Choice. Like fish oblivious to their surrounding water, choice is another modern ”thing” we often take for granted. Free will, and the facility to do as we please and govern our own life, is what separates us, humans, from animals, trees, and rocks.

Crypto’s founding father, the great Satoshi Nakamoto, revolutionized the concept of money and, for the first time in history, gave the world the option to opt-out of the traditional, centralized way money is produced and controlled. In his momentous whitepaper, Satoshi hinted (explicitly) that he created Bitcoin because of the irresponsible money printing and bailout that were triggered by the 2008 mortgage and housing bubble.

Not only were the perpetrators not held accountable for their actions, but to add insult to injury they were rewarded with fat bonuses. These offenders had neither stake nor skin in the game, which is (sadly) a leitmotif of the traditional financial system.

For the Romans, engineers needed to spend time under the bridges they built. The English went further and had engineers’ families spend time with them under the bridges after they were built. Some say this practice should be required of financial engineers today.

Millions of people lost their life savings and, for many, it was too much to bear. Mark Twain said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.  14 years have passed and we are living, again, in historic times. The Bear is back. 

‍

‍

My Money, My Choice

But this bubble is no longer invisible and is about to pop.

As these words are being written, inflation and hyperinflation are eating away people’s life savings, all around the world. The US and Europe are going through the worst inflationary period in half a century (and there’s still a long road ahead). Some poorer countries are experiencing triple-digit inflation and, in some, there are rumblings of revolution.

This current man-made bubble is the result, once again, of irresponsible money printing that has been going on since early 2020. The damage was exacerbated by limits on movement by choice, denying people the ability to travel. Millions were kept away from workplaces, and businesses closed amidst a wave of bankruptcies (and much worse). 

But every cloud has its silver lining, and 2020 gave crypto its DeFi Summer. For the billions of unbanked people around the globe, “bitcoin is hope” and crypto is freedom from tyranny. DeFi defies the old-guard, choiceless banking system and can unshackle people at large from the invisible hands and chains weighing them down.

We live in crazy times and many of the most brilliant minds on earth are genuinely hypothesizing that we live in a simulation. Whether we live in the Matrix or whether we enjoy free will, we all like to have alternatives, options and control of our destiny. 

‍

Either-Or — Or Both-And?

Staking, at its most basic form, is locking your crypto assets in order to earn interest or rewards. The downsides, and what deter some users from staking, are mainly the associated lock-up period, smart contract risk, and maintaining a staking infrastructure.

The current state of DeFi in the Cosmos ecosystem is underutilized and inefficient. Users are forced to make a tradeoff between staking their tokens for passive yield, or participating in DeFi – exposing themselves to greater risk for greater yields.

Liquid staking is the creation of a new on-chain token (e.g. stToken) that represents the staked asset, essentially making it liquid and available for further trading. These staking derivatives allow users to circumvent the aforementioned limitations.

Liquid staking brings an improved and flexible solution to the table, where you can have your steak and eat it, too. Now you can enjoy the best of both worlds with (a) Stride of confidence. 

Stride is a Multichain liquid staking solution on Cosmos. It offers liquidity for your staked assets where you can earn both staking and DeFi yields across IBC, while maintaining the flexibility of selling your staked tokens for instant liquidity.

We at Node Capital are proud to support Stride and participate in its recent live testnet. In addition, we are planning to be a leading node provider to Stride when the mainnet becomes live in a few months.

Soon, DeFi users will have the top liquid staking assets in the Cosmos (ecosystem) as well as IBC-connected chains. 

Keep It Simple, Ser 

Like in any new solution or remedy, one should aspire for it to be safe, simple, and effective.
Stride is being audited by the industry leaders in blockchain security. Certik is the top-ranking security-focused platform to analyze and monitor blockchain protocols and DeFi projects. Oak Security is a key security actor in the Cosmos ecosystem, with highly experienced staff in Cosmos SDK development and security reviews.

With ease-of-use and top UX in mind, Stride strives for an easy and simple DeFi experience in a three-step process. Moreover, regardless of what you choose to do with your stTokens, they will automatically compound staking rewards. When you want to unstake, you simply redeem the stTokens back for Tokens, or trade them on your favorite AMM.

Lastly, in the true web3, decentralized spirit, Stride’s token holders are the ones who determine the future of the protocol. From actively suggesting which staked assets are most desirable, to deciding which apps and chains to add to the protocol, token holders will work together to keep it simple, secure and effective.

The Edge of the Cosmos  

Cosmos has the robust infrastructure required to support an entirely new economy of tokenized assets. It allows users to benefit from extremely low fees, fast transaction speeds, great scalability, top-notch security, and much more.

At the heart of Cosmos is the Inter‑Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) and its recent V3 Theta upgrade. It’s an extensive interconnected blockchains allowing seamless, optimal interoperability between supported digital assets, maximizing their application and spreading opportunity to all participants. Liquid staking presents an entirely new asset class that vastly broadens the reach of these prospects, accruing immense value in an all-encompassing manner.

‍

Decision, in its Latin root, is literally "to cut off", from (de "off" + caedere "to cut") – meaning, like in sculpting, saving what you like and chiseling away the superfluous. The first step toward a quality decision is curating the best options in accordance with your goals. So, choose wisely, DYOR, and hopefully, in time, you will find your rhythm and hit your stride. 

‍

Want to share thoughts?

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice

‍