Are you looking for a way to do liquid staking on NEAR Protocol and earn maximum rewards without sacrificing you liquidity? Look no further than Meta Pool. In this article, we will explore in detail what Meta Pool is, how it works, and how we can contribute as eligible validators for the Meta Staking Vote.
What is Meta Pool?
Meta Pool is an innovative and effective liquid staking solution specifically designed for the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. Its main objective is to allow users to earn rewards for participating in NEAR staking, while also maintaining the liquidity of their assets.
Liquid staking works differently than traditional staking. In traditional staking, users lock up their tokens to help secure the network and, in return, receive rewards for their contribution. However, once locked, these tokens cannot be used for other actions, such as trading or using them in decentralized applications (dApps).
Meta Pool addresses this problem from the perspective of liquid staking by issuing tokens that represent delegated NEAR, called "stNEAR". These representation tokens can be used in the NEAR Protocol DeFi ecosystem as if they were NEAR tokens, allowing users to maintain the liquidity of their assets. This way, users can continue to earn rewards for their staking while having the freedom to interact with other aspects of the NEAR ecosystem.
Are there risks associated with liquid staking on NEAR?
Liquid staking, in general, may seem like an attractive solution, but it's important to note that there are certain risks to consider. But don't worry! You don't need to be an expert to evaluate these risks. All you need to do is make sure to research and carefully select the projects and validators you work with to try to minimize them as much as possible.
How does Meta Pool work?
When you stake NEAR to Meta Pool, your tokens are distributed among 72 validators. This helps to decentralize and secure NEAR Protocol and allows new nodes joining the network to get more exposure to NEAR token holders. Meta Pool's smart contract automatically distributes funds among validators and rebalances based on parameters such as voting power and overall performance of each validator. Four criteria are used to select validators on the NEAR network, which are in line with transparency and fairness:
Up-time above 95%.
Fees lower than 10%.
Ensuring the validator does not decrease the Nakamoto coefficient.
Having enough tokens to reach the seat price on NEAR Protocol.
Instant liquid staking withdrawals
The traditional unstaking process on NEAR Protocol takes approximately 48-72 hours (4 epochs). With Meta Pool, you can access your NEAR funds immediately (liquid unstaking) by paying a small fee (average of 0.3%). The fee represents how many users value skipping the 36-60 hour waiting period to receive their funds. The fee varies with the amount of NEAR in the Liquidity Pool, but the curve is limited at the extremes.
Decentralized governance: Meta Pool DAO
The Meta Pool DAO is the entity that oversees and governs the operation of Meta Pool. The DAO ensures that the protocol is controlled and managed in a decentralized way by its community, rather than relying on a centralized entity. This is achieved through the distribution of the META token, the native token of Meta Pool that acts as a governance token.
The total amount of META is 1B META.
Holders of META can participate in decision-making and the future direction of the protocol, including proposing and voting on changes to the protocol, adjusting parameters, updating smart contracts, and managing the community fund. In this way, the Meta Pool DAO aims to align the interests of the community, validators, and developers to ensure a fair and equitable ecosystem for all involved.
Discover how to liquid stake NEAR with Meta Pool
For more details and a visual explanation of how to do liquid NEAR staking with Meta Pool, check out our video tutorial on our YouTube channel!
Remember, if you have any questions or need help with liquid NEAR staking with Meta Pool, don't hesitate to contact us. As experienced validators in Ethereum staking and NEAR staking, we are always happy to help.
Use cases for stNEAR
The stNEAR token not only offers the ability to do liquid NEAR staking, but it can also be leveraged in a variety of financial opportunities within the DeFi space. Some of the most popular use cases include trading and farming in DeFi.
For example, stNEAR can be traded and farmed on multiple DeFi platforms like Trisolaris and Holdr. It can also be used as collateral on lending and leverage platforms like Burrow, Bastion, and Aurigami to receive additional income.
In summary, you can maximize your rewards for delegating NEAR without sacrificing the liquidity and flexibility needed to take full advantage of opportunities in the DeFi space.
What is the Meta Staking Vote? Vote for Stakely!
If you are a Meta Pool user, you can participate in the Meta Staking Vote, an initiative that delegates 15% of the TVL to eligible Meta Pool validators. At Stakely, as NEAR validator and eligible for the Meta Staking Vote, we will contribute to helping users maximize their staking rewards and preserve their liquidity with Meta Pool.
The Meta Staking Vote uses two strategies to delegate the tokens. The first is performance delegation, which allocates 85% of the tokens based on the validators' performance. Validators are chosen based on their uptime over 95%, commission less than 10%, not reducing the Nakamoto coefficient, and having enough tokens to achieve NEAR Protocol's seating price.
The second strategy is vote delegation, which represents 15% of the tokens. This strategy depends on the votes in the Meta Staking Vote and takes into account the performance criteria mentioned above. Every approximately four epochs, NEAR delegation to each validator is calculated, and delegation movements are gradually made. At least 1% of TVL is rebalanced every four epochs.
If you like what we do at Stakely and would like to support us, we encourage you to vote for Stakely in the Meta Staking Vote. For more information on the Meta Staking Vote and NEAR Protocol validators, you can visit the NEAR explorer. With your vote, we can maximize your staking rewards and improve the liquidity of your tokens on Meta Pool.