LinkPool FAQ (Feedback Welcome!)

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What is Chainlink?

From Chainlink’s official FAQ:

Chainlink is a blockchain abstraction layer that enables universally connected smart contracts. Through a decentralized oracle network, Chainlink allows blockchains to securely interact with external data feeds, events, and payment methods, providing the critical off-chain information needed by complex smart contracts to become the dominant form of digital agreement.

The following materials are intended to provide you a baseline understanding of blockchains, smart contracts and how Chainlink enables smart contract enabled blockchain platforms to connect to real world data.

New to Blockchain? Start here:

New to Chainlink? Start here:

What is LinkPool?

LinkPool is a Chainlink service provider with the primary goal of lowering the barrier of entry to meaningfully contributing to the Chainlink network. Our aim is to allow people to earn passive income via effortless, trustless staking, reduce the amount of technical knowledge and experience required for running a Chainlink node, and to connect smart contract creators and node operators with the resources they need. We achieve this by offering our easy to use and intuitive staking dApp and the first of its kind Chainlink Market. We’ve also developed flexible, trustless contracts that can fairly distribute any form of revenue between a set of wallets.

Are you officially associated with Chainlink?

No. We are a completely separate entity from Chainlink Labs. We independently provide tooling and services to support the Chainlink network, but we are proud recipients of a Chainlink Community Grant. For more background on Chainlink’s grant program, see this article.

What is staking?

Note: Since the specifications for Staking have not yet been released and it isn’t yet live, we don’t know the precise details of its mechanics. That said, we believe we understand the broad strokes.

Staking within the Chainlink network refers to a portion of a Service Agreement between a Chainlink node operator and a data requester. The data requester will be able to demand that node operators serving their contracts put up a bond (or “stake”) in LINK tokens as a guarantee for honest and reliable performance. Among other codified details, a data requester will be able to specify what constitutes a failure on the part of a node operator, whether that is a failure to respond within a given length of time or providing data outside a certain range from the other nodes. A failure on the part of a node may mean that they lose some or all of their stake.

In this short video snippet Sergey discusses staking in some detail.

I see LINK staking offered on other platforms. Is this the same as Chainlink’s staking? What’s the difference?

As described above, staking has a specific meaning within the Chainlink ecosystem. In the wider crypto ecosystem staking has come to mean any way of earning a return by depositing an asset on a platform. What is mechanically happening with your asset when you deposit it will vary from platform to platform, but it likely boils down to providing liquidity for exchanges, lending your assets, or providing collateral to PoS validators.

How will penalty payments/slashing be handled?

We expect the majority of the penalties within the network will be a result of API issues or unresponsive nodes instead of inaccurate data. Our node infrastructure is architected with reliability and redundancy as primary concerns. We are confident enough in this respect that all penalty payments will be paid from our own pocket and would never be the stakers responsibility to pay when staking in our pool.

Will you support staking of other assets such as Ethereum?

We will continue to explore staking and earning yield on assets wherever it fits into our business model, with trustlessness as our guiding principle. That said, the Chainlink network is and will be our primary concern.

How does LinkPool generate revenue?

We run Chainlink nodes on all networks supported by the Chainlink protocol, operate Market.link, and in the future will generate fees from our staking pools and other offerings like Node as a Service. All fees earned by our products and services are distributed through the Owners’ Contract.

Can’t I just set up my own node?

If you can, you should! Once you’ve spun up your node, you can list it in our Market. The best resource for getting started running your own Chainlink node is the official documentation: Running a Chainlink Node.

What is the LinkPool Token?

LinkPool held a crowdsale and raised ¬700 ETH, which allowed the team to dedicate the necessary time to build the trustless pooling contracts that will power our platform for Chainlink staking.

Right after the crowdsale there were a total of 4,000 LinkPool Tokens, and 1000 Tokens were distributed proportionally to the crowdsale participants, at an approximate rate of 1.4 LinkPool Tokens per ETH contributed. For more context around the history of LinkPool, please see our this article, “What are LinkPool Tokens? How did everything start?”

In March 2021, in order to enhance several aspects of our contracts such as the user experience, DeFi composability, gas costs efficiency and staking mechanisms, we migrated to a new ERC20 token model.

This change resulted in a complete transformation of our token, as its new total supply changed with a 1:25,000 ratio from 4,000 to 100,000,000 LPL Tokens. LinkPool Token stakers are entitled to receive a share of the fees earned by LinkPool, paid in lpoLINK -a 1:1 LINK derivative token that you can swap at any moment."

I heard you can stake with LinkPool, does that mean that I can already stake LINK?

No, Chainlink staking is not yet live. This presentation by Sergey discusses staking and the difference between implicit and explicit staking.

