Hello World

Today we are excited to announce that Stride is live! As of right now, users can:

• deposit ATOM with Stride to mint stATOM

• use stATOM to redeem the underlying staked ATOM

Within 24 hours we will have two pools live on Osmosis.

• STRD / OSMO

• stATOM / ATOM

The stATOM pool will be incentivized with STRD rewards.

This is a historic occasion! For the first time ever, ATOM can be liquid staked in the Cosmos ecosystem. For the first time ever, users no longer have to choose between staking ATOM and using it for trading / DeFi. Now, users can have both. With stATOM, you can use your ATOM for trading / DeFi while at the same time earning staking rewards.

Stride’s Roadmap for the Next Three Months

Today Stride has launched with full liquid staking support for ATOM, including a liquidity pool on Osmosis. The STRD token is live as well, with a STRD pool on Osmosis.

Over the next few weeks and months, there will be a number of rapid protocol updates.

In the first protocol update, expected around the end of September (depending on governance), the Stride genesis airdrop for ATOM stakers will be claimable.

Once the interchain accounts feature has been properly implemented on the Osmosis and Juno chains, the Stride community may choose to vote to on-board those chains.

Initially, Stride planned to launch with simultaneous support for ATOM, OSMO, and JUNO. But as it stands, Stride cannot support OSMO or JUNO, as those chains are still finalizing their interchain accounts implementations. Enabling support for OSMO and JUNO is contingent on the next implementation of ICA on the Osmosis and Juno chains, as well as an on-chain vote by STRD holders.

According to the Osmosis and Juno teams, the interchain accounts feature will be properly implemented on those chains during their next upgrades. The estimated time for these two upgrades is two to five weeks. When these chains are on-boarded, the airdrop for staked OSMO and JUNO will become claimable.

But the work doesn’t stop there. In future post-launch updates, Stride token holders can vote to enable liquid governance, which will allow stToken holders to vote in host chain governance. Several innovative security features are also in the pipeline. And Stride will continually enable support for many more Cosmos tokens.

The STRD Token Today

The STRD token is not necessary to pay transaction fees on Stride, as transaction fees are currently free.

So although you don’t need to, if you wish to acquire STRD before the airdrops become claimable, there are two ways to do so. Either acquire STRD from the STRD / OSMO pool, which has been seeded by the Stride Foundation. Or provide liquidity to the stATOM / ATOM pool, which is incentivized with STRD. (Pools to be live within 24 hours of this article).

With regard to the economic security of the Stride blockchain, vesting tokens are staked to secure the blockchain.

Rebate Program

Now that deposits are open, we’ve also begun the Switching Cost Rebate Program. There have been some minor changes since this program was first announced. Full details are available in the updated airdrop blog post, but here is a summary:

• Rebate Program will use ST to approximately compensate users for missed staking rewards from unstaking tokens to liquid stake with Stride

• Rebate Program is a monthly program that will last for a number of months

• Users must deposit tokens with Stride to be eligible for the Program

• If users’ stTokens are still in their address (or LPd) at the end of the calendar month, they are eligible

• A maximum of 50,000 ST will be used for the Rebate Program for the first month, and 100,000 ST per month thereafter

• The Rebate Program is not designed to be a yield strategy. Gaming the Program is not possible, as the most a user can yield from the program is the amount of yield the user forgoes by unstaking their tokens.

Airdrop Details

Likewise, this is a good time to provide an update on the STRD airdrop. Full details are available in the updated airdrop blog post, but here is a summary.

Airdrop tasks:

• 20% of the airdrop is granted freely

• The next 20% is granted by staking the first 20%

• The final 60% is granted by depositing any amount of ATOM with Stride to mint stATOM

Airdrop claim period:

• The claim period for the airdrop to ATOM stakers is: a TBD date around the end of September to October 31st

• The claim period for the airdrop to OSMO and JUNO stakers is: TBD to October 31st

Unclaimed STRD recycled into new airdrops:

• On November 1st, unclaimed STRD from the airdrop will be clawed back and immediately recycled into subsequent airdrops

Incentivized testnet rewards:

• The incentivized testnet has concluded, and information on reward eligibility will be available on the Stride website this month. Full claim details will be released at that time. Please join the Stride Discord for regular updates.

Conclusion

This is a historic day! Now, you no longer have to choose between using ATOM for trading / DeFi and staking it for rewards.

As of today, you can do both.