Stake NFTs

Every stake mints a new NFT for the staker. These stakes have a "token bound account," which is like a wallet that is attached to the NFT. The account can hold assets that travel with the NFT. You can learn more about token bound accounts at tokenbound.org.

Token bound accounts provide some superpowers for a Surge deal.

Features

You are moving a stake to your own wallet. Legally, there is no transaction. You do not need to do any accounting at the time of placing a stake. You get the security of knowing that the staked assets are in a wallet that you own, and you can unstake at any time before closing.

A deal can accept stakes for companies that don't exist yet. It can accept stakes for deals with terms that don't exist yet.

You can transfer or sell the NFT, with its stake and place in line. You get branded NFT art.

The token bound account can accumulate interest and points. When you stake an asset that is earning interest and points, you can claim those rewards. You can also transfer those rewards, even if the rewards are locked to the token bound address.

The token bound account can reliably receive tokens, with vesting or other terms.

Retail wallets can get ahead of VCs. Retail wallets can place stakes, and then sell stakes to investors that are qualified to buy a security. The stakers are getting a place in line to buy the security, with a bonus bonding curve, and the end buyers are getting the security.

Sponsors get ways to qualify stakers, or qualify buyers. Sponsors can start a deal before they know the requirements for qualifying buyers and closing the deal, and then add qualification and compliance at closing.

Implementation

Surge runs on EVM chains. A Surge deal is an NFT contract. Surge modifies the way that token bound accounts handle the specific tokens that are used for stakes, so that sponsors can claim them in the special case of a successful closing. Surge adds optional parameters to turn transfers on and off, to require qualifications for staking, and to require qualifications for claiming and buying an offer. Surge provides default qualifications in the form of whitelists that accept addresses and allocations, and will integrate with other credential providers.