This publication marks stake.link’s final update and conclusion to Q1 2024. 25% of the year is complete, and we’re heading into Q2 with momentum. Collectively, we have much to be proud of as stake.link continues to remain at the forefront of innovation in the Chainlink Ecosystem.

Today’s outline will cover the protocol’s integration of Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), the deployment to Camelot DEX on Arbitrum, stake.link Q1 2024 Metrics, the website redesign, SLURP Updates, stake.link Dune Analytics, and some new alpha that was recently dropped in the End of Q1 Spaces👀.

Let’s go over what you need to know from stake.link’s Q1 2024.

1). For the First Time: Cross-Chain LINK Staking, Deployment to Arbitrum and Camelot DEX

Q1 can be best described as the quarter of “Firsts” for stake.link.

For the first time, stake.link has taken LINK Staking cross-chain to Arbitrum L2. As of February 28, 2024, users have been able to bridge the stake.link protocol token SDL and wrapped staked LINK (wstLINK) to and from Arbitrum mainnet and Ethereum mainnet.

What is Arbitrum?

Arbitrum is a Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum and is designed to enhance the scalability and efficiency of the Ethereum blockchain. It achieves this by allowing smart contracts and transactions to be executed offchain by periodically submitting transaction summaries to Ethereum mainnet. This strategy reduces congestion on Ethereum, minimizes transaction fees, and provides a pragmatic solution for developers and users who seek more scalable and cost-effective interactions with the Ethereum Network.

As discussed in our deployment blog here, our deployment to Arbitrum takes place over multiple phases:

• Bridge SDL, reSDL, wstLINK and LINK between Ethereum and Arbitrum

• Stake, lock, initiate withdraw, and withdraw SDL

• Claim stLINK and reSDL rewards (denominated in stLINK or wstLINK)

• Deposit LINK to the Priority Pool (and claim stLINK once staked)

• Participate in Liquidity Pool Incentive Programs

This deployment means we’re able to deliver a more cost-effective solution for those who wish to participate in the cryptoeconomic security of the ETHUSD price feed, as well as manage protocol assets and claiming rewards from staking SDL and HODL’ing reSDL -- and much more.

I’ve Bridged my SDL and/or wstLINK, Now What?

That’s the best part of Web3 -- it’s entirely up to you.

Users have options of simply custodying SDL (and soon reSDL) and wstLINK in a cold or hot wallet on Arbitrum mainnet.

Users are also able to pool their assets in the SDL/ETH Pool and the LINK/wstLINK Pool on Camelot DEX.

As of the end of the quarter, we see the following TVL on Camelot Liquidity Pools:

• ~$645.9k TVL on SDL/ETH asset pair on 560,008.48629 SDL

• ~$1.79M TVL on LINK/wstLINK asset pair on 44,992.721923 wstLINK

This initial deployment is a significant transition for the stake.link protocol and a big step forward for the Chainlink Ecosystem, and what’s most exciting is that there’s more coming down the pike from here.

From depositing LINK into the Priority Pool on Arbitrum to claiming stLINK and reSDL rewards on Arbitrum, stay tuned with us on Twitter and Telegram / Discord where we’ll provide updates on deliverables that are actively being worked on.

We’re also privileged to have been recognized by Chainlink Labs in the recent weekly adoption update tweet below for integrating Chainlink CCIP!

Are you familiar with the Chainlink Ecosystem site? stake.link was listed on it for the first time—check it out here!

The Chainlink Ecosystem website is managed by @TheLinkMarine1 on Twitter, a longtime community member committed to documenting the real-time adoption of the Chainlink Ecosystem, and even received a grant years ago from Chainlink to maintain it as an informative source.

To date, the site has logged over 2000 projects, from startups to large enterprises, that use Chainlink oracles to securely connect their smart contracts to data, compute, and cross-chain services.

In a world where we believe that Chainlink is uniquely positioned to capture value and service both public blockchain networks and private bankchain networks, this deployment is a big step forward for our industry and ecosystem as it is an important steppingstone on the road to securing a vast multichain world where Chainlink services will require security.

We’re excited. This excites us!

2). stake.link Metrics

• As of writing, 368,406.71 LINK has been staked into the Chainlink Community Staking Pool between the Priority Pool and accrued rewards.

• Since stake.link’s inception, 1,497,314.26 LINK has been staked through stake.link with an increase of 159,038.93 LINK in the month of March and a total of 322,709.72 in Q1.

• The total staked LINK from stake.link since the beginning of LINK Staking represents ~3.2274% of all LINK staked, up from ~2.533% since the end of 2023.

• In March, it was announced that the Priority Pool was updated to stake a minimum of 100 LINK withdrawal from the Community Staking Pool, down from 500 LINK since the Priority Pool began staking into open space.

• The rationale behind this is we’ve recently noticed a bot trying to snipe space for the last two months, but most of the time, the Priority Pool was successful in staking first. We believe that it is more beneficial that a protocol such as stake.link gets the open staking space as it’s distributed amongst users and can be available as stLINK liquidity which opens it up to anyone. This in contrast to a single bot controlled by a single entity.

• Currently, the Priority Pool holds 448,087.768780 LINK that are ready to be staked once more withdrawals come through. Users who have staked SDL and HODL reSDL in the wallet that deposited LINK into the Priority Pool the next to stake in the Community Staking Pool.

• The stLINK / LINK Curve Pool continues to increase in TVL, standing at $1.79M in TVL as of end of day April 2.

