We are examining the Proof of Stake industry at large and providing a holistic view on the current State of Staking as well as challenges ahead.The report features unique data from the Proof of Stake Industry, cutting-edge insights from industry thought leaders, analyzed staking habits from over 200 investors.Enjoy some weekend reading on us!<hr><h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Proof of Stake Industry Has Grown by 1,550% Over the Past Year&nbsp;</h2>At the time of writing, the Proof of Stake (PoS) market cap is sitting at $326.775B, which is up from $21.117B just one year ago. An increase of 1,550%! Meanwhile, the overall crypto market is “only” up by 673% ($338B in October 2020, and $2,278B in October 2021). PoS has been the place to be in 2021 and will continue to be for the foreseeable. Below shows us the explosive growth over the past two years!<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bDL6SQjdNgkoXoj5SSaMZkLoe-AO-TpsX04d0146b6Abxy_vjyt3PvH4ylJiEwVYoV0A6lJcgaxRxVXNqaDpgUrMhGO8Mv9TSuxUIakzktZhJV5Jg5zfiqITH9yRoop3go4qGf9f=s0" alt="" decoding="async"></figure>And as expected, Proof of Stake is becoming the go-to consensus algorithm in the Web3 world for investors, retail and institutional, utilizing their digital assets via staking to create a passive income stream and to hedge against inflation. It is clear that builders are opting to go with PoS also for a whole suite of advantages. The PoS vs PoW dominance rate has more than doubled in the past two years and that is not even accounting for Ethereum. The proof is in the data and the FOMO is real??<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wql7YKMbmVuDV2yqyk9i0Wx2kIw0mTuDBwDgv6NwFlWHXu7V-Ab7A1LpxGz3w1fMcoPD5ATxE_IR0PnNMmnMbdW9IJGK_cSJbLTUOcwoFs0megafQhxWdVA5esoiaKgJoSOxf7cO=s0" alt="" decoding="async"></figure>While drafting this report, we simultaneously surveyed over 200+ Staking Rewards users to understand their habits, insights, and thoughts on the current state of the ecosystem. We questioned them on various topics and areas and the insights are fascinating! A must-read for any validator, investor, or Proof of Stake fanatic.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/wRXOfgrTZqF5jsGwfiDx6tVzB_2POpZTFdWYRCFiDq6vwA3sI9oFTeWiuAcKZIPBRPYvDjP7AvujTTS11c4mpv0X4Swqd11rG0vieaVHZovJ9p0_Y-Nq2FomMCzA49DRX1yvZLHA=s0" alt="" decoding="async"></figure><h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cutting Edge Insights</h2>To add to this, we have asked the leaders of the industry to answer specific questions on specific topics throughout the report. See an example below on the kind of insights we have collated from some of the best minds in Proof of Stake.&nbsp;Do you see staking yields competing with DeFi yields? What are the implications of this on network security? How to balance these?Felix Lutsch from Chorus One:“I do not see a direct competition here. At the current stage, staking and DeFi attract somewhat different user profiles. I do believe that there will be more and more financial products that help bridge the two worlds and allow users flexibility in how they want to deploy their capital. Tokenizing staking positions appear to be a core building block for this to happen. It is likely that staking will be the backbone of a lot of decentralized finance products in the medium run. I’m excited about further innovation in the liquid staking realm. Examples include two token models where the rewards are separated from the principal or the superfluid staking model introduced by Osmosis (a Cosmos DEX), in which liquidity provider (LP) tokens involving the native OSMO tokens can be staked to generate staking rewards on top of LP rewards (as opposed to deploying a tokenized staking position in a pool).”<hr><h2 class="wp-block-heading">The 2021 Staking Summit by Staking Rewards</h2>To mark the report, we will also be hosting an online event on October 20th with some key speakers who participated in the report. To attend the free, online event, join us here at 2 pm Lisbon/UK time – <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.crowdcast.io/e/stakingsummit2021">The 2021 Staking Summit by Staking Rewards</a>.<hr><h2 class="wp-block-heading">About the Report</h2>The 2021 Staking Ecosystem Report has been a work in progress for the past number of months by the Staking Rewards team and comes at a time when the Proof of Stake industry as a whole has been experiencing exponential growth. Retail and institutional investors alike have been flocking to the scene in an attempt to earn passive income with their digital assets as well as getting involved with various areas of the underlying protocols such as governance and validating.&nbsp;In this report, we have collated the thoughts, insights, and opinions of 19 diverse Staking industry thought-leaders and over 200+ Staking Rewards’ users/digital asset investors to get an in-depth view on the world of Proof of Stake as it is and where it will be in the not too distant future. We explore 10 key Staking-related topics such as Validator Business, Regulation and Taxation, Industry Challenges, and invite you to dive deep into the mindsets of the leaders behind your favorite companies in the space!We have interviewed representatives of the following entities and would like to give them a huge thanks from all at Staking Rewards for taking the time to participate and make this report a reality.<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img class="wp-image-5469" src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_2b7b8671e6.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_2b7b8671e6.jpg 1648w, https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_360x243_2fb17add23.jpg 360w, https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_80x54_29a13cf328.jpg 80w, https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_768x519_f1e03d935f.jpg 768w, https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/image_3_1536x1037_b0286b318e.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1648px) 100vw, 1648px" width="1648" decoding="async" loading="lazy" height="1113"></figure>The industry is very much emerging out of its Exploration phase and is well on the path to Realization. We are excited to see where the journey as a whole will take us but one thing is certain, Staking Rewards will be at the forefront of the industry, providing the highest quality of objective research and data on the whole ecosystem.The report was sponsored by StaFi protocol who is unlocking the liquidity of staked assets on chains like Ethereum, Polkadot, and more.

2021 Staking Ecosystem Report

TL;DR: