1INCH Staking

The 1inch network capped the total supply of 1INCH at 1.5 billion. 1inch launched its token in December 2020, releasing only 6% of the total supply into general circulation. Following the release day, there was another 0.5% released during the first two weeks of the liquidity mining program. The locked tokens would be released biannually over a four-year period till December 2024.

Token Supply Schedule

Community incentives: 30% of the total token supply has been allocated to community incentives, and they will be unlocked and distributed over 4 years. The goal is to step up the level of decentralization in the DAO and give each community member an opportunity to take part in protocol governance and influence the protocol’s security.

Protocol growth and development fund: 14.5% of the supply, unlocked over a 4-year period, will form the protocol growth and development fund. It will be used to issue grants, attract developers to build on and improve 1inch protocols, finance audits, and compensate users for their losses due to any kind of unforeseen circumstances.

There are several ways to earn a return on your 1INCH, including lending them out to custodial providers or through decentralized lending protocols, supplying liquidity, or staking them on 1inch.exchange.

For the best security and control over your funds, we recommend using a Ledger Hardware Wallet to store the tokens and using Metamask Wallet to stake the tokens. The steps to do so are as follows:

Step 1: Go to 1inch.exchange, click “Connect Wallet” at the upper right corner to connect to your Metamask Wallet. Once connected, click the “DAO” tab on the top heading, and then click “Staking”. Now you will be directed to the staking interface.

Step 2: Enter the amount of the 1INCH tokens you would like to stake, and choose the “Lock time” during which unstaking will be penalized. Note that choosing a longer staking period will grant stronger Unicorn Power. Click “Give Permission to Stake”, approve it, and sign and confirm the transaction in your wallet. 

Step 3: Once you stake 1INCH tokens, you will be holding st1INCH. Click on the “Earn” tab at the top of the page, and then “Delegate”.

Step 5: On the next screen you will see all of the available resolvers that you can delegate to. After choosing the desired resolver, click “Delegate”. Next, click “Confirm” delegation, and then confirm the transaction in your connected wallet.

View the official 1inch staking tutorial here.

1INCH is the governance and utility token of 1inch.exchange. It is an ERC-20 token issued to liquidity providers on the 1inch decentralized exchange and can be earned by providing liquidity to pools on 1inch.exchange. 

Token Utilities:

• Staking: If you are a 1INCH holder, you can stake your tokens on the 1inch protocol to collect governance rewards. 
• Governance: Anyone may participate in the DAO’s discussions, however only users with 1INCH tokens may vote on proposals. To ensure that all participants in the governance process have a vested interest in the success of the project, holders of 1INCH must first deposit it in the staking contract. This means only 1INCH token stakers can participate in the DAO governance proposal through voting on major protocol parameters and contribute to the 1inch protocols (currently Aggregation and Liquidity Protocols). Additionally, if a delegator delegates his voting power to a delegatee and both of them vote on the same proposal, then the delegated voting power is ignored for that vote. In other words, even if a delegator has allotted their voting power to another address, said delegator always has the option to temporarily override that delegation by voting themselves.

Once you have staked your 1inch, there are things you need to consider going forward:

• Rewards are not auto-compounded. To get the most out of your tokens, you should consider claiming and staking your rewards more frequently, but consider that each transaction will cost you some gas. By using our 1inch Staking Calculator, you can calculate the optimal re-stake frequency for your amount of 1inch.
• Rewards are distributed to 1inch resolvers once a week, which implies stakers can claim rewards on a weekly basis. Note that this only applies to staking that has passed the locking period.
• As a 1inch staker,  you will have the opportunity to vote on Governance Proposals. While your contribution and vote are highly valuable to the protocol, it won’t affect your rewards directly.

The 1inch network capped the total supply of 1INCH at 1.5 billion. 1inch launched its token in December 2020, releasing only 6% of the total supply into general circulation. Following the release day, there was another 0.5% released during the first two weeks of the liquidity mining program. The locked tokens would be released biannually over a four-year period till December 2024.

Token Supply Schedule

Community incentives: 30% of the total token supply has been allocated to community incentives, and they will be unlocked and distributed over 4 years. The goal is to step up the level of decentralization in the DAO and give each community member an opportunity to take part in protocol governance and influence the protocol’s security.

