Persistence: Building Liquid Staking and Re-Staking Infrastructure for the Cosmos Ecosystem

Persistence is one of the application chains in the Cosmos ecosystem that was the first to enable IBC, CosmWasm, and liquid staking modules. By deeply cultivating POS and liquid staking related products, Persistence has built a complete liquid staking and re-staking architecture for the Cosmos ecosystem.

In December 2023, the Cosmos community voted to allocate 600,000 ATOM to pSTAKE for the development of liquid staking business. In return, pSTAKE will share 15% of its liquid staking revenue with Cosmos Hub.

Overview of the Persistence Ecosystem

According to official data, the TVL of the Persistence ecosystem is approximately $14.78 million, with an IBC trading volume of $15 million in the past 30 days and an average transaction cost of less than $0.005.

Data shows that Persistence has established 121 channels with 44 other regions in the Interchain network, making it a highly interconnected node. 74.7% of the network token $XPRT is staked, with an annualized yield of 16.7%. The high staking rate indicates strong security and participation in the network.

The infrastructure of Persistence consists of 6 nodes and 100 validators, jointly ensuring the decentralization and security of the network.

In the last 24 hours, the IBC trading volume of Persistence was $260,800, with 4,955 transactions, of which 616 were IBC transactions. There were 932 active addresses, with 86 IBC active addresses. IBC inflows consistently exceeded outflows, indicating that more value is flowing into Persistence and participating in stake.

Technical Support

Persistence supports the CosmWasm framework, allowing developers to write secure and interoperable smart contracts using the Rust language. DApps developed with the CosmWasm framework can run across chains via IBC, achieving cross-chain interoperability for applications.

Persistence connects 54 Cosmos application chains through IBC, enabling trustless communication, transfer, stake, and liquid staking of tokens. By utilizing Interchain Accounts (ICA) to achieve ICA Liquid Staking, it enhances the efficiency and flexibility of staking and liquid staking.

Cosmos Ecosystem Staking and Network Security

Cosmos ecosystem liquid staking includes two roles: validators and delegators. Staker ( and delegator ) can choose the validator nodes to delegate to. Validators run hardware and blockchain applications based on the Cosmos SDK, reach consensus with other validators, and propose and validate new blocks on the chain.

If a validator exhibits negative behavior, their delegators will face corresponding penalties. Continuous offline status of the validator may result in a reduction of 0.1% in the delegator's stake deposit. Extremely malicious actions, such as double signing, may lead to a reduction of 5% in the stake deposit.

This mechanism prevents malicious behavior through economic incentives and potential penalties. Validators and delegators jointly maintain network efficiency and security while earning token rewards.

pSTAKE staking platform

pSTAKE provides a simple staking process for the Cosmos ecosystem. Users can stake by choosing the staking token and the chain they are on. After the staking is completed, the pSTAKE protocol issues corresponding staking rights tokens, such as stkATOM for staking ATOM.

pSTAKE Features:

1. Automatic Compound Interest: Taking stkATOM as an example, the daily staking rewards (ATOM) automatically enter the stake, continuing to earn rewards. This results in an increase in the staked ATOM corresponding to each stkATOM, allowing users to receive more ATOM when they unstake.

2. Unstaking: Users need to wait 21-25 days to cancel staking; they can also pay a 1% fee for instant unstaking. When retrieving the stake, the corresponding stk assets will be destroyed.

3. Staking Yield: pSTAKE supports staking of various assets, each with different annual yields.

Note:

• pSTAKE supports the following 5 tokens: ATOM from Cosmos Hub, OSMO from Osmosis, DYDX from dYdX, STARS from Stargaze, and HUAHUA from Chihuahua, as well as those minted on the Persistence chain.
• When staking native chain tokens, it is necessary to cross-chain to the Persistence chain via IBC, and then call the liquid staking module.
• Any asset stake requires holding a small amount of $XPRT as GAS.

Stake Derivatives

Persistence and the Cosmos ecosystem have launched more stk asset derivative products. For example, you can directly exchange stkATOM for ATOM on the DEX without needing to unstake or pay extra fees. stk assets can also be added to liquidity on the DEX with native assets to earn higher yields.

$XPRT stake

Persistence, as an independent blockchain, also requires staking to enhance network security. Users can conveniently stake $XPRT on the Persistence official site or in the Keplr wallet.

Stake Security

Persistence and pSTAKE are both open-source programs, which is one of the security guarantees. pSTAKE involves 72 developers, with the most recent code submission being 2 days ago.

Persistence collaborates with multiple security agencies to provide comprehensive security support for staking and liquid staking, including:

• Blockchain and crypto security audit agencies: Halborn, PeckShield, Certora, etc.
• Global security research and consulting firm: Trail of Bits
• Smart contract security audit firms: Solidified, ConsenSys Diligence, etc.
• DeFi漏洞赏金平台:Immunefi
• Blockchain Security Real-time Monitoring Network: Forta

Re-staking Innovation

Persistence is building the Restaking infrastructure in Cosmos, allowing users to deposit liquid staking tokens ( such as stkATOM, stTIA, and stkDYDX) into Persistence through pSTAKE, Stride, and Quicksilver. Users can restake assets and secure additional chains while earning extra rewards.

The Persistence re-staking module supports multiple asset staking requests, such as staking equity tokens, stablecoins, LP tokens, etc.

Re-staking Alliance

The re-staking module of Persistence is developed based on the Alliance module, facilitating the staking of assets from one blockchain to another, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

For example, stakers of $XPRT, stkATOM, and stkTIA can join the liquid staking asset alliance after staking on Persistence. stkATOM and stkTIA stakers can earn liquid staking rewards and $XPRT.

Re-staking alliance shares staking rewards, and each asset staker distributes according to reward weight. The weight of $XRPT is 1, and the weights of other assets are determined by governance. This mechanism will form an interest community of re-staked assets, which is beneficial for enhancing the security and decentralization of the Cosmos ecosystem.

Source of Re-staking Earnings

The tokens that users re-stake are locked and proportionally minted into native tokens in the staking module. For example, stkATOM and stTIA are locked, proportionally minting $XPRT and staking it to validators, with the earnings distributed to stkATOM and stTIA stakers.

This is the source of income for Persistence's re-staking, and it further strengthens the security and liquidity of the Cosmos ecosystem.

Summary

Persistence provides an effective and secure economic infrastructure for liquid staking and re-staking within the Cosmos ecosystem. Through innovative re-staking solutions, Persistence establishes economic alliances for re-stakers, forming a cross-chain community of shared interests, enhancing mutual security guarantees, and increasing the level of decentralization within the Cosmos ecosystem.