the energy and drive of Terraform Labs, and the value proposition of many projects currently building in the ecosystem, the Terra blockchain can still see significant growth. Astroport, as the de factor Terra DEX will grow in lockstep.

Additionally, the implementation of Curve Finance’s Voting Escrow (ve) token model with xASTRO and vxASTRO, could draw in many more participants. Hence, the TVL can rise significantly to rival popular DEXs on the Ethereum network.

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DAO: The new way of governing and generating income DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, play a growing role in the world of blockchain and Web 3.0.

Here we tell you what they are about and how to take part in them.

It is common to come across confusing or difficult to understand terms as interest in cryptocurrencies, NFTs, the blockchain, decentralization and Web3 grows globally.

Have you recently searched for a related topic that appeals to you but when you entered the Twitter threads or Telegram channels did not quite understand anything?

Fortunately within the context of Web3 everything is possible and accessible, so we will try to shed some light on a concept that is generating a lot of attention today: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, popularly known as DAOs. Although its concept has existed for quite some time, since back in 1997 when Werner Dilger, a renowned German professor ahead of his time, developed his work “Decentralized autonomous organization of the intelligent home according to the principle of the immune system”; it was not until the entry of blockchain technology that it took shape and received a definitive boost.

But what are DAOs? In general, DAOs are organizations that are governed by code, based on what is known as smart contracts and mostly run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Honoring their name, DAOs start from the idea of decentralized organizations without a specific leading figure, such as the CEO of a conventional company, for example.

Because the set of rules for their operation is codes deployed in smart contracts on the blockchain, they function as transparent entities, with open access and democratic governance principles, and without hierarchy.

DAOs and governance tokens And it is precisely this simplified organizational structure that describes what a DAO is and how it works, where average investors can take part within decentralized autonomous entities to benefit from the performance and success of the decisions made by the majority.

The absence of a central hierarchical authority is replaced by a voting process carried out by its members, whereby all decisions are made based on the approval of the majority that have power and the right to vote executed through a token transaction, generally deployed internally by the DAO itself as a means of financing.

In its simplest form, the so-called governance tokens are a decentralized representation of a company’s actions with the risks, benefits and responsibilities that this entails.

Since all DAO actions to be carried out are subject to a voting process, governance tokens, as DAO tokens are commonly called in crypto jargon, play a fundamental role in the financing, development and sustainability of DAOs.

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These tokens can be delivered in different ways to their participants. Some receive them as consideration for providing liquidity to a project —that is, injecting money or its equivalent in cryptocurrencies; while others obtain them on decentralized exchange platforms, since there is no type of limitation to trade them.

Thus, by having these tokens, users are enabled to vote.

Although the latter is the participation modality that is most commonly seen among DAOs, it is not the only one that exists. Other organizations use a system based on shares that cannot be purchased directly, but permission must be requested to join through a specific proposal.

Advantages of DAOs: Why invest in them?

With the staging of blockchain metaverses and the possibility of a market size of around $1 trillion dollars, according to data provided by Grayscale, DAOs are set to be the next administrators of virtual spaces on the blockchain in the immediate future.

As all activities in the metaverse will be digital and possibly managed by the use of cryptocurrencies, DAOs represent the ideal format for their administration functioning as organizations dedicated to the sale of digital properties, art collections, crypto investment companies and a range of unimaginable opportunities destined to distribute the wealth generated in these spaces among its members.

An example of this can be found in GameFi DAO, a DAO that seeks to finance crypto projects and startups focused on the development of game platforms based on blockchain technology, making sure to achieve a common sustainable objective for investors and avoiding deploying yet “another blockchain game” without meaningful user engagement.

Because DAOs can issue their own currencies that work like shares within a company, it is possible to carry out any process inherent to the distribution of profits without the intervention of any centralized entity, which allows for a better organization.

Being completely transparent, the concept of DAOs is extremely fascinating and driving a new sector that is proving that the decentralization of traditionally hierarchical organizations is a necessity and a reality in the Web3 world.

Market analysts and cryptocurrency experts agree that this year 2022 will bring out the full potential of DAOs, as more people and companies collaborate with such organizations.

Messari pointed out that in 2021 several DAOs have balances worth more than $50 million, a measure that just 5 years ago was not accounted for in the ecosystem due to the non-existence of balances with six figures in the existing DAOs at that time.

This move suggests that DAOs have become the future boardroom of internet organizations growing from millions to billions in assets, with tokens by which they grant access to DAO voting playing an increasingly important role empowering investors to take into their own hands the best exchanges of interest, while earning income from the success developed through the fees of the protocol.

Aspects to take into account about DAOs •

• • • • •

Since its operating essence is source code, every investor must ensure before joining a DAO that the base code of the organization is audited by recognized firms in the industry, in order to avoid participating in organizations with errors in the line of code that can increase the risk of a hack as it happened in 2016 with “The DAO”.

There are problems for DAOs in complying with regulations in many countries. This is due to the fact that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies do not yet have clear regulation. However, the future looks bright as these regulatory issues are being ironed out in the world’s major economies.

According to CoinMarketCap, DAO tokens represent a combined market capitalization of just over $25,000,000,000; with Uniswap leading the ranking with its governance token UNI accounting for 25.7% of this market.

Governance tokens deployed on the Ethereum Blockchain represent more than 60% of the DAO market cap.

There are at least 130 DAO tokens deployed on different blockchains corresponding mainly to the DeFi sector, according to data from CoinMarketCap. There are several categories of DAO depending on their structure, which can be subdivided into: Operating Systems (Orca, Colony), Protocol DAOs (Uniswap, Maker, Yearn, Synthetic, Curve and more), Investment DAOs (The LAO, BitDAO, etc. ), Grants DAOs (Audius Grants, MolochDAO, etc), Collector DAOs (Flamingo), Service DAOs (MetaverseDAO, DaoHaus, etc), Social DAOs (Seed Club, FWB, BAYC, etc), Media DAOs (Mirror).

