Equinox Staking Launch

Equinox Staking is now live, which will serve as the final phase of the testnet. This milestone is far ahead of the original schedule and is undoubtedly the most significant launch to date.

Equinox Staking will enable users to gain early access to Injective’s staking features while also allowing them to earn rewards for helping to test the capabilities of the protocol itself.

Introduction

Injective’s initial testnet began with an early access period to the Solstice testnet with the first ever trading competition beginning a few weeks after.

These past two phases have allowed the community to test the capabilities of the network. A number of optimizations were then rolled out, culminating in the release of entirely new versions of the testnet that could cater to retail and institutional traders alike. There was even time to launch novel markets such as decentralized forex and stock futures.

The Injective community has far exceeded all initial goals and Equinox Staking is the logical next step, which will provide an unparalleled view into new parameters of Injective Protocol.

Equinox Staking

Equinox Staking will allow both validators and delegators to stake on Injective in preparation for mainnet in Q2. This will also mark the first time that users and community members will be able to earn rewards by actively staking INJ.

Validators

Validators will serve an integral role in this process by helping to run nodes globally for Injective.

Since Injective is based on Tendermint Proof-of-Stake (PoS), the algorithm will use a pseudo-random election process to select a node to be the validator of the next block, based on a combination of factors that could include the number of tokens staked with a certain validator.

Currently, the network has been bootstrapped thanks to assistance from validators in the space. This will help to accelerate the project timeline in terms of rigorous testing as the validators will be able to provide meaningful assessments through a tight feedback loop.

The validator onboarding period will last at least two weeks and will officially begin today. A number of these validators will be revealed over the coming weeks leading up to Equinox Staking.

Upon the launch of mainnet, anyone will be able to become a validator on the network as Injective will be run by the community.

Delegators

Anyone can act as a delegator on Injective without needing to set up complex hardware or to set up any node. The process has been simplified, whereby users can delegate their tokens to any validator to earn rewards directly with the use of MetaMask or even their ledger wallet. The Injective delegation process will allow users to delegate their stake to a validator that will help run the day-to-day functionalities of Injective.

A minimum of 5 INJ will be required in order to delegate on Injective.

Rewards

Users can earn rewards by staking as well as by completing a number of tasks during this phase.

Baseline APY

Equinox staking will begin with a baseline APY for any staked INJ. An example of a calculator with which staking rewards can be calculated is shown above.

This baseline APY will dynamically adjust based on network demand as well as as the number of staking participants, so all numbers displayed in the calculator should be taken only be taken as an example.

APY Boosts

The baseline APY can be boosted through the completion of additional tasks. This can include processes such as re-delegating to a new validator or creating new governance proposals.

These boosts will be revealed at random times throughout the duration of phase 3 and will require users to have a minimum amount of staked INJ on the network in order to be eligible for participation.

Additional Incentives

There are a number of innovative incentives planned within the community as they take part is what is to date Injective's most significant product launch.

Receiving these additional incentives will also require users to have staked INJ on the network throughout the duration of the Equinox testnet.

Final Thoughts

This month, Injective will be onboarding validators and announcing them as they continue to go live. Injective contributors also plan to open access to the dashboard for testing before opening it up entirely for staking later this month.

About Injective

Injective is a lightning fast interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for building the premier Web3 finance applications. Injective provides developers with powerful plug-and-play modules for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.