Staking mechanism — THOL, NFT, Governance and Holy Guacamole

There is no doubt this has been a tumultuous period in crypto and all other traditional markets. With high inflation concerns and recession worries looming, strategy and innovation during this time of uncertainty are essential for the next phase of market growth to foster long-term development and facilitate sustainability. AngelBlock’s core development team has been hard at work after a successful NFT launch. We’ve been prioritizing the platform demo, community phase user interface, and additional features to revolutionize the token ecosystem and inch closer to our goal of democratizing fundraising.

One of the key elements of the token ecosystem, and the securing of the platform, is the staking model that will be implemented. Staking has lost a lot of its meaning in recent years. It used to be a mechanism that secured networks, punished bad actors, and rewarded those that performed crucial tasks. This is a system we want to emulate.

The model will act as a mechanism to combat the generic issues we see through other staking programs implemented throughout the Web 3.0 ecosystem. AngelBlock views staking as a governance conduit for the community to contribute through, adding inherent value to the platform through validation and due diligence of the startups and governance of their potential fundraising, whilst they are being incentivized to do so in an integral way.

The staking model will have many levers and components to it, driving the mechanism to run a seamless and sustainable system. From the user interface to the core qualitative factors for staking on the AngelBlock platform, the model has been designed in a way that weaponizes game theory mechanics through utility and opportunity to better serve the wider community and the core stakeholders.

As per tokenomics, there has been a specific percentage delegated to the staking pool, with reserve amounts from treasury available to be deployed to deal with demand. AngelBlock’s Tholos Token has a maximum supply, and as such from a long-term perspective would pose a threat to the sustainability of the staking reward pool, as the option for inflation of the supply is not possible. Although the max token supply will take years to reach through the vesting programs, there will come a time when the supply of staking rewards will no longer be possible through the availability of new tokens and diminish the yield of stakers. As part of the overall revenue and staking model, 50% of all fees received on the AngelBlock platform for successful raises will be utilized to replenish rewards for both the validators of the platform and the stakers through the staking reward pool. Ultimately creating a deflationary component to the token ecosystem. Once the model reaches equilibrium through APY and staking demands, this ensures incentivization for validators to perform quality fundamental due diligence of new startups being onboarded, as well as increasing the demand in terms of frequency for startups to be onboarded. From a delegator’s perspective, the governance of the platform is in their hands and will be voted on to protect the platform from bad actors, non-performance from startups, and ultimately, protecting the fundraising tranches as a form of insurance. Delegators’ influence on governance and their reciprocal rewards will be measured in different tiers, and will be based on a variety of factors such as being an early contributor, a number of tokens staked, period of staking, method of staking, number of NFTs held, etc.

Rewards for service to the platform should be sustainable. We believe the factors integrated within the model will achieve this objective. Reward APY will be achieved based on the reward pool vs. the number of tokens staked. This dynamic is based on the staking or unstaking of THOL, as well as the replenishment of the rewards pool through successful fundraise for startups. Initially, all staking validators will be internal within the AngelBlock team with 0% validator commission, with the goal of onboarding external validators from the AngelBlock community, who will be incentivized to widen our resource pool.

One of the most exciting factors included in the program is the integration of NFT staking alongside the more recognizable staking of fungible tokens within the AngelBlock ecosystem. This multi-dimensional component to the staking program creates unique gamification as rewards will be based on distinctive features of the NFTs, creating additional demand for various traits and rarities and creating an unprecedented prerequisite for staking rewards. This gives additional utility to our NFTs, with endless possibilities to be explored — such as airdrops and exclusive rewards outside of the crypto sphere.

The success of an ecosystem lies in the delicate balance between managing investor expectations, team transparency, and project innovation. Having a progressive and revolutionary platform feature such as our staking model will prove definitively that AngelBlock is a pioneer in its field, and that we respond to all manner of market sentiment in the same, forward-thinking way. Although markets trend based on sentiment, having features that combat price action with platform utility is paramount for long-term success, and we are extremely confident we can deliver on our objectives.