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DAO Token Opportunities on the Blockchain The future of DAOs looks promising due to their ability to disrupt a traditional use case that has historically shown to have more flaws than strengths.

Although the DAO is still a relatively new term and there have been some fortuitous cases that have not ended well (read The DAO and ConstitutionDAO cases); It should also be noted that its success has been demonstrated in the sector with many solid cases such as MakerDAO, for example; where the organized community has decided through smart contracts on key decisions of the project, such as the executive vote to recover 10 million in DAI accidentally burned by a user of the DAI stablecoin last December: https://twitter.com/MakerGrowth/status/1484596410628689927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1484596410628 689927%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2 Fd-4009811233829152291.ampproject.net%2F2203172113000%2Fframe.html Let’s explore some platforms that work or incorporate the concept of DAO in their schemes and how to be part of these excellent representations of decentralized governance through their governance tokens.

1.- MakerDAO When we talk about decentralized organizations, one of the first on the list is MakerDAO. The organization is a project that dates back to 2016 and continues to to be talked about as a reference in the field of decentralized finance.

MakerDAO is a decentralized organization built on the Ethereum network. This project supports loans and savings services, and is also the issuer of the stable cryptocurrency DAI. The organization is one of the first of its kind, operating since 2016 as an example of decentralization. This includes the launch of the collateralized stablecoin SAI or Single Collateral Dai, starting the decentralized finance or DeFi movement as we know it today.

But what makes this organization really special is its initial objective maintained over time: to delegate the responsibilities of the project to its participants.

To achieve this, the protocol issues the MKR token which benefits governance token holders who help maintain a stable network, incentivizing the community to act in the best interest of the project.

The MKR token currently accounts for almost seven percent of the total market capitalization of cryptomarket governance tokens.

The number used in the CDP Collateralization Fee, Stability Fee and DSR of the protocol are set by a vote of MKR holders. In exchange for regulating the system, MKR holders are rewarded with fees.

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However, there is a handicap to owning MKR. In case the collateral deposited in the system is not enough to support the existing amount of Dai, MKR is used to increase the additional collateral that is needed, and this is done by selling it on the open market. This provides a strong incentive for MKR holders to responsibly regulate the parameters in which CDPs can create Dai, as ultimately it will be their money that is compromised if the system fails, not Dai holders.

Another important aspect of how MKR works is the fact that when the stability fee is paid, an equivalent dollar amount of MKR is purchased, which is then burned, and the same is done with the penalty of 13% of the collateral value in ETH that is charged when a CDP is closed. In this way the offer is reduced with which MKR holders are rewarded. This means that MKR is actually a deflationary currency.

Maker marked a milestone in 2017 by becoming the first blockchain-based protocol to launch an automated cryptocurrency lending platform. Without a doubt, it was the initial kick that accelerated what we now identify as Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

2.- Compound Finance This Ethereum-based algorithmic money market basically allows you to borrow money by putting up other cryptocurrency as collateral. Its operation is governed by a DAO that decides which markets to add, which parameters to change, and how to issue COMP governance tokens that act as a reward for protocol participants to also participate in the DAO. Your voting capacity is directly related to the amount of the COMP governance token you own from the platform to be able to exercise your voice in the key decisions of the protocol.

With 189,530 holders, Compound Finance has had some 59 proposals on its protocol that have received some 2,240 voters.

COMP token-holders can delegate their voting rights to themselves, or an address of their choice. Addresses delegated at least 25,000 COMP can create governance proposals; any address can lock 100 COMP to create an Autonomous Proposal, which becomes a governance proposal after being delegated 25,000 COMP. At least 400,000 votes are needed for the proposal to be effective and executed.

Compound allows 6% APR on average on their protocol investments, and according to their portal they currently deliver a daily batch of 1,139 COMP tokens in rewards to their investors.

COMP token-holders can delegate their voting rights to themselves, or an address of their choice. Addresses delegated at least 25,000 COMP can create governance proposals; any address can lock 100 COMP to create an Autonomous Proposal, which becomes a governance proposal after being delegated 25,000 COMP.

3.- BadgerDAO BadgerDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) working to bring Bitcoin to DeFi run by its users – not VCs, whales, or institutions.

The decentralized autonomous organization is geared towards promoting the use of tokenized Bitcoin as collateral in DeFi protocols. Badger DAO is one of the first protocols to dedicate itself to facilitating the wrapping of Bitcoin assets.

Being a DAO, the project has a decentralized government in charge of guaranteeing incentivized participation and fair opportunities for all users of the platform.

For its proper functioning, the Badger DAO community proposes ideas that are later be submitted to a voting system. When an idea is approved through these votes, the DAO is in charge of its development, financing and commercialization to create a new project.

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The implementation of an approved idea in the voting system is carried out through treasury resources and developers until the project is completed.

It should be noted that any user can access the proposal system since it is open to the public without any type of restriction.

Badger DAO, as we have already mentioned above, has a governance system. This government is promoted by Aragon, the decentralized judicial service. The service offered by the governance system is based on community consensus and control through smart contracts to execute actions.

As in most governance structures, the community that forms the project and the owners of the tokens are in charge of choosing the direction of the project and even changing its course if the government so decides.

All decisions made are binding and are carried out throughout the project without exception.

Badger DAO has a native platform token. It is a standard Ethereum token of type ERC-20. This token has a very important role in the governance of the protocol. Furthermore, the BADGER token is also used to incentivize users.

