One platform might have found the solution to address the major pain points of traditional staking.

AscendEX, a platform marketed as the nexus between the decentralized and centralized finance community, provides users with several unique features. 

On the AscendEX platforms, users can access trading services for over 200 trading pairs, including many initial exchange offerings (IEOs) along with margin trading of over 50 tokens. It is also the only centralized exchange to provide users with access to Polygon yield farming.

New users are encouraged to try out these features, with what are believed to be more contests and the biggest prizes on the market.

A new meaning for staking

To take advantage of the platform’s features for Polygon yield farming, users can delegate $USDC holdings to the $MATIC and $USDC pool. Rewards are then earned in either $CRV, $MATIC and $USDC. 

Traditional staking originates with Proof-of-Stake (“PoS”) networks, where validators must operate nodes to promote security. In return, they earn rewards at a fixed rate for assets that they planned on holding. In addition to gaining the appreciation of the investment, users also gain a higher APY.

Unfortunately, traditional staking does not come without pain points. In most cases, when an individual decides to stake an asset, they agree to lock up the asset for an extended period of time. This is followed by a lengthy unbonding period where the individual staking doesn’t have access to the asset and is also not eligible for various staking rewards. 

AscendEX addresses both illiquid position management and inflexible asset management -- users can unstake their assets at any time. 

For a better customer experience, the platform also provides users with a liquidity pool of assets that can be accessed immediately after an investment has been unstaked. “Instant unbonding” is also marketed as an opportunity to “allow users to manage staked assets at their own discretion even when delegating to a network with a lengthy unbonding period.”

Within the platform, users also have access to “Compound Mode,” a feature introduced by the AscendEX team that automatically redistributes a user’s staking rewards to help with compounding.

Using staked assets for margin trading

For greater rewards, staking compensation can also be earned by using assets as margin collateral. 

The AscendEX platform staked assets to be used as collateral when trading on margin to promote marketplace efficiency. The option exists for users to go either long or short to hedge exposure.

When going through this process, users are reminded that they will need to transfer staked assets from the margin account back to their cash account due to the staking and unstaking functions that are only made available on the cash account.