Meta Pool

TL;DR

• stNEAR from idea to implementation
• Staking vs Liquid Staking+stNEAR
• How to Get stNEAR
• stNEAR Value and Staking Rewards Calculation
• Difference between stNEAR and wNEAR
• Do’s and Don’ts with stNEAR

What is stNEAR: NEAR’s first liquid staking token

With the objective to make $NEAR staking more capital efficient, Claudio and Lucio co-founded Meta Pool, the leading liquid staking solution for NEAR and wNEAR tokens holders.

The cornerstone element of Meta Pool is a liquid asset, stNEAR: stNEAR is generated when you stake your $NEAR through Meta Pool. This is what we call “liquid staking”.

stNEAR is a yield bearing asset, accruing in value every epoch (~12 hours) meaning that you keep earning staking rewards while you can use it in DeFi, for example as a collateral asset in liquidity protocols.

Meta Pool’s liquid staking solution provides you with the unique opportunity to participate both in staking and in DeFi activities without locking up your $NEAR into the native proof of stake systems.

As the DeFi ecosystem grows, demand for stNEAR is also increasing sharply. We are thrilled to see so many sophisticated and ambitious protocols incorporating stNEAR at the core of their offering as it solidifies its place as the best form of collateral.

Staking vs Liquid Staking + stNEAR

Traditional Staking

The main key difference Meta Pool staking gives from traditional staking, is the amount of validator nodes you are delegating your staked $NEAR.

If you decide to stake through the NEAR Web Wallet, you are staking with only 1 validator node that you choose in the validator list. Because of this, most of the $NEAR being staked gets listed in the top ten nodes of the network. Concentration of $NEAR in one validator node is not the best outcome for a Layer 1 protocol that wants to improve its censorship resistance and security.

Liquid Staking

Whereas when you liquid stake with Meta Pool, your $NEAR tokens are distributed to 87 validator nodes. This helps decentralize the network and allows new nodes coming into the NEAR Protocol network to get more exposure to retail $NEAR holders.

With the stNEAR handed to you, you now have the unique opportunity to simultaneously get the staking yield of your $NEAR and participate in DeFi protocols with stNEAR for additional yield.

After less than a year of existence Meta Pool has a TVL of ~9M $NEAR, and has become a cornerstone element of the NEAR ecosystem, heavily contributing to its decentralization and to the $NEAR token liquidity.

As a result stNEAR can be traded and farmed on multiple DeFi platforms such as Trisolaris, WannaSwap, and can also be used as a collateral asset on lending and borrowing platforms such as Burrow, Bastion and Aurigami to receive additional income.

How to Get stNEAR

To get stNEAR you have to liquid stake your $NEAR using the Meta Pool liquid staking platform. Or you can use swaps on DEXs (Ref Finance, Burrow, Bastion, Trisolaris, etc).

For each $NEAR token you liquid stake with Meta Pool, Meta Pool will give you a certain amount of stNEAR after the exchange.

stNEAR Value and Staking Rewards Calculation

There is a ratio of exchange from $NEAR tokens to stNEAR tokens, and this ratio changes every epoch measured in the NEAR Network. The stNEAR:NEAR tokens ratio grows according to the staking APY, this is the fundamental mechanism of Meta Pool.

But because Meta Pool is accruing the NEAR tokens paid as rewards from single validators, your amount of stNEAR is not increasing.

For example, you change tokens when the value of 1 stNEAR is 1,06 NEAR. With this ratio, by exchanging 10 $NEAR tokens, you get 9,434 stNEAR tokens. Since the value of stNEAR in relation to $NEAR is constantly increasing, after a while having 9,434 stNEAR you will get more $NEAR tokens.

Let’s say the stNEAR: NEAR ratio has increased and now 1 stNEAR equivalent to 1,08 NEAR. This means that now, your 9,434 stNEAR are worth 10,19 $NEAR (9,434*1,08 = 10,19).

Difference between stNEAR and wNEAR

wNEAR (wrapped NEAR) corresponds to $NEAR bridged through the Aurora Network. It is also used to bootstrap liquidity for DEXs and AMMs on NEAR.

But wNEAR is not capital efficient because it is not earning the extra yield, meanwhile, stNEAR is accruing in value every 13 hours, since it represents $NEAR being staked.

