Persistence: Innovators of Liquid Staking and Re-staking in the Cosmos Ecosystem

Persistence is one of the application chains in the Cosmos ecosystem that first adopted IBC, CosmWasm, and the liquid staking module (LSM). By focusing on POS and liquid staking related products, the project 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 its liquid staking revenue with the Cosmos Hub.

Overview of the Persistence Ecosystem

According to the latest data, the total locked value of the Persistence ecosystem is ( TVL ), reaching 14.78 million USD, with an IBC trading volume of 15 million USD in the last 30 days and an average transaction cost of less than 0.005 USD. In the Interchain network, Persistence has established 121 channels with 44 other regions, demonstrating a high degree of interconnectivity.

74.7% of the tokens ($XPRT) in the network are staked, with an annualized yield of 16.7%. Such a 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 transaction volume of Persistence reached $260,800, with a total of 4,955 transactions, of which 616 were IBC transactions. There were 932 active addresses, with 86 IBC active addresses. Notably, IBC inflows have consistently exceeded outflows, indicating that more and more value is flowing into Persistence and participating in stake.

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 run cross-chain through IBC, providing convenient, secure, and efficient technical support for liquid staking.

The project connects to 54 Cosmos application chains through IBC, achieving trustless communication, transfer, staking, and re-staking of tokens, laying a solid ecological foundation for staking and re-staking in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Use Interchain Accounts (ICA) to achieve ICA Liquid Staking, allowing an account on one chain to perform operations on another chain, enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of staking and restaking.

liquid staking

In the Cosmos ecosystem, liquid staking involves two roles: validators and delegators. Stakers (delegators) can choose the validator nodes to delegate to. Validators run hardware and blockchain applications based on the Cosmos SDK, reach consensus with other validators, and propose and validate new blocks on the chain.

If a validator engages in improper behavior, the staked deposits of the delegator will be subject to corresponding penalties. For example, continuous offline status of the validator may result in a 0.1% reduction of the delegator's staked deposits, while severe violations such as double signing may lead to a 5% reduction.

This mechanism prevents malicious behavior through economic incentives and potential penalties, with validators and delegators jointly responsible for maintaining network efficiency and security, while earning token rewards.

pSTAKE stake

pSTAKE provides a streamlined staking process for the Cosmos ecosystem. Users only need to select the token to stake and the corresponding chain to proceed with staking. After the staking is completed, the pSTAKE protocol will issue the corresponding staking rights tokens to the user's wallet, such as stkATOM for staking ATOM.

One of the main features of pSTAKE is automatic compounding. Taking stkATOM as an example, users' daily staking rewards (ATOM) are automatically staked to continue earning rewards. This means that the amount of staked ATOM corresponding to each stkATOM will increase over time, allowing users to receive more ATOM when they unstake.

When users cancel their stake, they need to wait 21-25 days; alternatively, they can pay a 1% fee to immediately release the stake. When retrieving the stake, the corresponding stk assets will be destroyed.

stake derivatives

Persistence and the Cosmos ecosystem have launched various stk asset derivatives. For example, on certain DEXs, stkATOM can be directly exchanged for ATOM without the need to unstake or pay additional fees. Moreover, the combination of stk assets with native assets can also add liquidity in DEXs to achieve higher yields.

$XPRT stake

As an independent blockchain, Persistence also requires staking to enhance network security. Users can conveniently stake $XPRT on the official Persistence platform or certain wallets, choosing their desired validator nodes for staking.

Stake Security

Persistence and pSTAKE are both open source programs, which is an important guarantee of security. The pSTAKE program involves 72 developers and remains actively updated.

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

Re-staking Innovation

Persistence is building Restaking infrastructure in Cosmos, allowing users to deposit liquid staking tokens (such as stkATOM, stTIA, stkDYDX, etc.) into Persistence. 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, and LP tokens.

Re-staking Alliance

The re-staking module of Persistence is developed based on the Alliance module, enabling assets to be staked from one blockchain to another, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. Stakers of different assets distribute rewards according to the reward weight of the assets, forming a community of shared interests, which helps enhance the security and decentralization of the Cosmos ecosystem.

Source of re-staking earnings

Tokens used for re-staking will be locked and native tokens will be minted in proportion. These minted tokens will enter the staking module to be staked by the delegator role to the validators. The staking rewards obtained will then be distributed to various types of stakers.

Summary

Persistence provides an effective and secure economic infrastructure for liquid staking and re-staking within the Cosmos ecosystem. Through an innovative re-staking plan, Persistence has established an economic alliance for re-stakers, which not only enhances mutual security but also increases the degree of decentralization of the Cosmos ecosystem chain within the re-staking alliance. As Persistence continues to deepen its efforts in liquid staking products, its influence in the Cosmos ecosystem is gradually strengthening, bringing higher security, asset liquidity, and participation to the entire ecosystem.