Like Bitcoin, BADGER has a total supply capped at 21 million tokens.

However, this token has an inflationary nature. This feature means that although the total supply of the coin is capped it is gradually released into circulation.

The project has three main products: Sett, the first product developed by the team with DeFi aggregation and which is based on a system known as Yearn vaults for automatic performance optimization in tokenized Bitcoin products.

The second product is Digg, a token that resets the price of Bitcoin every 24 hours into a synthetic version of Bitcoin that allows DIGG holders to increase or decrease their earnings depending on whether the price of Bitcoin increases or decreases.

And the latest product is Badger, a token that allows BADGER staking to be implemented in various DeFi projects.

In addition to these DeFi products, Badger has four other options to its credit to engage BTC holders in practices related to decentralized finance.

4.- FlamingoDAO NFTs evolve and attribute value in the hands of artists, game creators, metaverse creators or inhabitants, and DeFi in general. FLAMINGO aims to support, buy, archive, collect and potentially tokenize important pieces of this ecosystem.

Flamingo is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that came into being to serve the NFT community. Initiated by the Ethereum decentralized autonomous organization The LAO, Flamingo will act as an NFT think tank to provide support for the best individuals, projects and teams in this emerging “super virtual world”.

Flamingo aims to become the backbone of the encryption art ecology and introduce DAO into the NFT field. Members are solely responsible for the development and deployment of NFT investment strategies. You can share the equity of the NFT held, rent it, organize a digital art exhibition, or use the artwork as collateral on other DeFi platforms.

One of the great advantages of Flamingo is that it allows several members of your DAO to access unique and rare collections of renowned artists in the sector collectively, which would otherwise be practically impossible to access.

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Each voting right is 100,000 Flamingo tokens, and the voting right is determined by the amount of currency held in the member address. Tokens are non-transferable, and a majority of members’ votes are required for transfer. The LAO, as an initiation and service organization, received 200,000 tokens.

Flamingo initially adopted the community governance DAO as its core design. Members make collective decisions, advisory groups provide advice and guidance, and The LAO is responsible for operation and execution. The organizational structure is clear.

The token distribution is stable and the transfer is relatively restricted. Its transaction attributes are low, fully reflecting the rights of members and used for community governance.

The LAO, the initiator of Flamingo, is a new for-profit decentralized autonomous organization built by OpenLaw based on MolochDAO. LAO stands for “Limited Liability Autonomous Organization” (Limited Liability Autonomous Organization), registered in Delaware, USA. The aim is to establish a new funding and management model for Ethereum to reduce organizational management costs and transaction costs.

The LAO has rich experience in Ethereum ecological construction and investment. <iframe title=”vimeo-player” src=”https://player.vimeo. com/video/464212397?h=1aad7e8085” width=”640” height=”360” frameborder=”0” allowfullscreen></ iframe>

In short, Flamingo members can:

•

• • • •

Acquire NFTs and convert them into fractionalized works so that they can be plugged into emerging DeFi platforms, with rights to these works held and managed by a growing number of people in the Ethereum ecosystem; Commission work from prominent NFT artists, artisans, and creators; Invest in digital artists through their respective community or social token; Curate acquired works to create digital museum and gallery showings for the public in metaverses; and Potentially support investments in core NFT infrastructure and projects

The rapid rise of governance tokens With the rise of decentralized finance and decentralization exercised by autonomous organizations, DAOs are increasingly creating more use cases for the DeFi sector and the broader crypto ecosystem.

Today, many platforms and protocols inherent in the DeFi sector are promoting the shift towards decentralized autonomous organizations, while other similar options are emerging in the crypto space that are focused from their genesis on becoming practical examples of how DAOs can revolutionize the current hierarchical system of cryptocurrency, especially that related to decentralized finance.

With a market value of close to $13B according to DeepDAO, DAO ecosystem tokens like MKR, UNI, and CRV are also worth paying attention to if you’re an optimistic investor.

The options presented here are just a hint of what can be found in the industry, with governance tokens increasingly flourishing as part of a meteoric rise within the overall cryptocurrency ranking.

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The Services Lowering the Barriers to the Most Robust Validator Network Ethereum is currently the second largest blockchain by market capitalization, but from the point of view of transactions per day reflecting the usefulness of the blockchain, it is undoubtedly the largest in the ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps).

A measure that reflects not only the popularity of Ethereum, but it’s true potential as a blockchain network for the hundreds of use cases deployed with this technology.

4 Ways to Earn

by Staking and Validating on ETH 2.0 PoS Despite this exponential growth in infrastructure usage over the past seven years, the Ethereum network of today still looks like a prototype for the global world computer of tomorrow.

And it is precisely the development team‘s commitment to meeting the prevailing challenges of the Web3 of today and tomorrow that has led it to improve the current network through the ‘consensus layer’, or as it is still popularly known today, the ETH 2.0 proposal.

With the architectural upgrade in Ethereum moving from a Proofof-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), this historic milestone represents a novel new opportunity for a broad category of ETH holders to create continued revenue-generating capacity while also providing public infrastructure to the Ethereum community.

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The series of changes in the game theory of the crypto economy around the improvement called the ‘consensus layer’ (ETH 2.0) provide ETH holders a series of quite important fundamental reasons to continue in the participation and assurance of the Ethereum network by locking their coins, thus promoting decentralization in the most important network in the DeFi sector and the blockchain industry after Bitcoin.

But what is ETH 2.0?

The now recently baptized ‘consensus layer’ is the most important update of the Ethereum network since its launch in 2015 and involves improvements in almost all its technical aspects in order to turn the blockchain into a much lighter, faster, more sustainable, scalable and accessible network.

