Announcing the New V2 GENS Staking Program

Genius Yield
5 min readMar 28, 2024

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Genius Yield continues to move forward with our community. To reward our community, in December 2022 we introduced the Genius Yield Staking Program, allowing GENS holders to participate in the Genius Yield platform by staking their tokens and receiving a fixed APY of GENS rewards. This program has been a success with over 20 million GENS staked and around 2.5 million GENS claimed as rewards.

TL;DR

  • Locked staking — the possibility to create a staking vault with fixed APY on GENS ends May 1st, 2024
  • Fixed APY on GENS is replaced with reward multipliers on DEX fees rewards, starting May 6th, 2024
  • Between the 1st of May and the 6th of May, 2024, harvesting, unstaking, and creating new staking vaults will be halted, due to migration between the old and new staking system
  • An additional 1.5M GENS is added to the GENS Staking Program, starting May 6th, 2024
  • Flex staking is introduced, starting May 6th, 2024
  • Genius and Mascot NFTs utilities remain unchanged. NFTs staking will be available until December 31st, 2025

In January 2024, the DEX Fee Sharing Program was launched, allowing GENS stakers to claim 20% of fees generated by the DEX. DEX fee sharing represents a key milestone of the Genius Yield platform and a unique utility of the GENS token, allowing GENS stakers to collect dozens of different tokens that are traded on the DEX. The DEX Fee Sharing Program also creates long-term sustainability for GENS stakers, where GENS stakers’ rewards are linked with the use of Genius Yield’s DEX.

Transition to V2 GENS Staking Program

With the introduction of the DEX Fee Sharing Program, we will begin to phase out the fixed APY in the GENS reward option.

Fixed APY rewards in GENS will end at 23:59:59 UTC on May 1st, 2024.

Starting May 3rd, 2024, rewards will only be based on the DEX Fee Sharing Program. To smooth this transition, an additional 1.5 million GENS will be allocated to GENS stakers on a declining supply curve using a methodology similar to Cardano’s mechanism that is used to reward those who stake their ADA to stake pools. Cardano pays staking rewards from two sources, ADA reserves and Cardano transaction fees. Reserves gradually decline as a greater share of the rewards comes from growing transaction fees caused by the increasing adoption of the Cardano blockchain. We will deploy a very similar mechanism to gradually phase out GENS rewards with a growing share of the rewards coming from growing DEX fees as more users utilize Genius Yield’s DEX.

Flex Staking

Based on popular demand, we are introducing a Flex Staking option for GENS stakers! With flex staking, your GENS are never locked, allowing you to employ more sophisticated trading or DeFi strategies with your GENS.

Check the details below.

Merging GENS Staking and DEX Fee Sharing Programs

On May 6th, 2024, the GENS Staking Program will effectively be merged with the DEX Fee Sharing Program, allowing GENS holders to choose between various staking options and APY amplification opportunities.

With an additional 1.5M GENS allocated, the V2 GENS Staking Program not only adds more flexibility, but also creates a unique opportunity to earn even more rewards passively!

Depending on the option chosen, GENS stakers will be eligible to do:

1. Flex Staking:

  • Participate in the DEX Fee Sharing Program: earn part of the 20% fees collected by the DEX
  • Participate in Tier 2 of the Accelerated Yield Program (additional conditions apply, please check the details here)
  • Utilize your Genius NFTs and Mascot NFTs

2. Locked Staking:

  • Participate in the DEX Fee Sharing Program: earn part of the 20% fees collected by the DEX AND receive additional yield amplification — details in the table below
  • Participate in Tier 2 of the Accelerated Yield Program (additional conditions apply, as above)
  • Utilize your Genius NFTs and Mascot NFTs

GENS Locked Yield Staking Vaults

APR: A rolling 30-day APR will be computed using the last 30 days of GENS stakers’ rewards.

The longer you stake, the more DEX Fee rewards you’ll receive.

Below is an example:

  1. ADA rewards for periodₙ from DEX Fees = 1,000.0
  2. GENS rewards for periodₙ from DEX Fees = 3,000.0
Rewards numbers are rounded.

Future of Genius NFTs and Mascot NFTs

Genius Yield’s Genius NFTs and Mascot NFTs are utility NFTs offered to the community that allows GENS stakers to access increased GENS APYs between 2% to 6% for up to a year. In keeping with our promise to the community that these NFTs could be utilized for up to three years, both Genius and Mascot NFTs APY boosters can be used when staked until 23:59:59 UTC on December 31, 2025.

When exercised, each NFT will receive its additional GENS-specific APY for one year or the remaining days of utility available. To check an NFT’s remaining days of utility, copy and paste the NFT’s Fingerprint / Asset ID here.

Key Points:

  1. Starting at 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 2026, you will no longer be able to stake your Genius or Mascot NFT — For example, a GENS holder stakes their Genius NFT in August 2025 to the six-month vault to get a 2% APY in GENS. In February 2026, the GENS staker decides to claim their GENS rewards and unstake their GENS and Genius NFT. After checking the remaining days of utility, the GENS staker sees there is six months left of utility to receive a 2% APY in GENS. In this scenario, the staker will not be able to stake their Genius NFT anymore because the deadline to stake the Genius NFTs, 23:59:59 UTC on December 31, 2025, has passed.
  2. As long as you stake before the deadline, you can receive the maximum time remaining on your Genius or Mascot NFT — For example, on December 30, 2025, a GENS holder decides to stake his GENS with a Genius NFT. As their Genius NFT has never been staked and has a full year of utility available, the GENS holder selects the 12-month vault. In this scenario, the staker will be able to stake their Genius NFT and receive 12 months of a 2% APY in GENS. Since the Genius NFT was exercised before the deadline, the GENS staker can get the full 12-month utility time of the APY boost by selecting the appropriate staking vault.
  3. Rewards for the Genius and Mascot NFT will be in GENS — If staked before the deadline, the 2% to 6% APY rewards will be in GENS. GENS stakers who stake their NFTs will have the benefit of getting DEX Fee sharing rewards and GENS rewards simultaneously.

Thank you for unwavering support and we look forward to the future where the community continues to get more utility through the Genius Yield platform.

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Genius Yield

Genius Yield is the all-in-one DeFi platform, that combines concentrated liquidity DEX with an automated yield optimizer.