Decentralized liquid staking provider Rocket Pool is in the early stages of making changes to the tokenomics of its native token RPL. 

Rocket Pool has a bounty titled “Rapid Research Incubator,” where community members can submit new tokenomic designs for RPL that drive more value to node operators and the protocol. While the official submission period ended Tuesday night at 23:59 UTC, people can still submit ideas, according to several members of Rocket Pool’s grants and bounty management committee (GMC).

Tokenomics refers to the design structure of a cryptocurrency, involving the creation, distribution, supply, demand and utility of a specific digital asset within a blockchain. RPL provides direct incentives, insurance and governance for the Rocket Pool protocol.

Staying Competitive

Rocket Pool is the second-largest liquid staking provider with nearly $3 billion in locked value in its smart contracts, but the community has concerns about losing its edge. The protocol “is not keeping pace with Lido validator market share,” according to the community’s bounty description on GitHub. 

With more than $22 billion in total value locked, Lido is the dominant leader in the liquid staking sector, accounting for nearly 32% of total staked ETH, according to a Dune dashboard created by Hildebert Mouiliere, aka Hildobby, a data scientist at VC firm Dragonfly.

“Lido has plans to launch a more ‘decentralized’ option within a year… This will likely threaten the value proposition and growth of Rocket Pool, but more generally the idea of credible neutrality and decentralization of the Ethereum network,” the community posted in its bounty. Rocket Pool “will need to adapt in multiple ways to meet this competition… We are at a point where we need to think outside the box, and quickly.” 

Community members who submit actionable recommendations will have a chance to be financially rewarded, depending on several factors including whether it is useful, innovative and promising for adoption. A committee, which has not been determined, will read and review the submissions.

A member of Rocket Pool’s incentive management committee expects actual changes in RPL tokenomics to occur in the long term. “For smart contract changes, six months is essentially ‘best possibility if things are clear and there is great agreement,’” Valdorff wrote to Unchained on Discord. While there is heavy community interest in making Rocket Pool’s product better, “it’s not overnight by a longshot,” Valdorff added.

Read more: Etherum Staking Demand Drops Sharply

The value of RPL has increased nearly 21% in the past 24 hours to $33.20, data from CoinGecko shows.

UPDATE (Jan. 10 2:17 p.m. ET): Updates Valdorff’s position in the Rocket Pool ecosystem.