Babylon Mainnet: Everything BTC Stakers Need to Know - Figment

Babylon Mainnet: Everything BTC Stakers Need to Know

Drake Breeding

Protocol Opportunities Team Lead

Published

August 19, 2024

Key Points:

Babylon Chain goes live on mainnet on August 22
Mainnet will begin with a points system for staking Bitcoin to a specific finality provider
There will be an initial minimum of .005 and maximum of .05 BTC per individual staking transaction
The mainnet will have an overall cap of 1,000 BTC
Figment’s finality provider will be live on Day 1

What’s Happening with Babylon Chain?

After ~6 months of testnet, Babylon will be launching mainnet Phase 1 on August 22! This is the culmination of months of testnet monitoring and upgrades from the Babylon team. Figment is excited to see Bitcoin staking move into production with Babylon mainnet staking.

The mainnet will have an initial cap of 1,000 total Bitcoin. No live token rewards will be live upon launch, but rather a points system (details in the FAQ section).

How Does Bitcoin Staking Work?

Bitcoin holders submit a transaction to the Bitcoin chain that starts a self-custodial staking process.
Next, the BTC holder provides the public key for their preferred finality provider.
Bitcoin stakers select a specific finality provider to stake to and provide their private keys in the transaction.
This process is all easily abstractable via the Figment app, the Babylon web app, or a qualified custodian.

How Do I Stake?

Stake Securely with ease directly through the Figment App.

To get started, sign into your account, and navigate to the “Stake” section on the left-hand menu.

Select “Babylon” from the dropdown menu and connect your wallet to proceed with the staking transaction. Then, follow the instructions on the screen and confirm the staking details. Once the staking transaction confirms, the process is complete! Your BabylonChain staking position will be active as soon as the transaction is confirmed on chain.

Other Staking Options:

Babylon Web App: Select Figment as your finality provider here
Qualified Custodian: Speak with your Figment sales representative about options for Bitcoin staking with your preferred qualified custodian.

Staking is prohibited, and you will not receive points or staking awards, if you are:
(a) a resident or agent of, or an entity organized, incorporated or doing business in any country to which the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union or any of its member states or the United Nations or any of its member states (collectively, the “Major Jurisdictions”) embargoes goods or imposes sanctions; or if you are, or if you directly or indirectly own or control, any person or entity that is listed on any sanctions list or equivalent maintained by any of the Major Jurisdictions; or
(b) a U.S. Person as defined in 17 CFR § 230.902, or currently or ordinarily located or resident in (or incorporated or organized in) the United States of America, Canada, Australia, or Mainland China.

FAQs

How will slashing work?
In Phase 1 of mainnet there will be no slashing
Will my staked BTC be allowed within the initial 1,000 BTC cap?
Staking is first-come, first-served, so we would encourage interested stakers to submit their transaction ASAP as soon as mainnet goes live
What will the rewards rate be on staked BTC?
Points will be calculated per staking transaction and per Bitcoin block
A BTC staker doing the max .05 BTC with a 10% finality provider commission would earn .074 points per block, or 297 points per month
Do I have to bridge my Bitcoin to stake?
No, all Babylon staking occurs on the Bitcoin chain using Bitcoin script and UTXOs.

Figment Involvement in Babylon Chain & Further Reading

Figment has been live and active as a finality provider on Babylon’s testnet. We will be live on Day 1 of mainnet and ready to accept Bitcoin stake.

Additionally, we have published research on Babylon, Bitcoin scaling solutions, and recently held a panel discussion with Babylon founder David Tse. Also check out the Babylon team’s mainnet writeup for further information.

The information herein is being provided to you for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as, legal, business, tax or investment advice. Figment undertakes no obligation to update the information herein.