This was originally posted on X so to reach the art community on Tezos, but I figured I should publish it here too since X links are private now, and the fact that this concerns an ecosystem-wide issue.
Empowering Artists on Tezos to Drive Staking Awareness
So this is an idea I had to help us —the Tezos ecosystem and everyone in it—reach our collective goal of achieving a 50% staking target in the best and most effective way, by mobilizing Tezos’ greatest creative resource: its Artists.
Not only would this approach enable us to achieve the target 50% staking ratio, but it would also spread awareness of the new staking tokenomics (introduced in June 2024) far and wide, reaching even the nethermost reaches of the Tezos ecosystem. At the same time, it would empower (and financially reward) our artists and creatives to become the harbingers of this message.
Background: New Tezos Tokenomics
In June 2024, Tezos introduced the most significant change to its staking tokenomics since the blockchain’s inception. Previously, what was widely called “staking” on Tezos was actually delegating—assigning your tez to a baker to earn rewards, without locking up your tez. While this was common practice, it was a misnomer that created confusion, as true staking aligns with a universal definition: locking up tokens to secure the network in exchange for rewards.
With the new tokenomics, Tezos now has actual staking, where you lock your tez and earn rewards that are double what delegation provides. Importantly, you can still delegate your tez, but to fully benefit, you now need to take an additional step to stake your tez after delegating. If you haven’t performed this staking operation yet, you’re still only delegating and missing out on significantly higher rewards.
Since then, ecosystem contributors, including Trilitech, have worked tirelessly to spread awareness about these changes. From producing educational campaigns to publishing insightful articles, these efforts have paved the way for greater understanding of the staking mechanism and its benefits.
However, challenges remain. Many Tezos holders are still unaware of the distinction between staking and delegation, or how to take full advantage of the new system. This is not a reflection of insufficient effort, but rather the sheer scale of the challenge—a challenge that calls for innovative, decentralized solutions to complement the work already being done.
This shift has created two key issues:
1. Lack of Awareness: Many people in the ecosystem—especially those who’ve delegated in the past—aren’t aware of the distinction between staking and delegation, let alone the new 2x reward opportunities available to them.
2. Misconceptions: The habit of calling what is actually delegating “staking” persists, meaning many people incorrectly assume they are already staking. And that’s because for the 6 years before this change happened we weren’t all ‘sticklers’ about clarifying the difference between delegating and proper staking.
Reaching the 50% staking target (meaning 50% of all tez in existence would be staked)—critical for the system’s sustainability—depends on correcting this narrative, educating people about the new staking system, and helping them take advantage of the rewards.
The Challenge - 50% Ratio
Many in the Tezos ecosystem—including artists and collectors who have been here for years, and comprise what is ostensibly the majority of Tezos users—aren’t yet aware of the new staking tokenomics introduced in June 2024. These changes make staking far more rewarding than delegation, offering double the rewards. Yet, despite this, only about 20% of tez is staked at the time I’m writing this, far short of the 50% target that the new tokenomics are designed to achieve. (See the latest number here: up.xtzchad.xyz)
Hitting that 50% target is crucial. It’s not just an arbitrary milestone—it’s essential for maintaining the balance and sustainability of the network. The new system depends on that level of participation to function as intended.
So how do we get to that 50% staking ratio?
Some suggest that the quickest way to hit the 50% staking ratio would be to rely on large institutions, custodians, or even the Tezos Foundation itself to stake significant amounts of tez. While this approach might achieve the target superficially…it would be temporary, and it would be missing the bigger picture. The goal isn’t just to hit the number—it’s to create a truly decentralized and self-sustaining system where participation is broad and community-driven. If we only focus on large players, we risk building a fragile foundation. Should one whale or institution pull out, the ratio could drop, leaving us scrambling to recover.
The goal with staking should be to empower the distributed community. A thriving staking system means that everyone—from small tez holders to seasoned ecosystem participants—understands the benefits of staking and knows how to participate. When the staking ratio dips below 50% (as it inevitably will at times), the system is designed to offer higher rewards to incentivize action. But for that mechanism to work as intended, the community at large must be aware and ready to react efficiently. This isn’t just a technical necessity; it’s a reflection of the ideals of decentralization and resilience that Tezos represents.
Reaching the 50% ratio sustainably is about building a staking culture of understanding, awareness, and participation. It’s about learning how to communicate staking effectively to everyone in the ecosystem, refining that process over time, and ensuring that participation becomes second nature. By focusing on these ideals—rather than shortcuts like relying on large holders alone—we not only achieve the staking target but also strengthen the ecosystem’s ability to adapt, grow, and thrive in the long term.
This is where the idea of crowdsourcing market education to Tezos artists comes in. By leveraging the vast pool of creativity within the Tezos ecosystem, we can amplify the message about staking in a way that resonates with diverse audiences, penetrates deeper into the community, and inspires action.
The Idea
Creative Art Initiative
With a relatively small budget, we could crowdsource the creation of infographics or infovideos to communicate and promote Tezos staking. Infographics are visual representations of information designed to simplify complex ideas, making them perfect for explaining the new staking tokenomics to a broad and diverse audience. They combine clarity, creativity, and accessibility, ensuring the message reaches as many people as possible while being easy to understand and share.