This update, also known as Serenity, replaces the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining with Proof-of-Stake (PoS). A fundamental change that seeks to reduce energy consumption while improving transaction processing capacity.

Although this process has already started with the launch in December 2021 of the Beacon Chain, it will take a while before all the phases foreseen in the ETH2 roadmap are completed to fully take Ethereum towards its new shard-based network and make the network more scalable, more secure and more sustainable.

Source: Vitalik Buterin Twitter

Beyond the technical complexities that the improvements of the Ethereum network currently based on PoW may present, it is important to mention that the change of its consensus mechanism, although it means for some miners an elimination of their sources of income, opens the doors to opportunities for a vast majority who do not have the computing resources to participate in the security of the most important network after Bitcoin and, of course, in the rewards for securing the network.

For this reason, from the point of view of the average investor and the common user who loves the decentralized finance sector, this paradigm shift in Ethereum is a great opportunity to obtain returns on the assets held in their wallets, at the same time that it helps to support the decentralization of the network by staking ethers (ETH).

The most interesting aspect about this update is that if you are a user of a dApp deployed on Ethereum or an ETH holder, you will not need to do anything when the merger of PoW-PoS networks is ready.

On the contrary, if you want to start staking, you can currently get involved in different ways.

Key facts on the Ethereum upgrade However, before proceeding to show you how you can take advantage of this promising Ethereum 2.0 market, it is important to mention some key aspects of the Ethereum upgrade and its current situation:

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Since December 1, 2021 Beacon Chain has been activated in the well-known Phase 0 of Ethereum 2.0, introducing PoS in the Ethereum ecosystem. This chain has allowed users to stake 32 ETH to become validators for the network.

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●There are currently 345,313 active validators on Beacon Chain with 11,573,685 ETH staked at a current ~4.6% APR.

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The second phase, called “the Merge,” has been delayed until the latter half of 2022, at which time the Beacon Chain will merge with the Ethereum mainnet. Therefore, Ethereum PoW miners will continue to work until then and receive rewards for their activity.

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Ethereum represents 55.5% of the Total Value Locked in all chains with $116.82B according to DeFiLlama

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According to Dapp.com, which tracks 5,310 dApps built on the mainstream blockchains, Ethereum is the industry’s leading decentralized application host accounting for 27.57%

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The minimum amount for staking on Ethereum 2.0 is 32 ETH. If you do not have that amount, some centralized options are provided below

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Upon successful execution of your duties, you will be rewarded with ETH. If you fail at a task, you will be penalized. If you maliciously break protocol laws, you may end up getting slashed (significant financial penalty and loss of ability to participate in future tasks).

•

Until phase 1.5x of the Ethereum layer consensus is deployed, users or entities that stake 32 ETH or delegate their ETH to validators for ETH 2.0 will not be able to withdraw or transfer these assets. However, issued funds and rewards remain the property of users until withdrawals are enabled and they can be transferred.

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ETH 2.0 . - 4 Ways to participate in the ‘Consensus Layer’ As we mentioned earlier, participating in the new Ethereum upgrade to benefit from it is easy from the point of view of the common user.

With the focus on security as a primary element regarding the granting of ETH funds to participate in the Ethereum PoS, the community in general (users, companies, investors, etc.) have several options that the development team has well-explained through the Ethereum Foundation on its official site. Let’s see what each of these options consist of:

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Home staking only: Called the gold standard for staking in Ethereum, it provides full participation rewards, improves the decentralization of the network, and never requires trusting anyone else with your funds. It is important to consider that this option requires you have at least 32 ETH and a dedicated computer connected to the Internet.

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Staking as a Service (SaaS): You still need to have 32 ETH as a minimum amount to participate. If you do not want or do not feel comfortable dealing with hardware but still want to stake your 32 ETH, you can use this method to delegate your ETH to third parties. The advantage of this method is that in order to limit the counterparty risk, the keys to withdraw your ETH are usually kept in your possession.

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●Pooled staking: This option is the most popular as it allows you to stake any amount and earn rewards in a simple way without worrying about technical or financial knowledge. Several pooling solutions now exist to assist users who do not own or feel comfortable staking 32 ETH. The downside is that pooled staking is not native to the Ethereum network. Third parties are building these solutions, so you participate at your own risk.

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Centralized exchanges: Another solution that has been taking shape and strength in recent months is the Ethereum 2.0 staking services on many centralized exchanges. However this option requires the assumption that these sites are secure and provide ‘peace of mind’ when depositing your 32 ETH to your wallets. It is an alternative to get some return on your ETH holdings with a minimum of supervision or effort. For the network, this represents a disadvantage due to its centralization.

To better understand the benefits, risks and requirements necessary to be able to take part in each of these options, the following table prepared by the Ethereum Foundation team compares the risks and rewards:

Staking services providing access to Ethereum Staking 2.0 If Bitcoin is digital gold, Ethereum is the queen of the decentralized application ecosystem. Its popularity is imminent and totally indisputable, and it is expected that once “The Merge Fusion” takes place and Ethereum goes completely to a PoS scheme, the possibilities of expansion and use cases of blockchain technology will undoubtedly be endless.

Although there are other alternative networks to Ethereum and many of them have adopted the rhetoric of “complementing Ethereum” and not rivaling the main blockchain network for dApps, the scalability improvements represent an extension of the reign of this blockchain network in the industry.

For this reason, many ETH holders are betting that this “consensus layer” improvement will bring many benefits to the entire industry, especially for their wallets which will see their fiat equivalent value grow.

Faced with this quite probable scenario, which has motivated the Buterin team to continue working and testing with the patience that is required so that ‘everything goes well’ when Ethereum migrates to PoS definitively; since the announcement of this Ethereum update, various options for ETH 2.0 staking have been emerging.

