Open Staking

The Door That Is Always Open

Open Staking is the staking mechanism available to any $NOON holder, regardless of how $NOON was acquired (including tokens bought on the open market, tokens after completion of Active Staking or that opt out of Active Staking).

TL;DR

1. Any $NOON holder can participate in Open Staking, regardless of how $NOON was acquired

2. You place a stake request, and your stake begins at the start of the following month. Until then, you can modify or cancel your request freely

3. Rewards are proportional to your share of the Open Staking pool. The pool grows over time through rule-based rollovers from both Active Staking and Open Staking

4. Staking for 12 months or longer vests 100% of your rewards. Shorter periods vest only a portion, and the unvested portion rolls back into the following month's Open Staking pool

5. Early unstaking forfeits all rewards. Unlike Active Staking, there is no partial vesting based on completed milestones. You will only receive your staked $NOON back

6. Voting power is based on your initial staked $NOON amount and grows over a 48-month curve, similarly to Active Staking

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We want to make sure voting rights aren't limited to USN and sUSN holders, as anyone who holds and stakes $NOON should be able to contribute meaningfully to our protocol-level decisions.

Whereas Active Staking allocates rewards based on Active Staking Points, Open Staking does so based on your share of the Open Staking pool each month.

Open Staking follows a two-step flow:

1. First, you place a stake request, choosing how much $NOON you want to stake and for how long. Until your stake begins, you can modify or cancel this request at any time

2. Second, your stake begins at the start of the next month. Open Staking starts monthly so that rewards calculations remain consistent. From then on, your $NOON is staked and begins earning Open Staking rewards.

1. Maximising allocation

Your rewards are allocated based on your share of the Open Staking pool each month. The larger the proportion of the pool you stake, the larger the proportion of Open Staking rewards you can receive. The Open Staking rewards pool is set at the start of the month and is fixed.

However, the Open Staking reward pool can be increased by rule-based rollovers from the previous month, which are:

• Intentionally unvested tokens from Active Staking (including the remaining 90% from immediate claims)

• Intentionally unvested tokens from Open Staking

• Forgone tokens due to early unstaking from Active Staking

• Forgone tokens due to early unstaking from Open Staking

1.1. Vesting Curve

The vesting curve for the Open Staking allocation is the same as the Active Staking one:

10% + [ (t / T)³ × 0.73 + (t / T) × 0.27 ] × 90%, over 12 months

Staking for 12 months, 2 years, or 4 years results in 100% of your Open Staking rewards vesting, while a shorter staking period (3, 6, or 9 months) results in only a portion vesting. Your Open Staking rewards become realised only if you complete your selected staking period.

1.1.1. Open Staking Periods, and corresponding vesting schedule

Fig. 1 - Open Staking Periods, and corresponding vesting schedule

For staking periods shorter than 12 months, the portion of Open Staking rewards that does not vest is treated as intentionally unvested tokens from Open Staking. These tokens are then rolled into the next month's Open Staking reward pool.

At the end of the selected Open Staking period, your Open Staking rewards become claimable together with the initial $NOON staked into the Open Staking pool (at the start of the staking period).

2. Leaving early: what happens to rewards

Open Staking positions can be unstaked prior to completion of the selected staking period as well. However, unlike Active Staking, early unstaking in Open Staking means all rewards are forfeited and treated as forgone due to early unstaking from Open Staking.

You receive your initially staked $NOON back, and those forfeited rewards are rolled into next month's Open Staking reward pool.

Example: If a user staking for a 6-month period unstakes $NOON after 4 months, the rewards roll over to the Open Staking pool in month 5.

3. Voting Power under Open Staking

Under Open Staking, your individual voting power is calculated based on the amount of initial $NOON you stake into the Open Staking rewards pool, and is then multiplied by our voting power curve:

10% + [ (t / T)³ × 0.73 + (t / T) × 0.27 ] × 90%, over 48 months

The key distinction from Active Staking is that your voting power here is calculated from your initial staked amount of $NOON rather than vested rewards.

3.1. Leaving Early: what Happens to voting power

If an Open Staking position is unstaked early, your voting power is reduced to zero.