Delegated Staking: A New Level of Security for ANYONE
We are thrilled to share one of the biggest updates yet to a key aspect of our tokenomics: delegated staking. As outlined in our tokenomics paper, relay operators and holders will be able to go beyond the 100-token lock and stake an uncapped number of tokens. Today, we refine this staking mechanism, creating a new level of economic security for the network and powerful value accrual for holders. Let’s dive in!
Staking to Relay Families
Currently, all operators must lock 100 tokens per relay (excluding hardware relays) for it to operate and register for relay rewards. This lock commits operators to keeping relays healthy and makes it expensive for adversaries to continually spin up malicious relays.
Delegated staking will supplement this requirement, allowing token holders to stake an unlimited number of tokens and earn rewards for doing so. Tokens are staked against relay families and holders can either stake to their own relay family or delegate to a family they trust.
What is a Relay Family?
A relay family is a set of relays controlled by a single entity or person. Each relay in a family declare all other relays in the family. All relays in a family share the same EVM wallet address for rewards.
Clients choosing circuits will take into account the total tokens staked to a relay’s family when building circuits, biasing towards reputable, long-standing operators and those with a bigger stake in the network. In this way, tokens become a unit of trust in the network, backed by their economic value. By staking tokens towards trustworthy operators, holders are able to provide a key service to the network’s security.
Staking will be flexible, without a minimum lock period and 14-day cooldown for unstaking. All tokens will earn staking rewards at the same rate, so long as the relay family they stake towards has the majority of relays operational during each epoch, which ensures that holders delegate to families they deem reliable. Concurrently, the relay operator that controls the family will receive a percentage of staking rewards, furthering the incentive to maintain performant relays.
As more tokens get staked, it becomes increasingly expensive for adversarial bodies to overpower the network and de-anonymize users, giving the Anyone Network a unique edge over existing anonymity networks!
Incentives for Staking
All stakers will earn from a base pool of tokens, with its emissions divided equally among staked tokens. These tokens will be partially allocated from the 10% relay rewards pool as we expand to the full rate of rewards, providing a base variable APY.
The staking rewards pool will then be supplemented by network revenue. From 2025, Anyone will transition to a freemium network. There will always be a free-to-access tier, but for users or apps looking to take full advantage of the network’s performance or distribution, the client will pay a recurring subscription fee to access the largest set of the fastest and best-placed relays.
In this way, each SDK integration, regular user or additional Anyone services (such as purchasable .anon domains or hidden hosting subscriptions) will bring in protocol revenue split between the relays and stakers that enable them. Additionally, Anyone’s gas-less Arweave distribution protocol, developed in-house, will enable any token to be distributed at scale, opening the possibility for distribution of payments from stablecoin, partner tokens and more!
Network Security
Why stake to relay families, as opposed to individual relays? Staking to relay families reduces the effectiveness of tokens used by attackers trying to overpower the network, who would likely not declare their families accurately. Additionally, it simplifies the process as every relay family is denominated by a single EVM wallet that will remain the same even as relays come online and offline. Stay tuned for the results of our formal analysis done with Austin Seiberlich on this threat model!
Conclusion and Next Steps
Currently, our protocol team are hard at work bringing in the newly improved distribution protocol, built on Arweave’s AO. The staking mechanism will be built on top of this distribution protocol in the run up to mainnet.
In Summary
- Holders will be able to stake tokens above the 100-token lock, and earn from a base rewards pool.
- Tokens are staked to a relay family of their choice, delegating trust and strengthening the network from takeover.
- Stakers are rewarded for their part in securing the network as it expands into its freemium model!
Disclaimer: All mechanisms described in this article are subject to further adjustment and are not currently live.
