Babylon: There are still 2 days before the launch of the Bitcoin staking mainnet, and the initial total staking limit in the first phase is 1,000 BTC

On August 20, the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon said on the X platform: "In just 2 days, the world's first self-hosted Bitcoin staking mainnet will be officially launched." According to its announcement, Babylon Bitcoin staking will be launched in three phases, namely the Bitcoin locking phase (Bitcoin holders initiate the staking process by submitting Bitcoin staking transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain), the Bitcoin staking activation phase (a Babylon PoS chain will be launched to receive the cryptoeconomic security provided by the Bitcoin locked in the first phase), and the Bitcoin multi-staking activation phase (the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol will evolve into a shared security market, enabling any PoS system to take advantage of Bitcoin staking security).

In the first phase, each pledge is set with a maximum staking time (i.e., the time lock in the Bitcoin staking script), which is 64,000 Bitcoin blocks, approximately equivalent to 15 months. This means that each pledge will automatically expire and can be withdrawn after reaching this time limit. However, stakers can unbind their stake on demand at any time before it expires. After unbinding, there will be an on-chain unbinding period of 1008 Bitcoin blocks (approximately 7 days and defined in the unbind Bitcoin script), after which the stake will expire and be withdrawn. All transactions in Phase 1 will be Bitcoin transactions, and stakers will not need to sign other transactions or messages. There will be no penalties for Bitcoin staking during Phase 1. For security reasons, an initial total stake cap of 1,000 Bitcoin will be set. This cap will be gradually relaxed as Phase 1 progresses. In addition to the initial 1,000 Bitcoin total stake cap, each staking transaction will also have a limit, minimum stake: 0.005 BTC, minimum stake: 0.005 BTC. In Phase 1, since there is no active PoS chain, staking rewards will not be given directly. Instead, a points system will be used to measure the activity of each staker, which is tracked through the staker's public key.