Once you have delegated your CTSI, there are things you need to consider going forward:

• Firstly, rewards are auto-compounded. So you don’t need to do anything to compound it once you have started staking.
• Secondly, when staking your CTSI, it takes 6 hours to mature. When the maturation period is over, the CTSI you staked will automatically count towards your block production chances. Keep in mind that if you stake more CTSI while you still have CTSI maturing, the maturation period will be reset for your previously maturing stake.
• Your CTSI rewards are claimed when you unstake from a pool, so you don’t need to do anything from when you join a pool until you leave. 
• Cartesi does not currently have on-chain governance, the Cartesi Foundation governs Cartesi’s blockchain network and components. As a result, you don’t need to worry about taking part in any governance proposals.
• Play around with the Cartesi staking calculator to calculate your earnings over your investment horizon.

It is essential for users to stake their PoS tokens with a dependable and highly performant validator, which is why we have rolled out our Verified Provider Program in June 2022. 

When we verify providers, we look at their business through a microscope and analyse things such as their security; value-adds to the ecosystem and the team. You can learn more about the VPP Batch 1 and Batch 2. Providers that are part of the VPP have a blue checkmark next to their names on our website and can be viewed here.

Cartesi uses decentralized staking pools, ‘Validators’ and ‘Staking Pools’ can be used interchangeably in this case. There are many metrics to consider when selecting a validator to delegate to:

Commission Rates: The commission rate a validator charges is the % of your reward that the validator keeps for themselves. A high commission rate means your rewards will be lower whilst a low commission rate could mean that the validator is not profitable and could cause issues for them in the future. Keep in mind that validators can adjust their commission rates up or down over time. 

Number of Users: A high number of delegators could indicate positive sentiment towards a validator. 

Validators Self-Staked balance: A provider that has a high amount of staked tokens likely has more incentive to continue operating their services as they have more to lose than those with low self-staked balances. This metric has some limitations as validators can choose to delegate to their own validator from another wallet, which is done to increase the security of their funds.

Network Share: You typically don’t want to choose a validator with the highest network share or a validator with a low network share. Delegating to the most popular validators increases centralisation risks within the network as those validators will have more say in governance and a larger share of the blocks. A validator with a low network share, might not be profitable and hence increases the risk of them discontinuing their services.

Performance: Make sure you pick a validator with the highest possible uptime performance. Our recommendation is to only pick those with a >=99% performance.

Value Add to the Ecosystem: Some providers offer extra services to their delegators, such as tax reporting tools, explorers, etc. This can be another great way to filter for validators that are thinking long-term. You can view the value-added services of staking providers by searching for their profile on our website and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

The staking rewards for CTSI are generated by:

Block Rewards: 25% of the total supply of CTSI has been set aside for the mine reserve. These tokens will help bootstrap the staking participation rate until the fees paid by the network users become large enough to sustain an appropriate staking rate. Currently, 2,900 CTSI are rewarded per block. This reward is distributed proportionally to all stakers participating in the node that earned the reward.

Please note that the total annual rewards are divided by all active stakers; hence, as the amount of staked tokens goes up, the reward rate goes down. 

You are welcome to play around with our Cartesi Staking Calculator to get a better feel of how these metrics can influence your rewards. 

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: There is no slashing on the Cartesi network. 

Unbonding risk: Once staked, your CTSI tokens will be locked for 2 days. Crypto markets are highly volatile, and investors need to be aware that they cannot sell their tokens immediately once they have staked them. Please take note of this lockup before you decide to stake. Consider keeping funds liquid if you do not intend to hold CTSI long-term. 

Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs. This not only applies to staking but your CTSI investment in general.

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

CTSI holders can stake their tokens to participate in the ecosystem’s community-driven governance mechanisms. To learn more, visit the Cartesi Governance Page.

Token Utilities

Staking: Users can temporarily lock CTSI up to contribute to the security of the Cartesi Network.

Gas token: Each transaction processed by the network requires a small fee to be paid to the validator. 

Cartesi uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm to reach agreement on the state of its network. In a DPoS system, token holders can use their tokens to vote for a set of validators, also known as block producers, who are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the network. These validators create new blocks and validate transactions. They are elected through a democratic voting process, where token holders can vote for the validators they trust to secure the network. Validators are rewarded for their work through the inflation of the token supply and transaction fees. The chosen set of validators is also subject to a rotating schedule, this way all the active validators take turn to produce blocks. This algorithm encourages a decentralized network, since token holders are able to choose the validators they trust to secure the network and it allows for a fair distribution of rewards and fast confirmation times.

Cartesi has a total fixed supply of 1 billion CTSI, the total supply will be gradually unlocked until 2026.

Initial Distribution Breakdown 

• Binance Launchpad Sale tokens comprise 10.00% of the total token supply.
• Seed Sale tokens comprise 2.00% of the total token supply.
• Private Sale tokens comprise 5.00% of the total token supply.
• Strategic Sale tokens comprise 0.67% of the total token supply.
• Team tokens comprise 15.00% of the total token supply.
• Advisors tokens comprise 2.11% of the total token supply.
• Foundation Reserve tokens comprise 40.22% of the total token supply.
• Mining Reserve tokens comprise 25.00% of the total token supply.

Funding Rounds

• $100,000 was raised in the Seed Sale in Aug 2017 with an average price of $0.005
• $500,000 was raised in the Private Sale in May 2021 with an average price of $0.01
• $200,000 was raised in the Strategic Sale in Dec 2019 with an average price of $0.03
• $1.5M was raised in the Launchpad Sale in April 2020 with an average price of $0.015