Dr. Emin Gün Sirer, Founder and CEO at Ava Labs, ex-professor at Cornell, confirmed that BENQI liquid staking is live.
Liquid staking is live. https://t.co/7ltUAvEXHn
— Emin Gün Sirer🔺 (@el33th4xor) February 16, 2022
The team at BENQI noted that they are pleased to confirm the release of BENQI’s Liquid Staking Protocol on Avalanche. The app is now live at: https://staking.benqi.fi.
Following the completion of their audits with Halborn Security, BENQI‘s Liquid Staking protocol will be “kicking off with a guarded launch.”
The guarded launch is “capped at 250,000 AVAX.”
With the “imminent” proliferation of Avalanche Subnets, BENQI Liquid Staking is expected to serve a key role in the new Subnet Economy, and the team is excited to reveal veQI’s role within it.
By accruing voting power via veQI, users, builders and DAOs will soon be able “to direct staked #AVAX to bootstrap and support their favorite subnets (e.g. DFK, CRA, Dexalot).”
This means veQI can “direct staked AVAX to validate these subnets to receive subnet rewards, get boosted QI emissions, and much more.”
As explained in the update, BENQI Liquid Staking is a protocol “enabling users to stake AVAX to receive BENQI Liquid Staked AVAX (sAVAX), an interest bearing version of AVAX.”
By tokenizing staked AVAX (on the P-Chain) into sAVAX (currently on the C-Chain), users will now be able “to participate in DeFi while earning rewards from securing the Avalanche network itself.”
With an interest bearing version of AVAX now available on the Avalanche C-Chain, “a wealth of strategies and products will be able to be built on top of sAVAX.”
BLS currently has “no lock-up periods and fees imposed on users,” the update noted while adding that you just need to head over to the app and “stake your AVAX to receive sAVAX.”
For unstaking sAVAX to AVAX on the app, there is “a 15 day cooldown period.”
Alternatively, instant conversions between sAVAX and AVAX can be “done through partner Automated Market Makers (AMMs) offering sAVAX <> AVAX swaps,” the update explained.
With Avalanche Subnets set to take off, the QI token will be “playing an integral role in providing subnets enhanced liquidity through Liquid Staking, validator bootstrapping and boosted DeFi rewards to liquidity providers.”
This will be done via veQI, which “represents the QI token locked up for a predetermined period.”
By accruing voting power via veQI, users, builders and DAOs will soon be “able to direct staked AVAX to bootstrap and support their favorite subnets (e.g. DFK, Crabada, Dexalot).”
This means veQI can direct staked AVAX to validate these subnets to receive subnet rewards, get boosted QI emissions, and much more.
As covered, BENQI is built on Avalanche’s scalable network. BENQI’s vision of bridging decentralized finance (DeFi) and institutional networks “starts by launching BENQI on the Avalanche C-Chain.” BENQI’s suite of yield-generating DeFi products “consists of the BENQI Liquidity Markets and BENQI Liquid Staking.”
BENQI’s Liquidity Markets allows users “to earn interest on their supplied assets, and borrow any available asset from the platform in an overcollateralized manner.”
BENQI’s Liquid Staking protocol is “a liquid staking solution that tokenizes staked AVAX to grant users the ability to utilize the yield-bearing asset within DeFi applications.”