Launch: Staking Bucket as NFTs and Liquid Staking on IoTeX: Unleash the Power of DeFi

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of blockchain technology, IoTeX continues to push the boundaries of what's possible. With a relentless focus on innovation and user empowerment, IoTeX has introduced two groundbreaking concepts that are set to revolutionize the staking ecosystem: Staking Bucket as NFTs and Liquid Staking. In this blog post, we'll dive into what these two concepts are, why they matter, and how you can leverage them to maximize your rewards and participation in the IoTeX ecosystem.

What are Staking Bucket NFTs and Liquid Staking?

Staking Bucket NFT: Traditional staking has always been a key component of blockchain networks, providing security, decentralization, and rewards to token holders. However, the IoTeX team believes that staking should be more flexible and engaging. That's where Staking Bucket NFT come in. With this innovative approach, your staked tokens are represented as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This means that your staking activities become unique, allowing for customization and utility like never before.  Staking Bucket NFT is the future of staking, offering token holders enhanced security, flexibility, and, most importantly, an entirely new way to interact with their staked assets.

Liquid Staking: Staking as an NFT will bring liquidity to the staking game with Liquid Staking. Traditionally, staked tokens are locked up, limiting your ability to use them for other purposes. Liquid Staking changes the game by providing a way to stake your tokens while still having them available for trading, lending, or any other DeFi activities. It's the perfect solution for those who want to earn rewards without sacrificing liquidity. There are several DeFi protocols which will be enabling Liquid Staking with IoTeX in the coming months.

Why Do These Concepts Matter? Both Staking Bucket NFT and Liquid Staking represent a significant leap forward for the IoTeX blockchain and its community. Here's what they can bring to the IoTeX blockchain:

• Enhanced Security: Staking Bucket NFT adds an extra layer of security to your staked assets. With unique NFTs representing your stakes, the risk of unauthorized access is significantly reduced.
• Flexibility and Utility: Staking Bucket NFT allows you to customize your staking experience and use your staked assets in unique ways. They're not just tokens in a pool; they're tokens with a purpose.
• Liquidity: Liquid Staking provides the freedom to participate in staking and DeFi simultaneously. No more locked tokens; you're in control.

How are Staking Bucket as NFTs and Liquid Staking Implemented?

On the IoTeX blockchain, staking bucket NFT are implemented as smart contracts. To better support liquid staking and other innovations at the smart contracts or DApp level, staking buckets are also represented as NFT on the IoTeX blockchain. Therefore, liquid staking solutions, which rely on smart contracts, could easily manage their stakes in system smart contracts. With full flexibility provided at smart contract level, builders can easily launch their respective liquid staking DApps similar to Lido and RocketPool. For a deeper dive into these concepts and technical details, please refer to IIP-13.

The staking bucket NFT feature has been activated with our recently launched v1.11. See our official iotex-core release note for more details.

How to Use Staking Bucket NFT and Liquid Staking

Ready to get started? Simply visit the IoTeX Staking Portal. You'll be prompted to choose between Native staking, and Staking as NFT (see image below). The Staking as NFT option currently offers three types of buckets, for 10k, 100k and 1M $IOTX tokens for a duration of 91 days.

One of the most interesting features about staking as NFT is that, once your staking transaction has been confirmed, you'll be able to list and trade your NFT bucket on the IoTeX native NFT marketplace, Mimo. Additionally, support will be added to IoTeX's ioPay Multi-chain Wallet in the coming days.

To All DApp Developers: Call of Duty

For all dApp developers who'd like to implement NFT staking or offer Liquid Staking in their DApps, we have created a comprehensive guide in our official documentation. This guide covers everything you need to know about setting up your Staking Bucket NFT and participating in Liquid Staking, including the full implementation of IIP-13 on the iotexproject Github page, full smart contracts references for the IoTeX Testnet and Mainnet and plenty of examples to get you started creating, expanding, transferring and unlocking your own NFT buckets.

For all developers interested in taking their building skills to the next level, the Developers Portal is the best place to get started learning about the IoTeX chain, our off-chain verifiable compute layer, W3bstream, and all the developer tools needed to build your next real world-based application.

Conclusion

IoTeX's introduction of NFT Staking Buckets and Liquid Staking marks a significant milestone in the evolution of blockchain technology. These innovations bring enhanced security, flexibility, and liquidity to the staking ecosystem, empowering token holders like never before. By following the provided instructions, you can start using these features today. And to the DApp developers out there, the IoTeX blockchain is your canvas—create the future of DeFi with NFT staking buckets. Together, we'll redefine what's possible in the world of decentralized finance.