xSTELLA Transition Plan: Retiring of Vaults & The Way Forward

6 min readMar 3, 2022

StellaSwap recently announced the eagerly awaited xSTELLA feature that will go live on 7th of March. The launch of xSTELLA will strengthen StellaSwap’s tokenomics, enabling a sustainable value-accrual mechanism that maximizes tokenholder value. Users who stake $STELLA will get xSTELLA, allowing them to accrue and compound more $STELLA, as 0.05% of trading fees from every swap will be used for $STELLA buyback. The distribution of trading revenues towards stakers in StellaSwap is a necessary step in decentralization and empowerment.

In short, Vaults will get retired and replaced with a model that reflects better tokenomics for StellaSwap and stronger value-accrual for STELLA tokenholders. For a smooth transition, amounts locked in vaults will continue to earn STELLA. However, as soon as deposit lock expires so does the rewards. To retire vaults new deposits will be stopped.

But what does it mean to current vault depositors? Let’s go over the detailed transition plans for current Vault stakers.

The Transition Plan

Here are the key dates that you should be aware of:

Timeline

⭐Vault Deposits Disabled: 6 March|12:00 AM UTC

⭐Launch of xSTELLA & Retirement of No-Lock Vault (Allocation Removed): 7 March 12:00 AM UTC

⭐Retirement of 7-Days Locked Vault (Allocation Removed): 13 March

⭐Retirement of 30-Days Locked Vault (Allocation Removed): 5 April

⭐Retirement of 90-Days Locked Vault (Allocation Removed): 4 June

Sequenced Retirement of Locked Vaults

24 hours before the launch of xSTELLA, the ability to lock $STELLA into all Vaults will be disabled. At that point, no one can lock their $STELLA into Vaults. This means that only existing users that have locked their $STELLA will continue to earn the same APR yields all the way until retirement of the Vaults. This will be highly beneficial for current users, as they will stand to earn higher APRs when the TVL gets smaller each day, due to unchanged daily emissions.

xSTELLA will launch on 7 March, and users can start staking their $STELLA to get xSTELLA at an initial rate of 1STELLA = 1xSTELLA. The rate will change as $STELLA buybacks occur and is accrued towards the pool. In parallel, the No-Lock Vault will be retired, meaning daily emissions for No-Lock Vault will stop. This will enable anyone who has staked their $STELLA into the No-Lock Vault to withdraw their $STELLAanhd start converting into xSTELLA.

Once all timelocked Vaults completes the locking period, from the point of xSTELLA launch, they will be retired. Users will be able to withdraw their $STELLA into their wallets our automatically convert into xSTELLA directly from the Vaults, which will be explained in later sections.

Why Not Automatic Transition?

While the initial plan was to automatically convert all $STELLA staked in timelocked-vaults into xSTELLA, we felt that doing so will go against the spirit of decentralization where users’ autonomy for self-action would be compromised. More importantly, it will set a poor precedent for the team, as the custodians of the protocol; the team should not possess the autonomy to effect or impose changes that will inhibit user control. On that basis, we have opted for a more open and user-controlled process of transition.

On parallel, we feel that our plan would benefit current Locked Vault stakers even more. Here’s why:

When deposits for Vaults will be disabled on 6th March, the daily emission rates will not change until the Vault entirely retires, and those that has $STELLA locked in Locked Vaults will continue earning the same daily allocation. For example, the current daily emissions of 1,234 STELLA/daily for 90D Vaults will be unchanged until the Vault retires on 4th June.
This means that as more $STELLA completes the timelock and more users leave the Locked Vault, those who still have $STELLA locked will earn much higher APRs since there is less users to share the daily allocation with. In essence, the last person standing until the Locked Vault retires will basically earn all the daily emissions of the Locked Vault!

What To Do?

Is there anything that you need to do to prepare for xSTELLA launch? Here are 3 categories of users that you will fall into:

Category #1: Users that has not staked into Vaults
You’re all set! Just ensure that you have $STELLA in your wallet. You can get $STELLA by providing liquidity into any of our farms and earn rewards, or you can simply buy $STELLA on our DEX. When xSTELLA launches, you can simply stake your STELLA to receive xSTELLA!

Category #2: User who staked in No-Lock Vaults

You should withdraw all your $STELLA from the No-Lock vaults and harvest your earned $STELLA rewards. When xSTELLA launches, you can convert all your $STELLA into xSTELLA!

Category #3: Users with $STELLA locked in 7D, 30D & 90D Locked Vaults

Users in this category will need to wait for their locked $STELLA to unlock, while still receiving rewards in the locked period. When the $STELLA in the Locked Vault unlocks, they can withdraw and convert to xSTELLA. Be mindful that the APRs that long-term $STELLA lockers will generate will be much higher with time, since the daily emissions on the Locked Vaults will remain unchanged! This is a good bonus for users.

What Happens to Unclaimed Rewards?

Don’t worry! As of now, you can claim your $STELLA rewards at any time in any of your Vaults. If you don’t claim your $STELLA rewards, they will automatically be harvested when you unstake your $STELLA after timelock ends. This means that your rewards will safely go into your wallet!

Seamless Conversion to xSTELLA on Locked Vaults

It is important to note that $STELLA that has gone through the full Locked duration of the timelocked Vault would need to be withdrawn from the Locked Vaults. In order to facilitate the seamless transition to xSTELLA and earn auto-compounded yields, we would create a new button to streamline xSTELLA conversion within Locked Vaults, as such:

This will allow users to easily convert their $STELLA that has gone through the timelock directly into xSTELLA without requiring to manually go to the xSTELLA page and staking. This feature will go live on 7th March, in tandem with xSTELLA release!

First Use Case of xSTELLA Staking: xSTELLA Tri-Reward Pool

xSTELLA is a huge step in enhancing StellaSwap’s tokenomics, as it would directly maximize tokenholder-value. For every trade that occurs on StellaSwap, 0.05% of swap fees will be distributed back to xSTELLA holders. This means that there is a continuous buyback of $STELLA from the open market!

In order to make it sweeten the deal further, we have decided to launch an xSTELLA staking facility, so users can earn additional APR yields by staking their xSTELLA! This “double-dipping” would incentivize users to stake their $STELLA into xSTELLA and earn much more.

Details of Tri-Reward Pool

Here’s the details of the pool:

Total Rewards: $115,000
Reward Tokens: $STELLA + $GLMR + $USDC
Start Date: 7 March, 00:00 AM UTC (Same time with xSTELLA launch)
Duration: 30 Days
Staking Location: xSTELLA Page

How Can I Stake into Tri-Reward Pool?

In order to participate in the tri-reward pool and start earning double-dipped APRs, here’s exactly what you need to do;

Step 1: Ensure that you have $STELLA token.

Step 2: Convert $STELLA into xSTELLA when xSTELLA feature is launched.

Step 3: Stake xSTELLA into the Tri-Reward pool located on the same xSTELLA page.

Step 4: Start earning double-dipped rewards! 💸

About StellaSwap

StellaSwap is the first and leading Moonbeam DEX that offers an integrated gateway to the DeFi world. Users can swap, earn, yield farm, bridge assets, explore new projects and engage in NFT trading all from a single unified platform. StellaSwap’s products are structured in such a way that facilitates decentralized governance of STELLA holders, while continuing to innovate on the collective foundations by design.