The developers of the Chainlink decentralized oracle network announced the introduction of the LINK token staking mechanism in the second half of 2022. The team noted that the move will increase the security of the ecosystem as it scales.

Staking marks the beginning #Chain link Economy 2.0 is a new era for the long-term security and sustainability of Oracle networks.

In this update, we define long-term goals, roadmap and initial implementation of staking at Chainlink Network.https://t.co/WJkoUzPA0i.

— Chainlink (@chainlink) June 7, 2022

“As Chainlink is constantly integrated into new blockchains and includes support for new oracle-based services, it is important to increase the level of network security to match the growing amount of value in applications. […] Staking is a key mechanism that will bring a new level of crypto-economic security to Chainlink, where rewards and penalties encourage the smooth functioning of the network.

According to the statement, the staking mechanism will achieve “four long-term goals”:

• improve network security and provide assurance to users;
• enable community members to participate in Chainlink work;
• create and distribute rewards for stakers;
• Build a reputation structure to select nodes in decentralized oracle networks.

According to the developers, the first step is to “build a reliable and simple foundation that will allow you to gather feedback.” Over time, the scope of staking will expand and its structure will become more complex.

In total, there are two versions of the mechanism. The release of the first is scheduled for the end of 2022. At launch, it will consist of reputation systems and notifications for staking participants. In the future, the team will connect additional functions such as: cutting.

The initial staking prize pool is expected to be capped at 25M LINK. It is planned to increase its volume to 75 million LINK in a few months.

Mechanism v0.1 provides up to 5% annual reward for participants. After the next version is released, the staker reward will vary depending on the network fees and the asset lock period.

LINK quotes reacted to the developers’ announcement with growth. Over the past day, the price of the token has increased by 11% and is trading around $8.4 at the time of writing.

Recall that Bank of America named Chainlink as one of the drivers of growth in the volume of funds blocked in the DeFi sector.