@clayboyn drew our attention to this schedule of expected and actual ending dates of SPS rewards:
Taken from Discord, clayboyn posted it.
He created this channel in discord, where things are being discussed, although it seems that without a deeper analysis of the situation, talk doesn't do much good other than potentially spark some ideas for people who can really know what's going on, with numbers and projections.
The first SPS rewards ending is for staking SPS, in about 11 months. That doesn't mean staking will disappear as an option, it simply means it will no longer be incentivized (currently with a 10.43% APR), unless another option to incentivize it will be considered and implemented after that.
But staking benefits, other than staking rewards will remain. Those are, currently:
- SPS DAO voting influence
- high influence on the rewards in Ranked Play
- SPS delegation rewards
- vouchers
- airdrop on Arcade Colony
- staking requirement on Soulkeep for higher leagues
Did I miss anything? And more use cases may be created. Do we really need staking rewards if we have enough other incentives? Well, that's what the talk is about, and if people say yes, then the next topic will be where will the new rewards come from. Because additional inflation would be REALLY bad, except in the fortunate event that Splinterlands brings in millions of new players, enough of them eager and excited to play the game and explore and test as much of it as possible. In this case, most of the problems would be solved by default and without thinking of any smart solution. But... maybe these are unrealistic expectations, at least for the time being.
Deeper analysis of the situation created by the reward dry out that will occur toward the end of next year, and the other ones further down the line, may be too premature though, even if it may not seem like it.
The numbers as they are now in their depressed state may be completely different from what they'll be next year, both in terms of prices and players and activity. On the other hand, whatever solutions are implemented should stand the test of time, which means they should be as independent of the activity level and price of assets as possible.
Personally, I have these opinions regarding the continuation of SPS staking rewards after they end according to the whitepaper, based on the following sources:
- additional SPS inflation - a hard NO, unless Splinterlands player base reaches millions of highly involved players (unlikely, to be realistic)
- switching some SPS from a burn destination to staking rewards (practically same as above) - a hard NO
- moving SPS rewards from something else to staking rewards - it depends, potentially yes
- DAO buying SPS from the market to pay staking rewards - potentially yes
- no staking rewards - I have no problem with that, since there are quite a series of incentives already
What do you think about it?