The proof-of-stake model allows owners of a cryptocurrency to stake coins and create their own validator nodes. Staking is when you pledge your coins to be used for verifying transactions. Your coins are locked up while you stake them, but you can unstake them if you want to trade them.
It is clear that Proof of Stake chains will be an integral part of the future of crypto, and become the foundation layer of which DeFi and metaverses will be built on.
However, PoS comes with some drawbacks for those wanting to participate directly as validators:
- It requires technical know-how to set up and operate
- Staked tokens are locked up and become illiquid assets
In order to solve these issues, liquid staking protocols were born. Liquid staking abstracts the staking of tokens from running a validator node.
In exchange for their tokens, depositors receive a representative (uniBTC) token from the protocol which is a claim on the tokens they have staked.
Liquid restaking is liquid staking combined with restaking on Babylon in one token. This allows Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) holders not only to earn rewards from Babylon BTC restaking any other potential benefits coming from Babylon network, but also potential rewards from Bedrock staking protocol.
uniBTC represents the staked wBTC plus all future staking rewards and accrual of Babylon staking rewards and Bedrock diamonds. 1 uniBTC always equals 1 wBTC.
Bedrock unlock the staking rewards from Babylon for wBTC users who don’t need redeem their wBTC back to BTC.
When restaking on Ethereum chain, everything is guarded in a smart contract that audited by multiple security firms.
This is dependent on the Babylon blockchain; there will be a lock period for BTC staking recognized by the Babylon network. However, you will receive uniBTC when you deposit and it will still gain staking rewards over time. uniBTC can also be sold and traded on various DEXs and CEXs if there is liquidity available for the trade and can be used to provide liquidity to earn additional yield.
uniBTC is built on-chain, and all contracts are open-source and available for anyone to view. Total supply of uniBTC can be checked and verified via Etherscan
uniBTC deposit smart contract captures all these information, which can be checked and verified via Etherscan