Protocol growth and development fund: 14.5% of the supply, unlocked over a 4-year period, will form the protocol growth and development fund. It will be used to issue grants, attract developers to build on and improve 1inch protocols, finance audits, and compensate users for their losses due to any kind of unforeseen circumstances.

We strive to make staking as safe and transparent as possible, however, it’s important to consider factors influencing whether a particular staking option is appropriate for you.

• Unbonding risk: When staking 1INCH tokens, there is a lockup period of 1 month to 2 years. This means your st1INCH tokens cannot be unstaked/withdrawn without penalty until your designated lock period expires. The penalty mechanism can be found here. Hence, investors are discouraged to sell their tokens immediately, but instead need to wait at least ~30 days for the tokens to unbond before they can be traded again. This is something to keep in mind when deciding to stake, as the crypto markets are highly volatile.Consider keeping funds liquid if you do not intend to hold 1INCH long-term. 
• Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs, this risk applies not only to staking but also the investment in 1INCH tokens in general.

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

What is a “resolver”?

To understand the components of 1INCH staking rewards, it’s important to know about the role of a “resolver.” Resolvers are third-party entities that execute limit orders on behalf of users to fill orders before the exchange rate reaches the minimum return amount. They compete with each other to fill orders and users can stake 1INCH tokens to earn “unicorn power” and be listed among the top 5 registered resolvers. Learn more about the role of a resolver here.

The native staking rewards for 1INCH comes from delegation rewards:

By locking 1INCH tokens in the staking contract, users can receive st1INCH tokens and gain “unicorn power.” This power can be used for resolving orders, delegation, and governance. The longer the tokens are locked, the more unicorn power is gained. The design of an increase in the unicorn power can be found here.

After gaining the unicorn power, stakers can delegate it to a resolver, which helps the resolver maintain his position in the top-5 whitelist of resolvers. Delegated unicorn power decreases over time with a lock period. Stakers can delegate all their power to a single resolver at any given time. 

Under the current program, 250K 1INCH tokens will be distributed to 1inch resolvers once a week. The number of tokens that each resolver will receive will depend upon their network share. The program will run until the entire 10M 1INCH fund is distributed.

The resolvers, in turn, will use these funds to reward delegators (stakers) proportional to the delegated unicorn power and time spent delegating, making the staking of 1INCH tokens attractive. 

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

Please also be aware that custodial rewards may not always be worth the cost. Some custodians have gone bankrupt by offering high reward rates, but usually, these custodians will take a significant portion of the rewards in exchange for staking your tokens.

You can use our Staking Calculator to better understand how these factors may impact your rewards.

There are several ways to earn a return on your 1INCH, including lending them out to custodial providers or through decentralized lending protocols, supplying liquidity, or staking them on 1inch.exchange.

For the best security and control over your funds, we recommend using a Ledger Hardware Wallet to store the tokens and using Metamask Wallet to stake the tokens. The steps to do so are as follows:

Step 1: Go to 1inch.exchange, click “Connect Wallet” at the upper right corner to connect to your Metamask Wallet. Once connected, click the “DAO” tab on the top heading, and then click “Staking”. Now you will be directed to the staking interface.

Step 2: Enter the amount of the 1INCH tokens you would like to stake, and choose the “Lock time” during which unstaking will be penalized. Note that choosing a longer staking period will grant stronger Unicorn Power. Click “Give Permission to Stake”, approve it, and sign and confirm the transaction in your wallet. 

Step 3: Once you stake 1INCH tokens, you will be holding st1INCH. Click on the “Earn” tab at the top of the page, and then “Delegate”.

Step 5: On the next screen you will see all of the available resolvers that you can delegate to. After choosing the desired resolver, click “Delegate”. Next, click “Confirm” delegation, and then confirm the transaction in your connected wallet.

View the official 1inch staking tutorial here.

Once you have staked your 1inch, there are things you need to consider going forward:

• Rewards are not auto-compounded. To get the most out of your tokens, you should consider claiming and staking your rewards more frequently, but consider that each transaction will cost you some gas. By using our 1inch Staking Calculator, you can calculate the optimal re-stake frequency for your amount of 1inch.
• Rewards are distributed to 1inch resolvers once a week, which implies stakers can claim rewards on a weekly basis. Note that this only applies to staking that has passed the locking period.
• As a 1inch staker,  you will have the opportunity to vote on Governance Proposals. While your contribution and vote are highly valuable to the protocol, it won’t affect your rewards directly.

