What Is Astar Network ? All About ASTR Token

With the total value of locked DOT being more than $320M at the moment, Astar Network is the third largest chain which attracts the crypto's money flow from the community. Astar is also the first project invested in by Binance from their announced $10M Polkadot Ecosystem Fund.

Today, let's read about Astar Network and discover its roles in the Polkadot Ecosystem with Coin98 Insights!

What is Astar Network?

Astar Network (formerly Plasm Network) is a Substrate blockchain that provides the methods for developing scalable Dapps and supporting cutting-edge layer 2 solutions. The Polkadot Relaychain, by design, does not support smart contracts. Developers can build whatever applications on Astar Network without having to consider its scalability.

Astar Network Website: https://astar.network

How does Astar work?

Astar Network is a layer1 permissionless public blockchain where everyone can join. In general, Astar Network is the default root chain for developers to connect their applications. Astar Network provides various modules that allow the developers to utilize Layer2 solutions with ease such as Optimistic Virtual Machine (OVM) module and DApp Staking module.

Astar Network (formerly Plasm) Architecture

Astar Network will not only be for Plasma applications but also for Lightning Network applications or any other layer 2 protocols. Users can choose which solution to use and make their use case possible with minimum overhead.

In addition to implementing Layer2 solutions that are not possible in Astar. The network has integrated Plasma as a Service for supporting Dapps developers. Plasma as a Service allows developers to deploy Astar applications effortlessly without going through the pain of learning everything from scratch.

Staking mechanism

To incentivize for community members who contribute to the Astar Network from the early days, Astar have designed the staking mechanism to reward early adopters through this process:

• A community member creates a simple smart contract and deploys it on Astar Network.
• ASTR holders evaluate this performance and stake their token on the smart contract.
• Both of them get rewards based on the performance of the smart contract.

Astar Core Features

Dapps Staking

Other blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum only reward transaction fees to the miners, and developers, who truly contribute to the ecosystem, have to pay the price for deploying applications in the form of Gas.

Therefore, Astar have divided the block reward into two parts: 50% of the block rewards on the Astar root chain are distributed to DApps developers who increase the value of the network and the remaining 50% of the rewards are distributed to the block’s validators.

Astar also allows the assignment of a smart contract administrator, called an operator. Operators are chosen by other dApps nominators.

Reward Distribution

As can be seen from the illustrated picture, 50% rewards going to developers will continue to be divided into two parties: 10% for nominators and 40% for operators.

This mechanism creates an incentive for the nominator to stake on smart contracts that would simply increase the value of the token. Operators can also receive semi-permanent rewards by receiving stakes on smart contracts managed by themselves.

DApp Staking Infographic

Operator Trading

Operator Trading is a mechanism to buy and sell Astar applications. This is similar to M&A. Developers can assign an operator to others for various use cases (chain maintenance, administration,...). Those who have been granted the rights of operators can receive the buyout.

The relationship between Astar Network & Shiden Network

Its sister, Shiden Network, is a parallel chain which is deployed on the Kusama Relay chain. Except that Astar is on the Polkadot Relay chain, Astar and Shiden are the same network and developed by the same team. Astar/Shiden is natively supporting both EVM and WASM (WebAssembly).

At present, you can stake in Dapps on Shiden Network. There are now more than 17+ Dapps deployed on its sister chain.

Shiden Network - Astar's sister chain

What is ASTR Token?

ASTR token is the utility and governance token of the network.