Let’s take at look at some important actors, within each of the available ways to exercise voluntary participation in Ethereum Staking.

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1. Solo stake your ETH Run home hardware and increase the security and decentralization of the Ethereum network, to receive rewards directly from the protocol. While this option requires appropriate technical knowledge to exercise, some investors may well experiment with this option in order to get the most out of their 32 ETH. The estimated return here is approximately equal to that stipulated on the Ethereum network, ~4.6% APR. To do so, you need to run a staking node and sync both an execution layer client (current Ethereum) and a consensus layer client (popularly ETH 2.0).

Rocket Pool CLI: In this case a smart node is started using a CLI (command line) client for managing your node, so a basic familiarity with a terminal is assumed. Running a node in the Rocket Pool protocol is a longterm commitment until withdrawals are enabled from the Beacon Chain.

According to their website, they have registered more than a thousand node operators with their product, with a total of 163,744 ETH staked. The big advantage with this client is that you can stake with less than 32 ETH (only 16 ETH is required).

There are now a suite of tools and services to help you stake just your ETH, each with benefits and risks.

Some of these options are: Vouch + Dirk: Vouch is a validator client. It is designed to work in tandem with Dirk to provide the highest levels of security and availability for staking infrastructures.

Rocket Pool node operators incur costs when interacting with the protocol smart contracts.

A total of 0.13541 ETH is incurred for Node initialization or Minipool initialization.

Validator clients are a critical component of the Ethereum 2 Beacon Chain. The validator client is responsible for the process of proposing new blocks for the chain, as well as attesting to blocks produced by other validator clients in order to establish their authenticity and accuracy.

This product is developed by Attestant. Fees for the Attestant service are charged at 17.5% of Ether rewards during the quarter. Losses suffered as a result of your infrastructure downtime will be offset against your fee.

Among the benefits is the fact that you earn half of the validator’s total ETH rewards, plus an extra commission (varies from an additional 5 to 20 percentage points).

Stereum: Stereum is a toolkit to simplify the process of setting up and maintaining an Ethereum Node. Stereum is actively developed by the Stereum team at Rocklogic GmbH, which has been audited and even won an award for its Open Source developed Ethereum Node Setup.

The Stereum team has decided to make it its mission to lower the technical bar to setting up an Ethereum Node under the assumption that if Ethereum truly works, at some point everyone will need a node in some compactness. Stereum’s goal is to keep the network decentralized by making it a goal to allow as many people as possible to participate on a network level.

It has a Monitor App available to monitor your node on the go from your phone. Being open source, it does not require additional charges beyond the 32 ETH required for staking.

There are other alternatives in this Staking Only segment such as: Ethereum on Arm, DappNode, eth-docker, ethdo and Wagyu Key Gen; all listed on the official Ethereum. org site.

2. Staking as a Service (SaaS) As mentioned in the previous section, those who have 32 ETH but do not feel they have the capacity to operate their own nodes, can delegate them to third parties, entrusting their operating capacity to their validator client.

To avoid the possibility of fraud or reducing trust, the user keeps custody of their withdrawal keys, which makes it an excellent option for those large and less technical investors. Let’s look at some options: Abyss Finance: In exchange for choosing a staking contract with an unlock waiting period of 14, 28 or 90 days, Abyss Finance offers a completely free service and protects against loss of funds due to cut-off penalties.

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It accomplishes this by offering insurance against possible loss in customer participation due to penalties that are imposed for various errors and misdeeds to keep validators honest.

The node hosting service is through Allnodes, one of the highest earning ETH2 validation node hosting platforms according to Consensys Codefi.

Its service consists of providing liquidity in Uniswap V2 for any DeFi token listed by locking the LP token received for an unbonding period equal to 14, 28 or 90 days to be able to host your node, which includes an initial price from $100 (90 days) for the first hosted node, and there is no limit to the number of nodes liquidity providers can host.

Blox Staking: Blox is an open-source, non-custodial ethereum staking platform for layer consensus. They offer a gateway to non-custodial, open-source ETH SSV-based staking pools.

Blox Staking aims to provide a convenient and secure way to stake ETH and maximize rewards while ensuring you retain complete control over your private keys.

Secret Shared Validators (SSV) is the first secure and robust way to split a validation key for ETH staking between untrusted nodes or operators. SSV was defined by Vitalik as one of the components in the ETH2 roadmap.

SSV will enable decentralized and more secure ETH staking by splitting validator signing keys between different parties in a trustless and secure manner.

The service, being non-custodial, allows users to maintain control of their funds, so they only have to provide 32 ETH (and a little more for gas fees), the current minimum staking amount, and pay for cloud services ranging from $7–15/month.

The fee is free for a limited time.

Blox received the Ethereum Foundation Grant to Develop Secret Shared Validator Nodes for Ethereum 2.0 last February 2021.

In Blox Decentralized Pools, participants are rewarded proportionally with the number of ETH they deposited in the network. As mentioned, regular stakers are not required to do anything besides make a single deposit transaction. In return, stakers pay a small fee for their ‘inactive’ participation. ●Allnodes: Allnodes, a platform that provides non-custodial masternodes and staking services, allows you to park coins, host or monitor nodes in a few clicks.

Allnodes is a reputable Proof-of-Stake (PoS) infrastructure provider and validator and as noted above, it is one of the highest earning ETH2 validation node hosting platforms according to Consensys Codefi.

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Allnodes users obtain a bunch of cool benefits. For one, the platform offers a secure automated process for staking and node hosting. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no experience to figure out.

The entire process is simplified, and there are helpful descriptions along the way. Notably, you can set up and begin staking your coins in minutes.