What is the role of each token in the LinkPool staking platform??

  • LinkPool’s main token: LPL. By staking it in the staking contracts you will receive a share of all our fees generated by all our products & services.

  • LinkPool Allowance token: LPLA. It is the token that determines how much LINK you can stake. For every LPL you stake, you will receive 1 LPLA.

  • LINK 1:1 derivative: lpoLINK. It’s what the user staking LPL in our contracts will be able to see being updated live directly in their wallet and it represents the amount of actual LINK they can claim at any moment.

What are LPLA tokens?

The LPL Allowance (LPLA) tokens are the tokens minted when you stake your LPL tokens in our staking contracts. They are part of the mechanism that determines the amount of LINK (or other tokens) that a user can stake in our Staking Pools once Chainlink staking goes live. Think of them as the entry ticket to the staking pool. While your LPLA tokens are generated at a 1:1 ratio relative to your staked LPL, the ratio of the stakeable asset relative to your LPLA holdings will change over time.

For example: a user stakes 1000 LPL tokens and receives 1000 linkLPLA tokens. Imagine Chainlink staking has launched, and the ratio of stakeable LINK to linkLPLA is 0.1:1, so the user can stake 100 LINK. Over time, our LinkPool node has grown to require more collateral, so the stakeable LINK to linkLPLA ratio is increased to 0.2:1, so the user can now stake 200 LINK total.

Do I need to own a LinkPool Token in order to stake?

Not necessarily. Originally, only those who owned the old LinkPool tokens were going to be able to stake on our platform. However, this changes with the implementation of a new allowance token model. Thanks to this new model, when a LPL holder decides to stake their LPL tokens in the Owners Pool they receive an equivalent amount of what we call LPLA (LinkPool Allowance tokens) which, as described above, dictate the amount of tokens a user can stake on our platform.

Additionally, we will create a Lending Contract in which LPLA holders can lend their tokens to the Lending Contracts so that other users without LPLA can take advantage of that unused allowance. LPLA borrowers will pay LPLA lenders a portion of their staking rewards, and this variable fee will be determined by a bonding curve. As more of the lent LPLA is borrowed, the fee paid by borrowers will increase, incentivizing LPLA holders to lend their LPLA.

How many LINK can I stake?

The amount of LINK you will be able to stake will be determined either by the amount of LPL Allowance Tokens you stake in our staking contracts or by the amount of linkLPLA you borrow from the allowance lending contract. According to the initial estimates we made when we wrote this article, and taking into account the new token supply, we estimate that 1 LPL will eventually allow you to stake up to 0.4 LINK.

NOTE: This amount is simply an estimate. The real world amount will depend entirely on the demand for collateral on our nodes, and will be determined by economic demands.

Why can’t I unstake my LPL tokens from the staking contract?

It is very important to be aware that if you want to unwind your LPL tokens from the staking contract, you have to return all the LPLA tokens that were minted when you staked said LPL.

E.g: I stake 10 LPL, I obtain 10 LPLA. If I want to unstake 5 LPL, I’d have to return 5 LPLA to the contract.

If I lend my LPLA to the Lending Contract, will I be able to withdraw them again at any time?

Yes, you will be able to retrieve your lent LPLA tokens at any time.

How long are tokens locked when you stake them?

There is no locking mechanism, you can unstake your LPL whenever you wish as long as you give back the equivalent amount of LPLA.

I have staked my LPL and I have already received the corresponding LPLA. Is there anything else I should do?

That’s it, from now on you will be able to see your rewards accumulating in real time in your wallet in the form of lpoLINK. Once staking goes live, you may choose to stake your LINK according to the ratio of LPLA you own.

How often are the lpoLINK rewards updated in my wallet?

Your share of LINK fees earned by LinkPool services are updated in real time as earned fees are distributed to the Owners’ Contract.

What is LPOG?

If you’re one of the original 186 users that participated in the crowd sale, make sure you migrate using your original contributing address as you’ll receive an NFT celebrating your longstanding support. LPOG is the name given to said NFT. You can see it by visiting OpenSea and searching your Ethereum address.

How do I swap my old LinkPool Tokens (LP) to the new ERC20 LinkPool Token (LPL)?

Simply navigate to the Migration Portal, log in your wallet (whether using MetaMask or WalletConnect), press the migrate button and approve the transaction in your wallet and… that’s it!

How do I acquire LPL tokens?

Since the ERC20 token migration, the team has explicitly said that they will not pursue the listing of its token on any CEX or provide liquidity to any DEX or AMM. These types of efforts will be up to the community. So far the community has provided liquidity for several pools, the main ones are:

What are the most relevant contract addresses for LinkPool?