That is why Meta Pool offers now the possibility for wNEAR holders to liquid stake it directly using Metmask and get stNEAR! We wanted to make it as easy as possible for wNEAR holders on Aurora to obtain stNEAR like on NEAR Protocol.

Meta Pool platform for liquid staking on Aurora Network leverages the Rainbow Bridge’s ability to do contract calls between Aurora and NEAR. Meta Pool has built a simple solution that maintains the same user interface and experience as the NEAR native solution.

Additionally to cover the Liquidity Pools built with wNEAR (eg wNEAR<>stNEAR, or REF<>wNEAR soon) Meta Pool has created Meta Recipes: Meta Recipes enables any wNEAR token holder that also has LP tokens* (LP with wNEAR tokens such as wNEAR<>stNEAR for example), to easily unbundle assets and migrate wNEAR to stNEAR in just a few clicks.

*LP tokens represent the user’s share of the total amount of locked liquidity in several tokens, on farms in NEAR Network and Aurora Network.

Do’s and Don’ts with stNEAR

To have the best things for you, we are growing into the ecosystem quickly to help you leverage your stNEAR and receive more yield. Let stNEAR earn more profit for you and also learn what you should do with stNEAR. Moreover, you will know what you shouldn’t do with stNEAR.

What to Do with stNEAR?

• Stake NEAR for the long-term to ensure that you receive the best yield from Meta Pool
• Leverage stNEAR in Meta Pool’s partner platforms, such as Ref Finance, Burrow, Bastion, Trisolaris, and Jumbo
• Understand what is Impermanent Loss before providing liquidity, it’s comfortable for you to provide liquidity in any pairs
• Provide liquidity with the stNEAR/wNEAR pair if you want to minimize LP risks
• Deposit stNEAR to Lending – Borrowing protocol to receive more yield and safety
• Use Meta Recipes to provide liquidity easily

What Not to Do with stNEAR

• Let your stNEAR in your wallet. There is only NEAR reward, you won’t receive META and other rewards when you let stNEAR in your wallet.
• Provide liquidity in the short term. If you get an Impermanent Loss, you will lose a lot of money.
• Provide liquidity to Meta Pool Liquidity pool when it’s over the target liquidity.
• Send stNEAR to the Centralized Exchanges or other chains except for NEAR Protocol and Aurora.

Meta Pool is increasing over time the use-cases for stNEAR that can give you more and more places to use stNEAR to get more yield.

#DiscoverySection with Meta Pool! Such great day to find out how the $stNEAR deposit works in @aurigami_PLY
Follow the thread 👇👇👇#liquidstaking #collateralassets #Auroraisnear #DeFi $PLY $META pic.twitter.com/p09943XC2L

— metapool.near (@meta_pool) May 12, 2022

About Meta Pool & stNEAR

Meta Pool is the leading liquid staking solution for $NEAR and wNEAR token holders to earn staking rewards and maintain their liquidity to participate in DeFi protocols on NEAR and Aurora.

Users staking $NEAR and wNEAR with Meta Pool receive in exchange a NEP-141 standard token, stNEAR (staked NEAR). 

stNEAR simultaneously accrues staking rewards and unlocks users’ liquidity enabling them to participate in DeFi activities (e.g. lending, farming, borrowing) on NEAR and Aurora.

Stake $NEAR on Meta Pool

~11% APY

Get stNEAR

Yield-bearing token

Go DeFi on NEAR & Aurora

More APY and more rewards

Meta Pool solves the problems associated with Proof-of-Stake networks staking: illiquidity, immovability and accessibility. Meta Pool also aims to distribute staking in multiple validators to improve censorship-resistance of the NEAR network.

With a TVL of ~9 Million $NEAR and growing, Meta Pool has become in just a few months a cornerstone element of the NEAR ecosystem, making it more decentralized and therefore more secure, as well as making $NEAR liquid.

In February 2022 Meta Pool has been successfully audited by BlockSec, confirming the implementation of the highest security standards.

For more information visit https://metapool.app.

Join Meta Pool & stNEAR Community

If you have any questions or wish to be part of our project, don’t hesitate to join our official platforms and reach out to the team!

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