[GIP - 002] Switch Staking Rewards from SEED to BTC
Summary
The Garden staking program, which has been active for nearly six months, currently engages a total of 81 stakers, with each staker contributing an average of approximately 16,000 SEED. However, it's important to note that the number of new stakers has not noticeably increased since early May.
In light of this, a TEMP CHECK was conducted to gauge community preferences. The results showed that over 50% of participants preferred receiving staking rewards in BTC, while 22.6% favoured SEED, 16.7% preferred USDT, and 8.3% chose ETH. This proposal seeks to officially decide whether staking rewards should be switched from SEED to native BTC, reflecting the Garden community's preferred direction.
Objective
Update Garden staking rewards from SEED to BTC.
Motivation
SEED was initially chosen as the reward to foster regular buy pressure and support its market price, as fillers would need to purchase SEED weekly to distribute rewards. However, in practice, many stakers sell their SEED rewards, creating downward price pressure due to the token's low liquidity. Given SEED’s early stage and 92.3 % SEED tokens yet to be released into the market, this sell pressure has a magnified impact on price stability.
On the other hand, BTC yield could lead to these benefits.
- Native BTC yield are likely to attract a wider audience, potentially increasing Garden’s visibility and participation.
- Offering BTC not only reduces the sell pressure on SEED, but also creates buy pressure from new stakers sourcing SEED from the market.
- SEED will become one of the few assets in DeFi that yields BTC, adding a unique incentive for holding and staking SEED.
The current APY for staking is 123%. Imagine earning those rewards in native BTC—this could offer even higher APYs, especially as community fillers go live, driving fillers to offer competitive returns to attract more orders on Garden.
Switching to Bitcoin for staking rewards offers a more stable and attractive incentive for stakers while supporting SEED's long-term value and market positioning as a Bitcoin exchange.
Specification
Upon approval of this proposal, the staking rewards will transition from SEED to BTC through a rewards distributor system. This system enables users to claim weekly rewards via a signature that will account for accruing rewards. Users from the Garden staking system can submit this signature to the on-chain contract to receive their rewards in native BTC to a Bitcoin address of their choice.
The detailed implementation timeline will be shared via a Discord post once the proposal is approved, with the change targeted for Q4 2024. If necessary, a security audit will be conducted during implementation to ensure the integrity of the system.
Vote
Gardeners who have staked SEED on Garden are eligible to vote on this proposal. Each 2100 SEED stake grants one vote, with the total vote count being multiplied by the staking multiplier, determined by the lock-in period. The proposal is considered to be approved if it reaches a quorum of 6000 votes.
Useful Links
Off-Chain Vote
Timeline
Sep 05, 2024Proposal created
Sep 06, 2024Proposal vote started
Sep 13, 2024Proposal vote ended
Sep 23, 2025Proposal updated