Once you have delegated your LINK, there are things you need to consider going forward. 

• Your LINK will be locked until a future release of staking – you need to keep an eye out for the next staking release which is expected to be announced around October 2023. 

Due to the security parameters of the Chainlink Staking system, both Node Operators and Community Stakers will initially have their staked LINK and accumulated rewards locked up in a smart contract until a future release of Staking. 

Community Stakers in v0.1 will see their stake automatically delegated equally across all actively staking node operators, without node operators taking control of community stake. This mechanism is referred to as “Auto-Delegation”. It allows node operators to start from an equal position before a more advanced reputation system planned for a future Staking release is implemented.

As a result, you do not need to choose a node operator, it is done automatically.

The Staking Rewards on LINK consist of network emissions in v0.1: 

Rewards for Node Operators: Node Operator Stakers are expected to have a baseline rate of 5% per year in LINK against their committed stake, as well as rewards sourced from the 5% delegation fee derived from Community Staker rewards. Assuming an entirely filled 25M LINK pool, Node Operator Stakers can earn an effective annualized reward rate of ~7%.

Rewards for Community Stakers: In v0.1, the community stake portion of the pool is expected to have a baseline rate of 5% per year in LINK against their committed stake for helping secure the Chainlink Network. From those annualized rewards, a 5% portion of Community Staker rewards is expected to be directed to Node Operator Stakers as a delegation reward. The result is an effective reward rate of 4.75% on an annualized basis for Community Stakers in v0.1.

Alerting Rewards: In v0.1, stakers can raise a valid alert on the ETH/USD Data Feed on Ethereum mainnet if a new oracle report has not been submitted on-chain for more than three hours since the previous on-chain update. A valid alert from a Node Operator Staker during the Priority Period can earn 7,000 LINK. Any staker who raises a valid alert after the Priority Period can earn 20% of their staked amount, up to a maximum of 7,000 LINK based on the following formula: min(7,000, 0.2 * staked_link).

It’s important to keep in mind that the total annual rewards are divided among all active stakers. As the number of staked tokens increases, the reward rate decreases.

You’re welcome to use our Chainlink Staking Calculator to get a better understanding of how these factors can impact your rewards.

LINK is the native token of the Chainlink network that is used to carry out the key functions of the platform as detailed below:

Token Utilities

• Payment for oracle servics: Oracles on the Chainlink Network are paid in LINK for providing data to smart contracts. 
• Staking: Users can lock up LINK to earn staking rewards for contributing to the cryptoeconomic security of oracle services. By committing LINK tokens in smart contracts to back certain performance guarantees around oracle services, the Chainlink ecosystem can expand to secure greater amounts of value over time.
• Governance: In a future upgrade, LINK token holders will be able to vote on important decisions that affect the direction and development of the Chainlink Network.

Whilst we want to ensure staking is as safe and transparent as possible, there are still things to consider regarding whether a specific staking option is right for you.

Slashing risk: Node Operator Stakers will not see their committed stake slashed during v0.1. However, if a valid alert is raised for excessive downtime, then up to three months of accrued staking rewards can be slashed from node operators currently serving the ETH/USD Data Feed on Ethereum. Note that the staked LINK and staking rewards earned within the Community Staker allotment will not be subject to penalties or slashing in Staking v0.1. Stake slashing is planned for a future release of Staking.

Lockup risk: Both Node Operators and Community Stakers will initially have their staked LINK and accumulated rewards locked up in a smart contract until a future release of Staking. Please take note of this lockup before you decide to stake.

Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all the risks related to staking.

Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that provides reliable, tamper-proof inputs and outputs for complex smart contracts on any blockchain. The network uses a consensus mechanism called “secure aggregated price feeds” to ensure that the data provided by its oracles is accurate and reliable. This mechanism allows multiple oracles to provide price data for the same contract, which is then aggregated and validated by a decentralized network of nodes. This ensures that the data is both accurate and tamper-proof, as any attempt to manipulate the data would require control over a significant portion of the network.

LINK has a maximum token supply of 1 billion tokens

Initial Token Distribution

The initial distribution of Chainlink (LINK) tokens is as follows:

• 35.00% is allocated to Public Token Sale
• 35.00% is allocated to Node Operators & Ecosystem
• 30.00% is allocated to Company

Funding Rounds:

• $29.00M was raised in the Private Sale on 19 Sept 2017 with an average price of $0.09
• $3.00M was raised in the Public Sale on 19 Sept 2017 with an average price of $0.11