The curtains have closed on this year's Staking Summit, a coming together of over 600 thought leaders and professionals from across the staking industry. The two-day event played host to 17 keynotes, 17 panels, and over 80 speakers, who all came together to discuss what’s next in the evolution of PoS.&nbsp;One of the highlights of this year’s event was the Protocol Validator Pitch. The initiative saw four new PoS protocols pitch to a jury of esteemed validators. With only 7 minutes on the clock, each participating protocol had to pitch to our jury, which consisted of Cosmostation, Felix Lutz (prev Chorus One), Stakecraft, Staketab, Sensei Node, and Stakin.&nbsp;The Results&nbsp;For each pitch, the jury gave each protocol a rating out of 10, based on their technical set-up, value proposition and node setup complexity.&nbsp;See the full scorecard for the protocol’s pitch below. The "Overall Score" represents an average taken from across each of the judges individual scores.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/protocol_pitch_competition_scorecard_41fa5213c7.png" alt="protocol-pitch-competition-scorecard.png"><figcaption>Scores from left to right: Cosmostation, Felix Lutz, Stakin, Sensei Node, Stakecraft &amp; Staketab&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>How did the jury reach their conclusions? Let’s take a closer look at our participating protocols and their pitches.<h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:6pt;margin-top:18pt;" dir="ltr">Protocol 1: Aleo</h2>First to the stage was Daniel, Validator Ecosystem Lead at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aleo.org/">Aleo Protocol</a>. He began by highlighting Aleo's role as a privacy-focused ZK L1 blockchain.&nbsp;Aleo differentiates itself with a strong emphasis on both privacy and programmability. The pitch explored the evolution of blockchain infrastructure and protocol development, culminating in Aleo's position as a permissionless, programmable, and privacy-preserving Layer 1.&nbsp;Daniel underscored the team's talent, including the cofounders Howard Wu (CTO) and Alex Pruden (CEO), who was the co-author of the ZK paper that became Aleo.<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/Aleo_Daniel_Pitch_827fdb172e.jpg" alt="Aleo-Daniel-Pitch.jpg"><figcaption>Daniel Hwang, Validator Ecosystem Lead at Aleo Protocol</figcaption></figure>The pitch explained Aleo's implementation of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) at the blockchain level, providing a visual timeline of blockchain evolution from Bitcoin to Zcash then ZK-rollups on Ethereum through to Aleo. Emphasis was placed on technological advancements in ZK, particularly in storage efficiency, showcasing Aleo's use of ZK miners and validators in the execution and finalization of blocks. Daniel then went into more detail on technical aspects of Aleo, such as its use of zk-SNARKs and the LEO programming language.&nbsp;The presentation concluded by highlighting Aleo's ambition for a robust ecosystem, successful fundraising, and the planned mainnet launch in Q1 of 2024.&nbsp;Aleo's average score:&nbsp;8.50 / 10&nbsp;<h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr">Protocol 2: ZetaChain</h2>On stage, Dennis, who leads developer experience at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.zetachain.com/">ZetaChain</a>, kicked off the presentation on their innovative blockchain solution&nbsp;In the pitch, Dennis explained that ZetaChain aims to revolutionize the multi-chain landscape with its EVM-compatible L1, focusing on seamless interoperability between existing chains.&nbsp;He then went on to highlight the evolution of multi-chain solutions, emphasizing the limitations of current options and the need for a user-centric approach. ZetaChain's groundbreaking Omni Chain contracts were spotlighted as the next step, offering decentralized cross-chain swaps and a robust infrastructure for developers.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/zetachain_pitch_staking_summit_820a223b91.png" alt="zetachain-pitch-staking-summit.png"><figcaption>Denis Fadeev, Head of Dev Experience ZetaChain</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The presentation showcased the technical aspects, active community involvement, and a planned launch in Q1 2024, making a compelling case for ZetaChain's potential in the blockchain ecosystem.&nbsp;ZetaChain's average score:&nbsp;7.17 / 10&nbsp;<h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr">Protocol 3: Autonity</h2>Spencer and Flo took the stage to introduce <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://autonity.org/">Autonity</a>, an ambitious Layer-1 protocol with a mission to revolutionize the market for derivatives.<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/autonity_pitch_staking_summit_3a0811d3c6.png" alt="autonity-pitch-staking-summit.png"><figcaption>Spencer and Flo from Autonity</figcaption></figure>Their pitch emphasized Autonity's groundbreaking approach to decentralized finance (DeFi) by transforming market risks into smart, tradable derivative products within a fully decentralized ecosystem. They pinpointed the drawbacks of current DeFi derivatives, emphasizing Autonity's solution of decoupling trade execution from clearing, ensuring global liquidity, and breaking free from venue lock-in.The duo delved into Autonity's unique features, including its EVM-compatible proof-of-stake model, liquid staking, and penalty-absorbing stake, designed to combat voting power centralization. The pitch concluded by announcing Autonity's planned mainnet launch in Q1 2024.Autonity's average score:&nbsp;6.83 / 10<h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr">Protocol 4: Mavryk Network</h2>Next on stage was Alex Davis, founder of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mavryk.finance/">Mavryk Network</a> and former Chief Innovation Officer for Tezos' Israeli office.&nbsp;&nbsp;Positioned as a departure from the blockchain hype, Mavryk focuses on seamlessly integrating real-world assets into a vertically integrated financial ecosystem on a single chain. The pitch emphasized Mavryk’s user-centric approach, tackling the industry-wide issue of disjointed money Legos and offering a liquid proof-of-stake blockchain with a strong emphasis on governance, scalability, and a unique on-chain economy.&nbsp;In the pitch, Alex pointed out that running a validator on the network was extremely easy (could even be done on a Raspberry Pi) and only takes a few hours of set up time.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/mavryk_pitch_staking_summit_65dd1fff9d.png" alt="mavryk-pitch-staking-summit.png"><figcaption>Alex Davis, Founder of Mavryk Network</figcaption></figure>Alex showcased Mavryk Network as a bridge between the tech and analog worlds, promising a tangible, user-friendly experience with real products and use cases on the blockchain.&nbsp;Mavryk's average score:&nbsp;6.67 / 10&nbsp;<h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2>Following the pitches, the verdict was in and it was over to our judges to give their score for each Protocol. One-by-one the jury held up scorecards, sharing with the audience what their individual rating for each protocol was out of 10.<img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/score_of_8_validator_pitch_stakingsummit_dce995cc2e.png" alt="score-of-8-validator-pitch-stakingsummit.png">By taking an average of the scores provided by our expert jury, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aleo.org/">Aleo</a> emerged as the clear winner with an highest average score of 8.5/10. This outcome is a testament to the strength of the pitch, their innovative approach, and the recognition of Aleo’s potential by our expert jury.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://tidy-ball-c49dc59f59.media.strapiapp.com/aleo_winner_protocol_pitch_5465ec19b7.png" alt="aleo-winner-protocol-pitch.png"><figcaption>Daniel Hwang from Aleo being announced as the winning pitch</figcaption></figure>Congratulations to Aleo for securing the top position in this year's Staking Summit Protocol Validator Pitch!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

A Recap of the Staking Summit's Protocol Validator Pitch

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