stake.link
SDL
Evaluation Score
Overall rating on a scale of 0-10
Dimension Breakdown
AI Analysis
Comprehensive evaluation of the token
stake.link (SDL) displays strong technical and governance fundamentals, underpinned by institutional backing from 15 Chainlink node operators, an experienced public team led by Jonny Huxtable, and robust development activity with continuous upgrades and deployments through 2026. The protocol maintains a clean security record with $0 in exploit losses, comprehensive audits (Cyfrin, Sigma Prime, Zellic, Trust Security), and substantial TVL ($81M–$83M). Value accrual is anchored in the reSDL vote-escrow model providing protocol fee sharing and Chainlink BUILD partner airdrops. However, overall performance is weighed down by poor secondary market liquidity (sub-$1,000 daily volume), significant token supply concentration among institutional operators, a small active holder base, and a steep >82% price drawdown from all-time highs. Note that the Security section was scored at 5.0 solely due to the Price Crash Rule rather than an underlying exploit or protocol failure, meaning the global red-flag cap is not triggered.
Development Activity
Code updates and developer engagement
Community Support
Social media presence and community engagement
Tokenomics
Supply, distribution, and utility
Market & Use Case
Value proposition and competitive landscape
Team & Governance
Team background and project governance
Security & Audits
Security history and audit status
About stake.link (SDL)
stake.link (SDL), which originated following a token migration from LinkPool (LPL) at a 1:0.5 ratio, is a liquid staking protocol for Chainlink (LINK) deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. Founded by Jonny Huxtable of LinkPool and operated in collaboration with a consortium of 15 Chainlink node operators and Chainlink Labs, the protocol enables liquid staking through derivatives such as stLINK and wstLINK to address native staking capacity limits, with further asset deployments including wstPOL and stESP.
The SDL token has a fixed maximum supply of 100,000,000 tokens, with approximately 38,000,000 in circulation. Distribution allocations designated 40.91% to the DAO Treasury, 30% to Community and Airdrops, 20% to Core Contributors, 7.69% to Ecosystem Partners, and 1.4% to Node Operators. Value capture and governance operate via the reSDL vote-escrow model, where users lock SDL into NFTs for up to four years to receive up to a 9x voting weight multiplier. Stakers receive protocol fee distributions (15% from the Node Operator Pool and 10% from the Community Pool), 20% of Chainlink BUILD partner token airdrops, and priority access queues for staking pools.
From a security standpoint, stake.link has no recorded history of smart contract exploits, hacks, or bad debt, maintaining $0 in historical security losses. Its protocol has been audited by Cyfrin, Sigma Prime, Zellic, CodeHawks, and Trust Security, and operations are safeguarded by a 6-of-8 multisig timelock and Hypernative monitoring. However, the SDL token is subject to market and structural risks, including thin secondary market liquidity with daily volumes under $1,000, a small holder base of fewer than 1,000 wallets, heavy supply concentration among institutional node operators, and a price crash exceeding an 82% drawdown from its historical high.