Horizon Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that has been deployed on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) Mainnet. Aside from enabling DeFi participants to create on-chain digital assets representing assets and instruments in the real world, Horizon Protocol also allows its users to earn its native token (the HZN token) by staking and yield farming. The Horizon Staker dApp provides pools for PHB (Phoenix Global), HZN (Horizon), and an HZN-BNB liquidity pool token. Horizon Staker was integrated into Horizon Genesis in the July 23 launch, further incentivizing users to stake HZN to provide collateral in the system at even higher rewards.
By building on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Horizon Protocol leverages the native BSC ecosystem while utilizing blockchain bridges such as PolyNetwork and Cosmos to facilitate cross-chain interoperability. In the future, with Horizon Exchange, any type of asset with a price feed will allow Horizon Protocol to provide users exposure to a synthetic variant on BSC, thereby removing the necessity to go through the difficulty and costs of transferring between multiple blockchains.
Horizon Protocol Staking pools
There are three staking pools available through the Horizon Staker platform, where users can stake HZN, PHB BEP-20, and HZN-BNB LP tokens to earn HZN tokens in the respective staking pools. These pools are:
- PHB pool
- HZN pool
- HZN-BNB LP pool
Phoenix Global (PHB) pool
The PHB pool allows holders of the PHB token on Binance to participate in staking to earn HZN tokens. It provides an avenue through which those with PHB BEP-2 or PHX NEP-5 tokens can add HZN tokens to their crypto portfolio.
Note that PHB BEP20 is required to stake as Horizon Protocol operates on BSC. Those who hold PHX NEP5 on the NEO blockchain or PHB BEP2 on the Binance blockchain can easily convert to PHB BEP20 using Binance.com or their Binance Chain wallet. A step-by-step guide can be found here.
At the time of writing, The annual percentage yield (APY) for the PHB pool is 44.65%. This APY fluctuates based on the total PHB staked on the platform. This rewards pool will continue until April 2022.
HZN pool
This pool allows HZN token holders to participate in staking to earn more HZN tokens. It provides a way through which HZN token holders can increase the HZN tokens in their portfolio.
At the time of writing, The annual percentage yield (APY) for staking HZN in the HZN stake pool is 18.17%.
The current HZN pool in Horizon Staker mimics the upcoming option to stake HZN as collateral in Horizon Genesis that our current estimates predict an APY of ~250-~350% in the first week, smoothly tapering off as the system matures.
HZN-BNB LP pool
This pool provides yield farmers to “double-dip” with a perfect opportunity to earn more rewards by providing liquidity in the HZN-BNB Liquidity Pool on PancakeSwap and receiving rewards by staking those HZN-BNB LP tokens they receive on Horizon Staker.
The APY for providing HZN-BNB liquidity on PancakeSwap is currently at 70.8% while staking HZN-BNB LP tokens on Horizon Staker is 118.84%.
Conclusion
Horizon Protocol’s decision to incentivize a front-loaded distribution through staking with Horizon Staker or Horizon Genesis is coupled with its commitment to a 100% community distribution of the HZN token to reward users for early adoption. The macro-level decision will bootstrap early growth and secure one of the system’s core components. The collateral backs on-chain digital assets that represent assets and instruments in the real world.
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