The Tezos ecosystem has a vast reservoir of creative talent, thanks to its fine art community, who are experienced in producing compelling and imaginative works. By leveraging this talent through initiatives like contests or open calls—something artists are very familiar with—we can incentivize the production of high-quality infographics that highlight:
-
The distinction between staking and delegation
-
The steps required to start staking and maximize rewards
-
The benefits of staking, including earning double the rewards compared to delegation
These infographics would act as visual tools for education and awareness, capable of reaching audiences who may not respond as strongly to text-heavy explanations. At scale, thousands of infographics—each with unique styles, languages, and learning approaches—could flood the ecosystem, ensuring the message resonates with people regardless of their background, learning style, or familiarity with staking.
Evaluation Rubric:
-
Technicals: How well they explain staking and the process
-
Effectiveness: How impactful and engaging the message is in converting people to stake (perhaps actual engagement measures are taken into account)
-
Presentation: Overall quality and creativity
Graduated Rewards Schedule:
A graduated reward system could be used to encourage broad participation while still recognizing standout contributions. This approach ensures that everyone who takes part has the opportunity to be rewarded, with top performers receiving meaningful prizes and others still feeling incentivized to contribute.
1st Place: 1000 tez
2nd Place: 500 tez
3rd Place: 250 tez 4th to 10th Place: 100 tez (per finalist)
11th to 100th Place: 20 tez (per finalist)
This structure not only rewards excellence but also encourages broad engagement across the community. By providing incentives at multiple levels, it ensures that everyone feels their efforts are valued, while inspiring future contributions and creativity.
What this Approach can Uniquely Achieve:
1. Generate Awareness: Inspire thousands of Tezos artists—past, present, and future—to dive into staking, seizing the program opportunity by first educating themselves on what staking is (and all its little nuances to the LETTER!) This alone could significantly increase staking participation, moving us closer to the target staking ratio.
2. Mobilize Creatives: Unleash the potential of Tezos’ vast creative network, of the thousands of artists who are already here and active, and activate the tens of thousands who have been here in the past—perhaps even onboarding new talent into the ecosystem and transforming them into active advocates.
3. Ignite an Explosion of Ideas: Harness the boundless imagination of the community, opening the floodgates of diverse and innovative content, each idea offering a new way to get more people staking. Afterall, crowdsourcing ideas also means tapping into countless perspectives and voices, yielding a mosaic of messaging that no single artist or team could ever match. Together, this chorus of creativity will reach further, resonate deeper, and inspire action like never before. (i.e. not one infographic, but thousands of infographics!)
4. Free Market Competition: The competitive energy among artists and creators will drive them to craft ever more compelling and innovative ways to inspire staking. As each participant strives to outdo the rest, the messaging becomes sharper, more engaging, and more effective at converting people to stake. This cycle of one-upmanship not only pushes creators to explore fresh, unexplored approaches but ensures that the outcomes are increasingly focused on achieving the ultimate goal: getting more people to stake.
5. Adapt to Diverse Ways of Learning and Understanding: Crowdsourcing ensures that we can create messaging tailored to the diverse ways people perceive and process information. Everyone learns differently—what resonates with one person might completely miss the mark for another. By generating a wide variety of content from many different creators, we increase the chances of reaching individuals through the messaging styles and explanations that make sense to them. For example, visual versus text-based learning styles, language preferences, or even cultural references can significantly impact how well a message connects with someone. With hundreds or more unique approaches, we’re far more likely to connect with those who wouldn’t be reached through a one-size-fits-all strategy, ensuring no segment of the ecosystem is left behind.
6. Unlock Data-Driven Insights: Generate countless data points by analyzing which submissions drive the most engagement and staking conversions. Metrics like click-through rates, staking participation rates, and retention will provide a detailed understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
7. Reach New Audiences: Mobilize the community to access communication channels that the Tezos brand cannot directly engage with—such as private group threads, word-of-mouth recommendations, and one-on-one conversations between trusted peers. Crowdsourcing enables messaging to spread through these personal and hard-to-reach networks, multiplying its impact in ways traditional marketing cannot, creating new inroads and inlets of which we cannot even yet conceive.
8. Optimize Time and Costs: By utilizing our vast existing network of creative talent in the Tezos ecosystem, this approach avoids the high costs and lengthy (and uncertain with regard to effectiveness) timelines of centralized campaigns. Instead, existing efforts (and personnel) in an ecosystem-supporting firm can shift toward coordinating and supporting this initiative, rather than attempting to producing content themselves. This streamlined model delivers faster, more impactful results while maximizing efficiency and fostering collaboration.
The cumulative effect of this initiative would not only accelerate progress toward the 50% staking ratio target, but will do so in a way that decentralized efforts excel—far beyond what a more centralized approach by itself, no matter how excellent, could ever accomplish. It will achieve this at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time, by unleashing a vast, self-sustaining engine of creativity and innovation. By empowering a community of diverse talents, we’ll generate an endless stream of fresh ideas and unique messaging, each more effective at converting Tezos holders into active stakers. This explosion of creative output will not only drive immediate results but will also provide invaluable data to continually refine our approach, ensuring we reach the staking target as quickly and efficiently as possible. This, all while underscoring out inherent Tezonian values of decentralization and free-market competition, let alone providing a fantastic opportunity for artists.
Existing Staking Guides - Info on the New Tezos Tokenomics
Tezos Staking Tutorial - Video Series - from TriliTech
