Holders of Kyber Network Crystal (KNC), an Ethereum-based (ERC-20) token, will be able to delegate their tokens and voting power to StakeWith.US’s staking pool, ATLAS, when the network’s Katalyst upgrade is completed by the end of June.
Kyber Network is adding a new staking option for token holders once a planned protocol upgrade is implemented in less than two months.
A new partnership with StakeWith.US, a Singapore-based blockchain infrastructure firm that provides staking services, is expected to provide «greater flexibility» for stakeholders and community members by increasing their control over decision-making, Kyber said.
«This seems like a logical tie-up and would allow KNC token holders who are either too busy or don’t feel comfortable enough to vote on KyberDAO initiatives to delegate their votes to an informed third party and still receive voting rewards,» said Gerrit van Wingerden, CTO and co-founder of crypto asset management platform Caspian.
Kyber Network is a decentralized exchange that allows instant trading and conversion of cryptocurrencies and tokens with high liquidity.
Under the planned protocol upgrade, KNC holders will be able to vote on various protocol decisions and in return will receive rewards from network fees in the form of ether (ETH).
“Kyber will be the only protocol that has a deflationary staking token with network fees paid out in ETH, an asset with monetary premium”, said Michael Ng, co-founder of StakeWith.Us.
With the change, KNC holders will receive their ETH rewards based on the number of tokens staked. Token burn and rewards are determined by actual network usage and DeFi growth, Kyber said.
«It’s interesting to see staking providers, such as StakeWithUs, working closer with DAOs. Collaboration will lead a healthy debate around governance and proxy smart contracts,» said David Freuden, DAO enthusiast and founder of Monsterplay, a blockchain consultancy firm working in the areas of smart cities, privacy and decentralized autonomous organisations.
«Staking providers can also access a broader and potentially larger network of staking participants which will increase the size of deployable pooled funds,» Freuden added.
Kyber Network activity surged in late April amid news that staking was on the way, with the number of addresses with a balance in KNC reaching an all-time high of 61,980 on April 27.
Kyber Network Aims to Improve DeFi Liquidity With ‘Katalyst’ Protocol Upgrade
Kyber Network, the ethereum-based protocol focused on aggregating liquidity and facilitating swaps for ERC-20 tokens, is about to launch a major upgrade.
Planned to go live in Q2 2020, the Katalyst upgrade is a major upgrade to the Kyber protocol to better meet the liquidity needs of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Currently, the Kyber Network (KNC) design allows for any party to contribute to an aggregated pool of liquidity within each blockchain while providing a single endpoint for takers to execute trades using the best rates available.
Katalyst aims to reduce friction in liquidity contribution, introduce rebates for high-performing reserves (liquidity providers), and allow DApps integrated with Kyber to add a custom spread for flexible rates.
Simon Kim, CEO of Hashed, a blockchain venture capitalist firm based in Seoul and Silicon Valley, said the introduction of Katalyst would be able to grow the network exponentially by providing greater incentives for its contributors.
“The Kyber Network has proven its utility as the most reliable liquidity pool for all the participants in the DeFi ecosystem on ethereum”, Kim said.
On top of liquidity optimization, the Katalyst upgrade will include a new staking mechanism and the launch of the KyberDAO, a community platform that allows KNC token holders to participate in governance for the first time.
Joshua Green, head of trading at Digital Asset Capital Management, a cryptocurrency trading firm based in Sydney, Australia, said as the DeFi space continues to move from its development phase to focus on users and transaction execution, liquidity becomes a more prominent driver of continued growth.
“We are excited by a number of projects and the disintermediating models they have developed”, Green said. “Higher levels of liquidity now need to follow to make them more efficient for the widest user base and make their value proposition as strong as possible against centralised peers.”
Trading on centralized exchanges is currently not compatible with DeFi applications since it is technically infeasible to bridge between decentralized applications and centralized servers without compromising the trust model.
KNC is currently up 27 percent over the last 30 days and is up 78 percent year-to-date making it one best-performing crypto assets for 2019. It is currently changing hands for $0.22, according to data provider Messari.
Kyber supports over 70 different tokens and powers close to 100 integrated projects including popular wallets MEW, Trust, Enjin, and the HTC Exodus smartphone.