Detailed information about ASTR Token

ASTR Token Metrics

• Ticker: ASTR
• Deployment Network: Astar
• Relay Chain: Polkadot
• Token Standard: Updating
• Contract: Updating
• Token Type: Utility and Governance
• Total Supply: 7,000,000,000 ASTR
• Circulating Supply: ASTR has not launched yet
• Inflation: 10% (yearly)

ASTR Token Allocation

• Users and Early Supporters: 30%
• Parachain Auction: 20%
• Parachain Auctions Reserve: 5%
• Protocol Development: 10%
• On-Chain DAO: 5%
• Marketing: 5%
• Early Financial Backers: 10%
• Team: 5%
• Foundation: 10%

ASTR Token Allocation

ASTR Release Schedule

• Users and Early Supporters: 7-month linear vesting with 10% initial allocation. Other participants have 15- month vesting with 10% initial allocation after the launch.
• Parachain Auction: 22-month linear vesting with 10% initial allocation.
• Parachain Auctions Reserve: Funds to be used for future parachain Lease Offerings. (Additional funds).
• Protocol Development: TBA.
• On-Chain DAO: Funds for the on-chain treasury that the community decides how to use.
• Marketing: Funds to be used for marketing purposes.
• Early Financial Backers: 7-month vesting with 10% initial allocation.
• Team: 2-year lock and 3-years\ vesting with 0% initial allocation.
• Foundation: This allocation is for future operations.

ASTR Token Use Case

Currently, the ASTR token has four main roles:

• Transaction fees: Paying for transaction fees on the network.
• Rewards: Block rewards for dApps operators; sustainable reward designed for applications.
• Governance: Using for governance activities such as voting and referenda.
• Stake: Staking for consensus, rewards for validators and nominators.

How to buy ASTR token

The token is not currently supported on Coin98 Exchange. But in the future, Coin98 Exchange will be integrating the token soon.

How to store ASTR token

You can store ASTR token on Coin98 Wallet when the token is supported.

Team, Investors, and Supporters

Team

Astar Network and Shiden Network are developed by Stake Technologies.

Sota Watanabe: Founder of Astar Network, also a CEO of Stake Technologies

Investors

Astar Network has raised 2.4M in a funding round led by Binance Labs. This marks Binance’s first investment from their announced $10M Polkadot ecosystem fund.

Other participants in the round include HashKey, LongHash, Digital Finance Group, and PAKA Ventures. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of Plasm Network’s Ethereum bridge, on-chain governance, and Network Portal.

Supporters

Astar's Supporters

Roadmap and Updates

Astar Network Roadmap

Is ASTR a good investment?

Let's look at the datas we have gathered before making an assessment on Astar Network. However, you should always do your own research for your investment decisions.

Backed by Stake Technologies

Stake Technologies, the company behind Plasm Network and Shiden Network, has raised $10 million in a funding round led by Fenbushi Capital.

A long list of investors also participated in the fundraising round, including: Hypersphere Ventures, AU21 Capital, Digital Strategies, and others. The round was also joined by some notable angel investors, including Nobuyuki Idei, ex-CEO and chairman of Sony.

Stake Technologies will use the funding in the parachain auctions that are scheduled to take place over the coming weeks to help Astar Network win slots on Polkadot and its sister network on Kusama.

Ecosystem Growth Fund: $30M

Astar x Shiden Ecosystem Ground Fund I

To bootstrap the ecosystem development, on September 6th 2021, the team announced the launch of a $30M Astar/Shiden Ecosystem Growth Fund. Ecosystem Growth Fund will aim to be used for the following:

• Financial Support for the participants of Builders Program.
• Growth Support: Hackathon, builders events,...
• Campaigns.
• VC sourcing for promising projects.
• Seed Funding

Auctions

Currently, Astar now has the third largest fund raised with more than 18,000 contributors locked up their DOT in favor of ASTR. It is demonstrated that Astar has a strong and supportive community which will kickstart Astar and propel it into a thriving network.

Astar Network Crowdloan

Due to my past observation, Binance Labs' invested projects will usually be listed on Binance Exchange - One of the largest CEXs in the world. As a crypto-enthusiastic, we all know this will be good news not only for the intrinsic project but also for the token price.

Conclusion

If you are impressed by Astar Network after reading this article, and also are a DOT holder. The rewards are now approximately 40 ASTR per DOT contributed.

Coin98 Insights hopes you have gained all of the important information about ASTR including its features and highlights throughout this topic.

If you have any questions about ASTR or want to know more about ASTR, please feel free to leave a comment below.