One of the biggest benefits to Allnodes users is its security protocols. The network functions as a noncustodial PoS network infrastructure provider.

You have two plans to choose from when you sign up for Allnodes. The Basic Plan ($2/month) is great for starters. You can prepay for the year or monthly for Allnodes hosting services when you select this option. The basic plan is available in oneEuropean location, and there are also some additional setup fees associated with the account.

The second option is the Advanced Plan ($5/month). This plan gives you a plethora of features such as API access, priority support, and a free trial option. You are guaranteed 99.90% uptime with this option because your node is hosted on a VPS. Notably, DigitalOcean and Linode host these nodes. This plan also integrates a high bandwidth of 1 Gbit/sec as part of the package.

3. Pooled Staking The most popular and accessible for the crypto community interested in being part of Ethereum 2.0 staking. However, it is worth mentioning again that you can skip the hard part and entrust validator operation to a third-party, with the risks that this entails.

The advantage here is that any investor regardless of size can join to stake and earn rewards with any amount of ETH by joining forces with others.

Some pools operate using smart contracts, where funds can be deposited to a contract, which trustlessly manages and tracks your stake, and issues you a token that represents this value. Other pools may not involve smart contracts and are instead mediated off-chain.

There are many platforms today where users can stake any amount of Ethereum. Lido is a well-known solution when it comes to liquid staking with others like Rocketpool, Stakewise and StaFi among other options that allow you regardless of the size of your ETH to participate and earn rewards in Ethereum 2.0 Staking.

Each pool and the tools or smart contracts they use have been built out by different teams and each come with their own risks and benefits.

LIDO Lido is a protocol that offers staking services through ‘liquid pools’ and without the need for custody. The pools are organized so that among several users the minimum required to stake Ethereum (32 ETH) is reached.

In exchange for staking on Lido, the protocol offers users the stETH token in return. This token, which is actually a 1:1 derivative, represents the amount of ETH and rewards accumulated by users.

In turn, the stETH token can be exchanged, sold, used in pools, etc.; generating the possibility of profitability in two ways:

• •

Ethereum 2.0 staking rewards.

The rewards obtained by the management of the stETH token.

Its operation is basic. After a user clicks “deposit” on the Lido interface, their tokens are sent to the protocol’s staking contracts.

These contracts pool all user funds and then distribute them to DAO-selected node operators, of which there are currently nine, in batches of 32 ETH. These node operators are the entities responsible for managing and maintaining the validators, which means that they are the ones that actually manage the Ethereum staking.

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You as a user must take into account two fundamental aspects of this system:

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If there were penalties for poor management of the nodes, they would affect all users. Lido minimizes this risk by dividing the management of the nodes into various entities.

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On the other hand, it is important to mention that the node operators do not have access to the funds, that is, they cannot withdraw them. What they have is a public validation key that allows them to stake on behalf of users.

It is important to mention that although there is no entry cost to participate in Lido Liquid Staking with Ethereum 2.0, there are commission charges inherent to Ethereum staking that the user must assume.

Lido keeps 10% of the commissions generated from the staking profits of all depositors.

Furthermore, once there are profits, 5% of the new stETH tokens issued by the protocol go to the Lido treasury in the form of insurance, while 90% of the synthetic tokens issued are given to ETH depositors. he protocol offers 3.8% APR to ETH depositors, a slightly lower percentage than the average for home staking alone.

The other 5% is distributed to the operators of the nodes in proportion to the number of nodes within the fund.

SSV.network SSV.network is a completely decentralized open ETH staking network, based on the development of the Shared Secret Validator (SSV), which provides an open and simple infrastructure for anyone who wants to run an Ethereum validator regardless of their investment size.

The network has three main players to its credit to address the main issues facing Ethereum PoS staking: Stakers, Operators and DAO members. The first two are in charge of staking ETH as well as helping other users manage their participation.

In this way, the SSV.network through two layers, the execution layer and the contract layer, assigns validators and operates and manages them as a decentralized autonomous government, performing key actions for the community such as adding an operator, creating a validator or paying fees.

Stakers using this network for ETH staking pay operators through their internal $SSV token. Each participating operator can determine its own price and compete with other network operators.

A percentage of the fees charged by the operators will be allocated to the DAO treasury in exchange; the DAO will determine the payment percentage in an open vote.

Basically, the more ETH that is staked on the network, the more fees will be paid to operators and the DAO treasury. The DAO will be able to use its treasury to further the network’s growth and development efforts, thus creating a positive cycle of ETH inflows and $SSV income.

Secret Shared Validators is the first secure and robust way to split a validation key for ETH staking between untrusted nodes or operators. It is also now referred to as ‘DVT’ (Distributed-Validator-Technology).

The protocol enables distributed control and operation of an Ethereum validator. The key is divided in such a way that no operator must trust the other to operate; a certain number can go offline without affecting network performance, and no operator can unilaterally take control of the network.

The result is decentralization, fault tolerance, and optimal security for staking on Ethereum.

SSV.network is an open source SSV protocol that enables decentralized staking pools at both the operational level and the retirement level. Failure of a single carrier affecting the rewards of the users they represent can be avoided by bundling carriers with SSV. This magazine is sole property of gettingstartedincrypto.com and is not to be redistributed in any form anywhere else.

Additionally, SSV enables active-active redundancy configurations across all core system components and mitigates risk by eliminating single points of failure.

The operators in the SSV.network are the backbone of the decentralized staking, allowing stakers to join the ecosystem in the simplest, and most secure option.

In the SSV.network each operator is required to run SSV software, which contains protocol implementation and integration to the Ethereum smart contracts that govern the network.

