As most in the Edge community will know, the tokenomics of the platform have been in review for some time, driven by the high development pace around the network’s own blockchain, and the evolution of that portion of the platform into a store of value for edge computing capacity, enabling the fast and free attribution of value for resource.
We’re moving quickly towards the release of the platform and the issuance and distribution of the network’s own coin, $XE. In anticipation of this I want to take a moment to outline the tokenomics of the platform.
There are two methods of value exchange in the Edge Network, $XE, which is internal to the network, and $EDGE, which is on the public Ethereum network.
$XE is a layer 2 solution designed for fast transactions mapped to resource usage. It is bridged into the Ethereum network on a 1:1 basis with the $EDGE token.
Transactions within the Edge Network are free for staking wallets. Non-staking wallets are charged a small fee to help to maintain the security of the chain. Bridging $XE in/out of the network to $EDGE in the Ethereum network carries a variable gas fee.
For transactions out of Edge Network, this fee is taken in $XE. Individuals can choose their target gas fees and the bridge will automatically transmit their transaction to meet the target set. This acts to help to keep transaction fees as low as possible.
For transactions into the Edge Network, the gas fee is taken in $ETH.
As a network native coin, $XE does not count towards the circulating supply of $EDGE. Therefore service usage, staking, governance and fees all act to reduce the circulating supply of $EDGE by locking value in the network itself.
Edge is a community driven platform – contributors to the network are the network in a very real sense. As such, any future changes relating to network tokenomics will be run through project governance.
🔗Network Funds
There are three main funds controlled by the network.
The Dev Fund holds $XE assigned to support the day-to-day development of the network. The Growth Fund holds $XE assigned to support the marketing and growth in uptake of the Edge Network. The Staking Contract holds $XE locked in the network as governance and node stakes.
The Growth Fund is controlled through project governance.
🔗$EDGE
$EDGE is a tradable utility token on the Ethereum network (ERC-20). It is the entry point to the Edge ecosystem and can be used for the purchasing of Edge services.
$EDGE tokens can be bridged into the Edge network and converted to $XE using the Edge Bridge. The relationship between $EDGE and $XE is 1:1, meaning that for every 1 $EDGE bridged into the network, you will receive 1 $XE.
When services are purchased in $EDGE, the $EDGE is automatically bridged into the network, reducing circulating supply.
🔗Service Purchase
Services in the Edge Network can be purchased with $EDGE. They are also available for purchase within the Visa and MasterCard networks. Enterprises wishing to be invoiced directly can do so by reaching out on: sales@edge.network
Purchases made in $EDGE are automatically bridged in to Edge Network and swapped for $XE.
Purchases made in fiat (Visa/MasterCard) or in other cryptocurrencies are swapped for $EDGE before being bridged into Edge Network, converting them to $XE.
🔗Liquidity Mining
An $EDGE liquidity pool will be available on Uniswap, initially funded by the network treasury.
Uniswap applies a 0.30% fee for every trade that takes place on their platform and automatically sends this to a liquidity reserve. Whenever a liquidity provider decides they want to exit the $EDGE pool, they will receive a portion of the total fees from the reserve relative to their staked amount in $EDGE the pool.
In addition to this, a 0.30% fee is applied to all $XE transactions moving through the network bridge. This amount is automatically deducted from the sent amount and is collected in an $XE vault wallet (address to be supplied publically). These funds are periodically bridged out of the network and redistributed as LP rewards to those providing liquidity for $EDGE on Uniswap.
🔗$XE
$XE is a layer 2 solution designed for fast transactions mapped to resource usage. It is bridged into the Ethereum network on a 1:1 basis with the $EDGE token, meaning that for every 1 $XE bridged out of the Edge Network, you will receive 1 $EDGE.
$XE is used for the purchasing of Edge services, for staking, network governance, and for node rewards.
🔗Transactions
Transactions within the Edge Network are free for staking wallets. Non-staking wallets are charged a small fee to help to maintain the security of the chain (mitigating against flood attacks). These fees are assigned equally to the dev fund and to the growth fund.
🔗Service Purchase
Services purchased using $XE directly attract a service discount of 10%, designed to reward the holding and use of $XE.
🔗Node Staking
Edge is a Proof of Stake network. Contributing a node to the network requires a POS in $XE. Stakes are locked in the network for a minimum period of time and for the duration of the node being online.
Nodes that are found to be bad actors will have their stake penalised or removed. Stakes reclaimed by the network in this manner are burned (sent to a zero address in the XE chain).
🔗Network Governance
Participation in network governance requires a stake locked in the network in $XE. This can be a stake used for the contribution of a node or an unassigned stake used purely for governance participation.
Fees tied to the raising of proposals in the governance mechanism are put into the growth fund.
🔗Buy Back and Make
A buy back and make programme assigns network revenue to the dev fund and to the growth fund. In addition to this, a percent of the gas fees from the network bridge are put into the growth fund.
🔗In Conclusion
The tokenomics of the network are designed to incentivise network growth and to help to secure the network. The 1:1 relationship between $XE and $Edge acts to lock value in the network by taking bridged $EDGE out of circulating supply. $XE itself provides for fast and free transactions tied to staking and yield payments within the network.
In a follow up post later this week we’ll be sharing the issuance and distribution model for $XE and $EDGE.
Joseph & I will also be holding an AMA this Thursday evening (17:00 UK time) in our Discord channel. Please get your questions into BJay and Rick ahead of time and we’ll endeavour to get them all answered in the season.
We’re very excited for the future of the Edge platform, and can’t wait to share more of the core team’s future development plans with you. There’s a lot more to come.
