🎭Quicksilver Features
Quicksilver’s Objectives
Quicksilver aims to solve the Staker’s Dilemma—the trade-off between securing the network by staking and participating in DeFi for potentially higher yields. By facilitating DeFi participation through liquid staking, Quicksilver:
Enables Higher Yields: Users can earn staking rewards while also leveraging their assets in DeFi.
Increases Liquidity: More capital remains available in the Cosmos DeFi ecosystem, supporting growth across interconnected chains.
Maintains Chain Security & User Sovereignty: Key design choices ensure that security and users’ autonomy over their assets remain uncompromised.
Unrestricted Validator Choice
Decentralization is a guiding principle of Quicksilver. Consequently, the protocol employs Unrestricted Validator Choice, empowering delegators to stake with any validator on a target chain. This flexibility:
Prevents Validator Centralization: Distributing stake across many validators helps avoid excessive concentration of power.
Ensures User Autonomy: Delegators retain the freedom to choose validators who align with their preferences (performance, governance stance, etc.).
Scalability
Quicksilver integrates Interchain Accounts (ICA) and Interchain Queries (ICQ) to achieve seamless scalability:
Expanding to Any IBC-Connected Chain: Any blockchain that supports ICA and is connected via the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol can be “onboarded” to Quicksilver.
Governance-Driven Onboarding: To add a new chain (or “zone”), the Quicksilver community simply passes a governance proposal, keeping the decision-making in the hands of token holders.
This approach allows Quicksilver to grow alongside the broader Cosmos ecosystem without sacrificing operational efficiency or decentralization.
Governance by Proxy
Quicksilver introduces Governance by Proxy, enabling users to retain their voting rights when liquid staking through the protocol. As a result, delegators can:
Continue Participating in Governance: Even while assets are staked via Quicksilver, users maintain their voice in proposals on the native chain.
Safeguard Community Decision-Making: By distributing governance power across all stakers, Quicksilver helps ensure that the community’s interests guide network upgrades and policy choices.
Note: Governance by Proxy is still under development, but its implementation reflects Quicksilver’s commitment to upholding active governance as a cornerstone of the ecosystem.
Participation Rewards
To encourage decentralized staking and support smaller, high-performing validators, Quicksilver allocates part of its QCK token inflation to Participation Rewards. Specifically:
Reward Distribution: At each epoch (every 3 days), QCK tokens are distributed to delegators who stake with smaller, reliable validators that actively participate in governance.
Enhanced Security: Dispersing stake across many validators helps protect chains from attacks and reduces the risk of censorship.
Fostering Decentralization: Rewarding delegators for supporting smaller validators counters the natural tendency toward staking with only a few large validators.
Frictionless User Experience
Quicksilver is designed to deliver a simple, seamless journey for users:
Auto-Compounded Rewards: The protocol automatically compounds staking rewards every epoch, eliminating extra steps for users.
Minimized Complexity: Liquid staking becomes as straightforward as transferring assets and receiving the corresponding qAssets in return.
By reducing operational overhead and streamlining processes, Quicksilver lowers barriers to entry, facilitating broader participation in liquid staking and Cosmos DeFi.
Conclusion
Through Unrestricted Validator Choice, scalable architecture, Governance by Proxy, Participation Rewards, and a frictionless user experience, Quicksilver directly addresses the Staker’s Dilemma. The protocol not only boosts capital efficiency and network security but also preserves and even amplifies user sovereignty and decentralization across the Cosmos ecosystem.
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