The network metrics are impressive. With 3,176 operators and more than 15,000 validators; the open source protocol SSV.network offers one of the most flexible decentralized options for staking in Ethereum PoS.

SSV’s incentivized testnet is a working version of the network for the purposes of testing the SSV/ DVT technology at scale, while simulating “real world” transactions and dynamics between validators and operators.

The ‘Primus’ testnet is open for participation to anyone who would like to run an SSV validator and earn rewards in the form of SSV tokens for helping the team stress-test the network. The SSV DAO has allocated 64K SSV tokens for the first 2.5 months of the program.

Stakefish With the slogan of “lowering barriers for you to take part in ETH staking”, stakefish is an app that allows staking with just 0.1 ETH. Their platform is designed to allow anyone to stake ETH while maintaining full control of their funds.

The big difference between stakefish and other options for the Ethereum PoS staking service is its “advance sale” fee structure, which establishes the payment of a single fee of 0.1 ETH for each validator until withdrawals are enabled.

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Although this pricing structure is temporary, those users who join their platform during this limited time will lock in this price and will not have to pay any additional fees when withdrawals are enabled on the Ethereum layer consensus.

Staking reward rates will vary from 2% to 20% depending on how much ETH is staked overall.

Its twice audited smart contract accepts stakes in multiples of 0.1 ETH. The smart contract takes care of gathering the individual’s smallest stake ETH into 32 ETH, which is the minimum amount needed to start a validator on Ethereum.

Once that threshold is reached, the smart contract will send the 32 ETH to the official Ethereum deposit contract.

At the same time, their infrastructure pairs a validator using clients from Lighthouse and Prysm (with support for Nimbus and Teku coming soon) with the incoming stake of 32 ETH. At the end of the staking period, the smart contract will once again handle the entire checkout process. The entire process is handled without trust through a smart contract and they do not maintain custody of the ETH by staking.

Get ready for ETH 2.0 staking On December 1 of this year, the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain celebrated its first anniversary since its activation. Despite not being fully operational, due to delays in its development and final implementation, the network has shown high levels of growth in the number of validators that are currently working.

Data from the Beaconcha.in block explorer reveals growth of more than 1,000% in the number of validators operating on the network. At the time of the launch of the Beacon Chain, it had just over 21,000validators.

Currently, this figure exceeds 345,000, meaning an increase of more than 1,600%.

With an eye on the next phase of the Ethereum layer consensus roadmap for the definitive migration towards a PoS protocol that activates ETH staked withdrawals, the options to activate ETH 2.0 staking are expanding across the spectrum of the cryptographic industry, at the same time that interest and knowledge grows in the investor community in general for the importance of supporting the decentralization and security of the Ethereum network.

STEPN Blockchain and Defi projects often enable novel solutions to long-standing problems in society, at varying levels of proof of concept. One such problem that some countries in particular face is how to get people to move more and maintain a healthier lifestyle? The rise of the office job and prevalence of cars as essential rather than optional transport has meant that millions of people regularly do much less exercise than they should, and with that comes associated health risks and economic impacts from obesity, musculoskeletal problems and other issues. It’s a big question that has had many governments and sociologists scratching their heads for years. They’ve been trying to tackle the ”growing” problem with ideas like free Apple Watches if certain levels of exercise are maintained, gift vouchers for high street shopping linked to movement, even cash rewards on a trial basis… All to encourage people to build healthier movement habits.

Big Tech has also had a hand in these efforts – as well as carving out a market in health and wellbeing apps and services. Fitness trackers, training programme subscriptions, smart exercise equipment and habit-building apps have all grown out of the demand for more data, more nudges, more awareness of how we can better take care of ourselves. However, this burgeoning industry often reaches those who are already invested in their wellness goals a lot more than those who might need the help, but don’t know where to begin. Getting people who aren’t already working out regularly to do so is a much tougher assignment – and perhaps the simplest way to do this is to incentivise movement with cash more widely.

This is what STEPN and their move-to-earn concept is trying to achieve. STEPN is a “Web3 lifestyle app with GameFi and social features” designed to reward people with cryptocurrency as a reward for moving. Because of the nature of cryptocurrency, this can then be exchanged for other cryptos including those that can be sold to fiat if desired – setting it apart from other gamified fitness apps. In common with a lot of other fitness apps, STEPN leverages the power of the average smart phone to track walking, jogging or running while out and about under GPS coverage. Combining this activity with their Sneaker NFTs, the STEPN app will reward you with the GST (and later GMT) tokens. You might recognise GMT as being a token that has moved strongly despite the recent downtrend – GMT serves as the governance token for the STEPN ecosystem, as well as having a few in-game uses.

Both of these tokens can be used to enhance your STEPN experience, or exchanged to the USDC stablecoin as desired – the earn part in move-toearn! We’ll look at how this works below.

Tokenomics and project information Green Satoshi Token (GST): GST has an unlimited supply and is earned when a user moves in Solo or Background Mode. To provide liquidity, 60,000,000 GST were created.

GST is burned by: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Shoe-Minting Repair Leveling up Sneakers Gems upgrade Unlocking Sockets

Green Metaverse Token (GMT): 6bn total supply.

30% of total GMT will be distributed to users through move & earn and Governance participation. To ensure the longevity of the STEPN project, the total release of GMT will halve every three years. GMT can only be earned by Level 30 Sneakers, and 3 Energy must be available at the start of earning. GMT is used to:

NFT 1. Burn GMT to reach level 5/10/20/29/30 2. Burn GMT to upgrade Level 4+ Gems 3. Burn GMT to mint ALL Sneaker qualities 4. Burn GMT to re-distribute Attribute points

Enhance In-app Mechanics 1. Burn GMT to permanently increase GST Daily Earning Cap 2. Burn GMT to permanently improve success rate of ALL Gem upgrade 3. Burn GMT to permanently improve the chance to receive a higher quality Sneaker from opening Shoebox 4. Burn GMT to permanently improve the chance to receive TWO Sneaker from Shoe-Minting This magazine is sole property of gettingstartedincrypto.com and is not to be redistributed in any form anywhere else.