• Users who are not staked at either staking.chain.link are able to gain immediate exposure to LINK staking by swapping LINK for stLINK or wstLINK in the Curve Pool as well as swapping LINK for wstLINK in Camelot DEX on Arbitrum and be eligible for all BUILD rewards.

• We make note that users who have staked LINK through stake.link and have not claimed stLINK are still eligible for their full allotment of BUILD rewards as any other Chainlink staker at stake.link or staking.chain.link is.

• Check out the Curve Pool here.

• At current pace, stake.link is seeing approximately 3,759.25 LINK staked per day since December 27, 2023, when the first unbonding transactions were eligible to fully withdraw.

• The current reward rate to stake LINK at stake.link is 8.36% (down from 8.77% on January 31, 2024), just under double the 4.32% reward rate in the Chainlink Community Staking Pool.

• The current reward rate to stake the stake.link protocol token SDL is 4.24%, just shy of the reward rate at Chainlink Native Staking.

• Here’s the full chart outlining all staking transactions from stake.link since withdrawals began that consists of both LINK staked from the Priority Pool and accrued rewards that have been restaked.

• Here’s the monthly staking tally:

  • December Stake: 12,475.81 LINK

  • January Stake: 108,055.68 LINK

  • February Stake: 55,615.12 LINK

  • March Stake: 159,038.93 LINK

  • April Stake (whew): 33,221.17 LINK

• stake.link’s total TVL stands at $34.75m as of 2 April 2024

3). Website Redesign

In February, we launched a revamp of the http://stake.link website. This redesign delivers the most intuitive and user-friendly staking experience for the Chainlink Ecosystem to date.

Here’s a rundown:

• Reimagined homepage, with a focus on SDL

• Curated FAQs catered to organic community growth

• New and improved data analytics tracking

...and much more.

Have you seen the website yet? Check it out on stake.link.

Here are some pictures below:

This website redesign extends to a video that we have on the homepage that explains the user flow and experience of the stake.link protocol. This can also be found on the stake.link YouTube page which was spun up in February.

Take a look at the video below.

This video was created and developed by @BowTiedTamarin on Twitter!

4). SLURP Updates

As of this time, we have no new SLURPs to report on as SLURP-15 Insurance Pool and SLURP-16 Deployment to Arbitrum were the two SLURPs brought up for debate and vote in January and February in Q1.

You can read about these SLURPs that passed at talk.stake.link.

Stay tuned for more stake.link SLURPs on our socials.

5). stake.link Dune Analytics

Dune Analytics is a powerful platform that turns onchain data into easily comprehensible information, and we do our best to take advantage of it.

Stake.link’s Dune Analytics page is expansive and covers data analytics to give curious onlookers a glimpse of what’s going on with the protocol.

Check out the stake.link Dune Analytics Page here and check out the sneak peek below.

6). New Alpha!

Did you listen to the stake.link spaces yesterday?

You can listen here in case not.

One of the topics covered is a stake.link proposal to deploy to Metis L2!

We’ve proposed to the Metis DAO to deliver a unified, delegated liquid staking mechanism for their decentralized sequencer, and to operate as sequencer operators.

You can hear more about Metis in the Spaces, and we confirm that nothing is set in stone at this time, but this is an exciting development, and we will continue to update as we know more!

In Conclusion

We’re exceptionally proud of the work and accomplishments made in the first quarter of the year. One of our objectives for Q1 was to continue the momentum we saw at the end of 2023, and we’re happy to report that we are delivering according to plan.

But the only easy day was yesterday, and we’re hard at work to make our Q2 better than our Q1.

This past week, Chainlink Labs posted a video on the Chainlink YouTube page of Chief Business Officer Johann Eid and his thoughts on “Enabling the Mass Adoption of Blockchain.”

See below.

What stood out to us in the video is the following portion: “Right now, our industry from my point of view, has been a PoC for something much, much greater, and this much greater thing has been tokenizing everything onchain: putting all the world’s value onchain.”

Johann goes on to explain why this evolution in capital markets will take place because blockchain represents “ownership, decentralization, and transparency, and how it brings us to a fairer, better, more global ecosystem, and we get there by tokenizing everything from Gold, Fx, Real Estate: everything.”

This is the way the world is headed, and this is what we’re preparing for in all that we do. The products that makeup the Chainlink Platform will all require cryptoeconomic security regardless of what blockchain, public or private, they’re on.

Our deployment to Arbitrum is significant in that it marks the first time LINK Staking has gone cross-chain, but it is one of many steps that we have taken and will continue to take to get to what we view as the End Game: providing reference data, unified golden record-keeping, smart contract automation, privacy, order-fairness, and scalability to ensure that tokenized RWAs not only function on a basic level, but are able to be truly expressive onchain.

As always, we thank the community engaging with us every day by asking questions, providing commentary and feedback. You keep us humble and on our feet. We also thank the 15 member-node operators of the protocol who deliver day-in and day-out: you are the best in all of Web3.

Stay up to date with all things stake.link at our Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and talk.stake.link.

OK;LG

Disclaimer: This communication is directed only and persons outside the UK, and should not be acted on by any person located in the UK. Any persons located in the UK should make their own determination as to whether their participation in the stake.link protocol could be subject to UK regulatory requirements, and stake.link makes no claims (express or implied), and accepts no liability, in relation to the potential application of UK regulatory requirements to such persons or their activity.