Will there be a maximum amount of stakeable LINK within the LinkPool ecosystem?

In the Chainlink context, “staking” is the ability to collateralize job requests as a Chainlink node operator in order to be eligible for jobs that require it. That means that there will be a very specific demand for LINK collateral, and once the demand is met, the rewards won’t increase despite increasing the LINK collateral of a certain node. This applies to any Chainlink node operator. That is the main reason that inspired us to create the LinkPool Allowance token, in order to provide the ability to any potential LINK staker to secure their ability to stake LINK in the LinkPool node and those nodes participating in their trustless staking microcosmos.

Will it be possible to automatically re-stake the LINK we generate in LinkPool?

While staking LINK is not yet live, once it has launched any LINK earned from staking will be automatically re-staked.

Are LinkPool tokens ERC20 compatible?

The LPL, lpoLINK and LPLA tokens are ERC677 tokens that inherits functionality from the ERC20 token standard and allows token transfers to contain a data payload. You can treat them as you would treat any other ERC20 token.

Where can I store my LPL & LPLA tokens?

You can store these tokens in any ERC20 compatible wallet.

When can we start staking?

Once the Penalty & Deposit Contracts have been completed by the Chainlink Team, we will gradually increase the ratio of stakeable LINK per LPLA. The Chainlink team doesn’t give timelines/estimates for development targets. The Pivotal Tracker is provided to track development progress. (Guide to understanding Pivotal Tracker).

For further information regarding LinkPool, please join us on Telegram or reach out via email.

What is the Chainlink Market?

The Chainlink Market at Market.link is a purpose built service for finding Chainlink nodes, adapters, jobs and data providers across the Chainlink network. The Chainlink Market gives the power to the community to list their own resources, rather than relying on centralised, static pages to list what you have to offer and discover what you need.

As a Node Operator:

  • List your own Chainlink nodes
  • Add your own adapters
  • Add supported data sources via your own adapters
  • Add Chainlink jobs to your nodes

As a Chainlink user:

  • Search for any node serving Chainlink jobs in different networks.
  • Search for any adapters.
  • Search for feeds on any network Chainlink serves.
  • Search for nodes that support any adapters.
  • Search for adapters that support a given data source.
  • Search for Chainlink jobs added to nodes that support any adapter.
  • Compare metrics like response time, total LINK earned, and average gas price for any node.
  • Find statistics and metrics that serve as an overview of the overall health of Chainlink’s network.

How do I create an account?

Navigate to Market.link, click on sign in - you’ll arrive at a log in page where you’ll see an option to “Create an account”.

How do I add my Node?

To add a node onto the marketplace, you just need an account and a deployed Chainlink node with its oracle contract. There’s no requirement for submitting any identity (KYC) into the platform. Although for a node to be searchable on the service it has to complete a quick on-chain validation process.

What is a Team account?

A Team is a group of users who act under the same business identity or common group and manage a single node. All users in a Team can manage this node and adapters within the Team. Any node or adapters are assigned to a Team will display the ownership details of the Team, and not the user who created it. The user who creates a Team gains administrative permissions over it. You can create your team upon registration or afterwards (Profile → Team)

What is the Managed By feature?

Managed By allows a Team to add, configure and manage multiple nodes. It is intended for groups of people who operate nodes as a service on behalf of individuals or companies.

How can I have my node associated with my website?

To list your website alongside your node you must first create a Team and assign your node to it. You can add your website within your team (Profile → Teams → Create a Team)

What is Keybase, and why should I verify my node with it?

We’ve planned to offer Keybase integration within the Chainlink Market since day 1, and its now live. Keybase is a form of identification leveraging social media accounts that allows smart contract creators to see that a node’s operators are who they say they are.

Are there any fees for using the Marketplace?

Yes, all fees for the Market are paid in LINK and are distributed to our Owner’s Contract. The fee is $30 and we calculate the fee’s value in LINK using Chainlink’s LINK/USD price feed.

How do I pay the Marketplace fees?

We have integrated MetaMask into the marketplace - meaning you can connect your ETH wallet to deposit the LINK for the fees.

Can I set up additional security to my Chainlink market account?

We offer non-obligatory but recommended 2FA authentication.

How do I see Chainlink’s activity on different networks?

Market.link now supports additional networks like Polygon (formerly known as Matic) and Binance Smart Chain. To change networks, click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner, click the dropdown menu and select the network you want to explore.

How do I build my own custom metrics queries?

As part of our Metrics update to Market.link, we opened up our Metrics API for anyone to build their own custom queries. See our Metrics API docs for more information, and our metrics examples repo for inspiration.

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Credit to @Sylvarant and @Avi for their tireless work on this

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