TL;DR
- Stake Wars is launching on July 13th on NEAR Protocol with support from Meta Pool
- Stake Wars is an initiative designed to test the launch of chunk only producers and provide validators with the tools they need
- This marks the official move from Phase 0 to Phase 1 for NEAR protocol
- Meta Pool directly benefits from the benefits of sharding technology, and the security of the NEAR blockchain
Overview
This week is the official launch of Episode III of NEAR Protocol’s Stake Wars. Meta Pool is a proud sponsor of many challenges that will be taking place over the next two months, and we hope that we can accurately convey the importance of this step for our community, and for blockchain decentralization efforts writ large.
The Stake Wars challenges will be hosted over the next 2 months, offering community members a chance to compete for coveted validator spots in NEAR’s upcoming switch to chunk-only producer nodes.
Meta Pool hopes to help build a brighter future for decentralized technology built on NEAR. By partnering with Pagoda (formerly NEAR Inc.), we have been given the chance to help facilitate this phase of growth on the protocol. Keep an eye on our socials for more information about Stake Wars, the state of the event, and various challenges that will be released over the next days and weeks.
Stake Wars - A Decentralized Future Through Sharding
This year’s Stake Wars are a critical part of NEAR’s move to a complete integration of the sharding process. Sharding is designed to increase the throughput, scalability, and overall performance of the NEAR network.
The adoption of the sharding process will happen over the next 18 months, and Stake Wars is an integral part of moving from Phase 0 to Phase 1.
- Phase 0 (2021-11-15) introduced sharding of the state, but not for processing, the blockchain being validated by all network’s validators.
- Phase 1 (2022-09-07) will introduce a new type of validator, called chunk-only producer, that only has visibility within one shard and validates that one shard.
- Phase 2 (2023) will eliminate the need for any validator to track all shards by introducing challenges (challenge the validation of a block), rollbacks (eliminating a bad transaction from the system) and slashing (eliminating the stake of a bad validator).
- Phase 3 (2023) will create the ability for the network to dynamically split and merge shards based on resource utilization.
The goal of the event is to incentivize community members who hope to become chunk-only producers to prove their skill and technical comprehension by competing in a series of challenges. Stake Wars will conclude by offering the winners the seed price they need to become a validator for the network.
The “Wars” will be held on a testnet that will be created for validators to complete challenges on, and demonstrate any flaws that may still exist. As each challenge concludes, rewards will be distributed to the highest performers.
These developments in the underlying chain technology for NEAR contribute to the decentralization, security, and stability of the platform that allows builders like Meta Pool to feel confident in deploying our dapps.
Meta Pool’s Vision for a Decentralized Web3
We are working hard to bring forward a platform that can offer you secured rewards while also having access to your tokens. We hope to put forth a philosophical challenge to traditional centralized finance by proving that returns above 5% on your assets are not only possible, but should be seen as the minimum standard for those holding crypto assets.
Many countries like those our founders hail from suffer from hyperinflation, corruption, and widespread economic insecurity. By creating a system that is built on a secure network, that is trustless, neutral, and fair, we hope to offer one possible avenue of relief to these issues. While investing in any L1 is still fraught with risks brought by the broader crypto outlook (regulation, security, market concerns), we are taking a critical step in offering a place for individuals to break free of traditional financial concerns that are intimately tied to national identity.
By becoming a sponsor of the upcoming Stake Wars event, Meta Pool is demonstrating its commitment to moving the entire community forward. The sharding process that NEAR is working towards will increase overall throughput and security of the network which will make transactions on Meta Pool more efficient and secure – so that you can stake with confidence!
About Meta Pool & stNEAR
Meta Pool is the leading liquid staking solution for $NEAR and wNEAR token holders. With Meta Pool you earn NEAR staking rewards and maintain your liquidity to participate in DeFi protocols on NEAR and Aurora.
Users staking $NEAR and wNEAR with Meta Pool receive in exchange stNEAR (staked NEAR) tokens.
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 also 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. Meta Pool is making NEAR Protocol more decentralized and therefore more secure.
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.