What is a “resolver”?

To understand the components of 1INCH staking rewards, it’s important to know about the role of a “resolver.” Resolvers are third-party entities that execute limit orders on behalf of users to fill orders before the exchange rate reaches the minimum return amount. They compete with each other to fill orders and users can stake 1INCH tokens to earn “unicorn power” and be listed among the top 5 registered resolvers. Learn more about the role of a resolver here.

The native staking rewards for 1INCH comes from delegation rewards:

By locking 1INCH tokens in the staking contract, users can receive st1INCH tokens and gain “unicorn power.” This power can be used for resolving orders, delegation, and governance. The longer the tokens are locked, the more unicorn power is gained. The design of an increase in the unicorn power can be found here.

After gaining the unicorn power, stakers can delegate it to a resolver, which helps the resolver maintain his position in the top-5 whitelist of resolvers. Delegated unicorn power decreases over time with a lock period. Stakers can delegate all their power to a single resolver at any given time. 

Under the current program, 250K 1INCH tokens will be distributed to 1inch resolvers once a week. The number of tokens that each resolver will receive will depend upon their network share. The program will run until the entire 10M 1INCH fund is distributed.

The resolvers, in turn, will use these funds to reward delegators (stakers) proportional to the delegated unicorn power and time spent delegating, making the staking of 1INCH tokens attractive. 

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

Please also be aware that custodial rewards may not always be worth the cost. Some custodians have gone bankrupt by offering high reward rates, but usually, these custodians will take a significant portion of the rewards in exchange for staking your tokens.

You can use our Staking Calculator to better understand how these factors may impact your rewards.

We strive to make staking as safe and transparent as possible, however, it’s important to consider factors influencing whether a particular staking option is appropriate for you.

• Unbonding risk: When staking 1INCH tokens, there is a lockup period of 1 month to 2 years. This means your st1INCH tokens cannot be unstaked/withdrawn without penalty until your designated lock period expires. The penalty mechanism can be found here. Hence, investors are discouraged to sell their tokens immediately, but instead need to wait at least ~30 days for the tokens to unbond before they can be traded again. This is something to keep in mind when deciding to stake, as the crypto markets are highly volatile.Consider keeping funds liquid if you do not intend to hold 1INCH long-term. 
• Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs, this risk applies not only to staking but also the investment in 1INCH tokens in general.

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

1INCH is the governance and utility token of 1inch.exchange. It is an ERC-20 token issued to liquidity providers on the 1inch decentralized exchange and can be earned by providing liquidity to pools on 1inch.exchange. 

Token Utilities:

• Staking: If you are a 1INCH holder, you can stake your tokens on the 1inch protocol to collect governance rewards. 
• Governance: Anyone may participate in the DAO’s discussions, however only users with 1INCH tokens may vote on proposals. To ensure that all participants in the governance process have a vested interest in the success of the project, holders of 1INCH must first deposit it in the staking contract. This means only 1INCH token stakers can participate in the DAO governance proposal through voting on major protocol parameters and contribute to the 1inch protocols (currently Aggregation and Liquidity Protocols). Additionally, if a delegator delegates his voting power to a delegatee and both of them vote on the same proposal, then the delegated voting power is ignored for that vote. In other words, even if a delegator has allotted their voting power to another address, said delegator always has the option to temporarily override that delegation by voting themselves.

The 1inch network capped the total supply of 1INCH at 1.5 billion. 1inch launched its token in December 2020, releasing only 6% of the total supply into general circulation. Following the release day, there was another 0.5% released during the first two weeks of the liquidity mining program. The locked tokens would be released biannually over a four-year period till December 2024.

Token Supply Schedule

Community incentives: 30% of the total token supply has been allocated to community incentives, and they will be unlocked and distributed over 4 years. The goal is to step up the level of decentralization in the DAO and give each community member an opportunity to take part in protocol governance and influence the protocol’s security.

Protocol growth and development fund: 14.5% of the supply, unlocked over a 4-year period, will form the protocol growth and development fund. It will be used to issue grants, attract developers to build on and improve 1inch protocols, finance audits, and compensate users for their losses due to any kind of unforeseen circumstances.