Key Features of AscendEX Staking Service:

  1. Unstake anytime to trade or transfer without delay via "Instant Unbonding;"
  2. Trade while earning rewards by using staked assets as margin collateral;
  3. Maximized returns through automated redelegation of rewards under "Compound Mode."

1. Can I trade my digital assets while they’re staked?
Staked assets cannot be traded directly; however, they can be used as collateral for margin trading and futures trading, thus allowing users to go long or short the asset to hedge positions while continuing to earn rewards. Users can also unstake their assets anytime to sell – there’s no unlocking period if unstaking via instant unbonding function.

2. What are the major pain points associated with traditional staking?
When an individual, Alice, elects to stake an asset, she effectively agrees to lock-up the asset for an extended period of time. Unlocking Alice’s staked asset requires a lengthy unbonding period during which she neither has access to her asset nor is she eligible to receive staking rewards. Thus, there are two major pain points associated with traditional staking:

  1. Illiquid Position Management: User’s ability to trade out of asset position is limited especially in anticipation of an adverse market movement, because the user cannot place orders to sell while the asset is being staked.
  2. Inflexible Asset Management: The user gives up the ability to actively move assets from one venue to another in a seamless and nimble manner because of the lengthy unlock period associated with unbonding.

See AscendEX’s solution to these pain points associated with traditional staking.

3. What solutions does AscendEX provide in response to pain points associated with traditional staking?

  1. AscendEX allows users to unstake assets to trade or transfer without delay. To enhance users’ staking experience, AscendEX maintains a liquidity pool of assets for immediate access after an asset is unstaked. “Instant Unbonding” allows users to manage staked assets at their own discretion even when delegating to a network with a lengthy unbonding period.
  2. AscendEX allows users to trade staked assets while earning rewards. To further promote marketplace efficiency, AscendEX allows for staked assets to be used as margin and futures trading collateral. So users can go long or short to hedge exposure while continuing to earn rewards. This applies only to assets supported by the platform for margin trading and futures trading.

4. Can I unstake my assets anytime? Is there a unlock period?
Most PoS networks employ an unbonding period when a delegator decides to quit staking. During this period, delegator cannot access the previously staked asset itself. Delegator also forfeits eligibility to earn staking rewards from the previously staked assets. To alleviate this problem, AscendEX allows users to unstake assets to trade or transfer without delay. To enhance users’ staking experience, AscendEX maintains a liquidity pool of assets for immediate access after an asset is unstaked. “Instant Unbonding” allows users to manage staked assets at their own discretion even when delegating to a network with a lengthy unbonding period.

5. How are staking rewards calculated?
In most cases, if you stake your digital assets on T day (UTC), staking rewards will soon start to accumulate on T+1 day and begin to be distributed on T+2 day. If you stop staking and undelegate between 0:00 to 24:00 on T+N day, your staking period is N-1 days and you will only receive staking rewards for the N-1 day period. For projects like Tezos that only distribute rewards every 3 days (per cycle in Tezos network), staking rewards will start to accumulate on T+1 day but distributions will only start from T+4 day based upon project distribution cycle.  And if you undelegate before a full distribution cycle completes, you will miss the rewards for that cycle, meaning that you will not receive the upcoming batch of reward scheduled on T+7 day, since you unstake prior to that.

6. How are staking rewards distributed?
Distribution of staking rewards is facilitated directly by PoS blockchain networks. Because AscendEX aggregates staking interest from all platform users and delegates as a single counterparty, rewards are distributed directly to the platform. Once received, AscendEX will credit individual users’ accounts proportionally based on their contribution to the staking pool.

Each PoS blockchain network employs different mechanisms to facilitate distribution of rewards; therefore, AscendEX will make best efforts to timely credit users’ accounts.

7. Are staking rewards liquid?
Staking rewards are liquid and are available for sale once distributed.

8. How does “Compound Mode” work?
“Compound Mode” is an innovative feature introduced by AscendEX that automatically redelegates users’ staking rewards once it is distributed, thus compounding returns.

9. Is there any minimum/maximum amount of digital assets to be delegated?
There’s a minimum amount of digital assets required for delegation and it varies from project to project, for example, for Cosmos it’s 1 ATOM, and for Tezos it’s 2 XTZ. However, there is no maximum amount of digital assets required for delegation.

10. Are there any additional fees associated with the service?
There are no additional fees for staking with AscendEX. The estimated annualized reward posted on the Website is an estimate on the net staking rewards that users are expected to receive, though the actual rewards may vary slightly due to network condition changes for each project.

11. Is there any minimum staking time or lock-up period required for staking?
Unlike some other staking service providers, AscendEX does not require minimum staking time, nor any pre-determined lock-up period for participation.

12. What is the difference between “ATOM” and “ATOM-S”?
An asset ticker ending with a “-S” represents a staked balance. Upon the completion of delegation, a synthetic version of the underlying asset will be created to represent the staked balance, for example, ATOM-S will be used to represent staked ATOM after delegation. Right now, ATOM-S cannot be directly traded, or be withdrawn.
13.Are users required to complete KYC verification in order to participate in Staking?
No.