Headlines
A lot has happened in the world of Leonicorn since I last posted, but it seems something new happens every day with Leonicorn Swap. There is a lot to cover so I will start with the headlines–
- Single token staking on native platform – launch date announced
- Staking periods and APR% announced
- LEON token airdrop details released
- New token logos launched
- Huge token burns
- Denounced partnership
- Security updates
Staking
Staking had been available on CoinTiger but the product sold out quickly, leaving most LEOS holders left only receiving reflections—through the LEOS smart contract auto-staking mechanism. Now, the Leonicorn team have announced details of the highly anticipated single token staking pools that will run on Leonicorn's own platform: a launch date of 31st August is expected. The below graphic shows the returns paid for staking your tokens for the period specified.
Some key observations-
- The quoted APY% returns are NET of LEOS smart contract fees and are based on locking the token for the whole specified period.
- Staked tokens, and rewards, are locked and cannot be unlocked, but remain eligible for governance purposes.
- Staked tokens will still be captured by the LEON token airdrop snapshot.
- Staked tokens will not receive LEOS reflections.
It is clear, reading discussions on the Leonicorn telegram group, that many investors don't understand the basic differences between APR and APY, or the effects different investment periods have—for clarity, below, are the expected returns based on a principle of 1000 LEOS locked for each period.
30 days at 36% APY = 30 LEOS
60 days at 60% APY = 100 LEOS
90 days at 84% APY = 210 LEOS
180 days at 108% APY = 530 LEOS
365 days at 144% APY = 1,440 LEOS
The more canny amongst you may have identified that the actual APY return will be higher than that quoted, if the staked principle is re-staked at the end of the term—which is true—however, it will still remain lower than the APY% available for the longer locking periods, and there are no guarantees that the terms will still be available when the principle is unlocked.
LEON airdrop
As mentioned in my previous Leonicorn Swap article, a new token is set for launch for use on the Leonicorn Swap DEX—this new token will be called LEON, and will be quite a different beast to LEOS. Please read my previous article for more details on LEON and keep an eye out for Leonicorn's whitepaper v2.0 which will describe the dual token ecosystem fully.
However, while the precise relationship of the LEOS and LEON token remain unconfirmed, what we do know is that LEON will be airdropped to LEOS holders at a ratio of 1 LEON for each 10 LEOS held, and that staked LEOS will remain eligible for the airdrop. We also know that a LEON presale allocation will be available to LEOS holders, based on the number of LEOS held. The price action of LEOS at the moment—being largely suppressed by trading bot activity—makes now look like an attractive opportunity to make an entry to LEOS, if you have not already done so.
What we do not know, and it will not be announced, is the time and date of the LEON token airdrop snapshot, but it is clear bigger holders of LEOS stand to gain more.
Token logos
Leonicorn made the bold move of launching a new logo pairing, though it will take time for the old logo to fade from use on external platforms, the new logo for LEOS retains the bold colour pallet of the original logo but works well on both light and dark backgrounds and is better suited to miniaturisation.
Changing the logo may only seem like a small thing, but recognising issues that exist within your brand identify and taking swift and decisive action to resolve them is a sign of a team with intent to succeed.
Token burns
The LEOS token has build in to its smart contract, a burning mechanism, which charges a 3% tax on transactions, with a portion given to LEOS holders as reflections and the remainder sent to a burn address. However, despite this mechanism burning LEOS—with its limited maximum supply—at a tremendous rate, the team have upped the ante by buying LEOS, on the open market, and burning them. Several significant burns have occurred since my last article, including a massive one completed by the Leonicorn CMO. In total over 580,000 LEOS have been bought and burnt in this fashion, in addition to the usual transaction derived burns.
The Leonicorn ecosystem profits will also be used in the future to buy and burn LEOS, though again we will have to wait for the whitepaper v.2.0 for precise details. At the moment LEOS remains in an accumulation faze—prior to the launch of its ecosystem, but a robust breakout in price is (in my personal opinion) immanent, with LEOS locked into a very bullish falling wedge on its chart.
Denounced partnership
Another BRAVE move, from the Leonicorn Swap team, showed several things at once: that the team have integrity; and that the Leonicorn project is not desperate to form partnerships because of keen interest in its platform.
Amidst swirling rumours about unscrupulous behaviour from the Moon Rise development team, Leonicorn moved quickly to publicly denounce its partnership with Moon Rise. Leonicorn has made it clear that it will not continue partnerships with meme projects, and that its partners must have a use case. The CEO of Leonicorn announcing, "From today #LEONICORNSWAP will not accept any kind of MEME coins for IDO/Staking support. We will help only real use-case projects. Thank you, everyone".
Leonicorn's determination to distance itself from the necrotic culture of 'pump and dump' crypto must be applauded, and is consistent with the palpable desire the team have displayed to protect their investors from such projects.
Security updates
Against a backdrop of a quick succession of high profile hacks and flash exploits in the DeFi space and sticking to their leonine characters and the proverbial bravery it connotes, the Leonicorn team have made the decision to delay the launch of its DEX. The delay will facilitate a complete audit of the DEX coding by the in indominatable Hacken and the integration of Amazon Web Services security products.
That's it for now,but look out for my future updates on this ambitious and exciting project and have a peek at my other articles covering other micro-cap gems across the Cardano, Solana, and BSC ecosystems.