Links STEPN Website: http://stepn.com/

STEPN to your own rhythm

Whitepaper: https://whitepaper.stepn.com/ Litepaper: https://stepn.com/litePaper Coinmarketcap (GST): https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/gst/ Coinmarketcap (GMT): https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ green-metaverse-token/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stepnofficial Telegram: https://t.me/STEPNofficial Even more information on STEPN can be found via their Linktree: https://linktr.ee/stepnofficial

STEPN’s earning starts with Energy.

Energy is the platforms’ way of putting a limit on how much cryptocurrency you can earn per day.

Your basic rate of Energy starts at 2 Energy per day, which equates to 10 minutes of moving. Using that energy, you can walk, jog or run until you Energy is used up and earn crypto, as long as you’re in GPS coverage.

Unfortunately, this does mean that you can’t earn for activity like cycling or using a treadmill, but this seems like a reasonable trade off to minimise abuse of the platform.

After expending your daily Energy, it recovers at a rate of 25% every 6 hours – so every 24 hours, you get a new fill and can earn more crypto!

In order to activate your Energy and STEPN app, you need an activation code (given out through AMAs and referrals at the moment) and a Sneaker NFT. Sneaker NFTs can be purchased from NFT marketplaces and are made up of various attributes which affect your earning potential. Collecting Sneakers will grant you more Energy, while higher Quality Sneakers will also increase your base Energy allocation. By collecting Sneakers or aiming to fill your inventory with higher Quality, you can unlock up to 20 Energy per day – giving you 100 minutes of move-to-earn per day at the cap.

Sneaker NFTs – as you might appreciate – are key to the STEPN system. Without Sneakers, there is no GST/GMT earning.

Sneakers are broken down into a range of attributes that shape how much you can earn with your moving, while also providing a GameFi feedback loop as you upgrade your Sneakers over time to further enhance your earning power.

Sneaker attributes include:

• • • •

Type Quality Level Efficiency

• • •

Luck Comfort Resilience

Sneakers are type-d to different speeds of movement – Walking, Jogging and Running. To earn optimally, you should select a Sneaker that best reflects the exercise that you are able to commit to regularly. When you’re then using the app, you will want to stick to the optimal speed of the NFT, as you will incur an earning penalty if you over or under do it.

Most of the other attributes also impact your earning ability in some way, shape or form – and bigger numbers mean higher rewards.

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STEPN up your efforts Levelling up an NFT gives you the opportunity to boost a Sneakers’ Efficiency (essentially a measure of GST/ min), Luck (chance to earn loot boxes with Gems while moving), Comfort (boosts your points in certain modes) and Resilience (slows down your Sneakers’ durability loss). This forms the cornerstone of the gamification of the STEPN world – levelling up NFTs with the results of your exercise.

Levelling up is achieved by spending GST/GMT when an NFT has had enough time to reach the next level – this feedback loop ensures that some of the GST/GMT is burnt over time, to avoid the supply of the tokens becoming too dilute and less valuable. Higher Quality Sneakers will gain more attribute points per level, as well as having higher base level attributes, which means those higher-Quality Sneakers will produce more crypto over time – making them more pricey, but a better active earner over time.

Sneakers up to level 29 earn only GST – which has unlimited supply and is primarily the in-game token, despite the option for it to be cashed out. To level up to 30 (the maximum NFT level), you need some GMT – but after this, you can also select to earn GMT instead of GST. With a limited supply and additional use cases, GMT might be the goal for many taking part in the platform as a potential better long-term holding/stacking. That goal keeps both tokens valuable over time as it encourages burning through the platform to keep NFTs levelling over time, while also giving players targets to reach and encourage them to keep moving.

It’s a clever feedback loop to keep players working on themselves and their STEPN experience.

Finally, Sneakers can be clashed together to Shoe-mint – producing new Sneaker NFTs up to 7 times. This is a common mechanism (and limit) in the NFT world, to be able to mint more NFTs with a pair or more of Sneakers. Given that more Sneakers mean more Energy, this is initially a tool to allow you to get more Sneakers and exercise further over time.

This is ingenious when you think about the possibility of building your fitness levels up from very little to wherever you can get to with the platform. It equally provides endgame players with an additional earning mechanism, and over time could lower the barrier to entry for new players.

All of the above ties together to mean that with an NFT, an activation code, and a little bit of walking, you could be earning real money from a little exercise every day. With STEPN still being in it’s early days too, there are further advances coming down the roadmap that will make onboarding even easier. Key amongst these is a rental tool for those who don’t have (or want to buy) NFT Sneakers.

Renting allows new users to get going and earning without the upfront investment, splitting their GST rewards with Sneaker owners. Sure, over time the rate of pay will be lesser – but taking that big upfront cost out of the way could be a huge boon for mass adoption and access to all.

So basically - strap those Sneakers on and get outside, earning!

Summary STEPN is an exciting look at what could be possible with Defi, current smart devices, NFTs and a bit of creativity in bringing it all together.At time ofwriting, STEPN is stillaverynewplatform and the required investment reflects the buzz building around the set up.

Over time, as these costs of entry reduce, it will become increasingly enticing for those who want to stack more crypto while also investing in their own wellbeing. Combining a bit of STEPN working out daily with other passive crypto income streams will be a great way to improve your lifestyle.

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