In response to discussions with several community members, a proposed enhancement to the LINK deposit and withdrawal page has been made.
Currently, new users have two options when staking LINK:
Deposit into the Priority Pool, incurring an uncertain wait time. The possibility of purchasing SDL and bypassing the queue is disregarded for the purpose of this discussion.
Swap LINK to stLINK through the Curve pool.
It is not apparent to new users that the second option exists, and this should be rectified.
Swapping through the Curve pool may result in a slight penalty due to the premium of stLINK. However, the advantage is that users can stake immediately without waiting for further unstakes in the community pool.
I propose adding a new button to the LINK deposit and withdrawal page, titled “STAKE NOW.” This section would display the current stLINK price and enable users to swap instantly. The addition would be minimal, requiring only the display of the swap rate on the page and the implementation of an open-source UI from Cowswap or another aggregator.
While users may typically receive fewer stLINK compared to waiting in the Priority Pool, they will gain the benefit of staking instantly. This should be clearly communicated to users, and the choice should be left to them. By enabling users to stake and unstake instantly through the Curve pool via the stake.link website, the volume of trades through the pool will increase, promoting greater liquidity and volume further.
Feel free to ask questions and I can explain my thoughts further if need be.
Thanks for kicking off this meta discussion, @Lyvoo. I really appreciate you opening the floor on UX for staking LINK.
Just to share my point of view: while I’m personally a big fan and advocate of CowSwap (and often recommend it), I do think the staking UI should aim to be as neutral and informative as possible. The goal should be to empower users to make the best decision for themselves without steering them too heavily in one direction.
That said, I see a few interesting ways we could improve the UX in a way that benefits both users and staked.link as a whole. Ideally, it could be a win-win:
1. Smart alerts and liquidity rebalancing
When a user is about to stake or unstake, the UI could display a simple message if their action would help rebalance Curve liquidity and possibly give them a better rate. It wouldn’t push them either way, just surface helpful context.
2. Show both staking paths with break-even insight
The UI could present both the standard staking flow and the swap route (via Curve), along with a clear breakdown of the tradeoff. For example, if the user is paying a premium to buy stLINK, the UI could estimate how many days of staking rewards it would take to break even. Expressing it in days rather than abstract percentages could make it more relatable and easier to act on.
And of course, there’s a spectrum between these two ideas. Maybe there’s a hybrid solution that balances simplicity, flexibility, and educational value without overwhelming users.
Appreciate all the work the team and community are doing, just brainstorming ways to smooth out the path for users while strengthening the protocol. Happy to iterate more on this with anyone interested.
Hi there,
I just want to say from a non technical users point of view, a simple stake now button would be appreciated but I think that Ari`s point no.2 is also very important. I need to know what the trade off is and how many days staking etc. (from my point of view it is better to get the link staked than to leave them unstaked, even if it costs some staking time etc).
Also from a non technical point of view, I dont know what cowswop is and have no desire to know. I am prepared to trust your technical judgement on this and would not be using stake.link if if had trust issues.
I hope this helps
to your and Ari’s point, i don’t think putting a MEV free aggregator is necessarily pointing anyone in one direction or not. Its a UX improvement for them to be directed to eg: Cowswap, rather than face the dark forest and get sandwiched. The aggregator does direct them to our only pool after all… which is Curve.fi, which we 100% endorse as our main liquidity pool