Epochs

An overview of the epoch system

All rewards and staking contracts operate on 28 days cycles, referred to as epochs. A new epoch automatically begins when the current epoch ends.

The following will occur at the end of each epoch:

  • Requested withdrawals for the Liquidity Staking Pool in the ended epoch may be withdrawn.

  • Requested withdrawals for the Safety Staking Pool in the ended epoch may be withdrawn.

The following will occur only at the end of Epoch 0:

  • Retroactive Mining Rewards will be distributed. Rewards are claimable at dydx.community approximately 8 days after the end of Epoch 0.

  • Transfers of $ethDYDX are initially restricted. The Initial Transfer Restriction period was lifted approximately 8 days after the end of Epoch 0.

  • $ethDYDX became transferable on September 8th, 2021 at 15:00:00 UTC.

Epoch 0 went live on August 3rd, 2021 at 15:00:00 UTC. The following table outlines epoch start and end dates (which can be modified by dYdX v3 governance):

EpochStart Date (UTC)End Date (UTC)DaysCumulative Years

0

8/3/2021 15:00:00

8/31/2021 15:00:00

28

0.08

1

8/31/2021 15:00:00

9/28/2021 15:00:00

28

0.15

2

9/28/2021 15:00:00

10/26/2021 15:00:00

28

0.23

3

10/26/2021 15:00:00

11/23/2021 15:00:00

28

0.31

4

11/23/2021 15:00:00

12/21/2021 15:00:00

28

0.38

5

12/21/2021 15:00:00

1/18/2022 15:00:00

28

0.46

6

1/18/2022 15:00:00

2/15/2022 15:00:00

28

0.54

7

2/15/2022 15:00:00

3/15/2022 15:00:00

28

0.61

8

3/15/2022 15:00:00

4/12/2022 15:00:00

28

0.69

9

4/12/2022 15:00:00

5/10/2022 15:00:00

28

0.77

10

5/10/2022 15:00:00

6/7/2022 15:00:00

28

0.84

11

6/7/2022 15:00:00

7/5/2022 15:00:00

28

0.92

12

7/5/2022 15:00:00

8/2/2022 15:00:00

28

1.00

13

8/2/2022 15:00:00

8/30/2022 15:00:00

28

1.07

14

8/30/2022 15:00:00

9/27/2022 15:00:00

28

1.15

15

9/27/2022 15:00:00

10/25/2022 15:00:00

28

1.23

16

10/25/2022 15:00:00

11/22/2022 15:00:00

28

1.30

17

11/22/2022 15:00:00

12/20/2022 15:00:00

28

1.38

18

12/20/2022 15:00:00

1/17/2023 15:00:00

28

1.46

19

1/17/2023 15:00:00

2/14/2023 15:00:00

28

1.53

20

2/14/2023 15:00:00

3/14/2023 15:00:00

28

1.61

21

3/14/2023 15:00:00

4/11/2023 15:00:00

28

1.69

22

4/11/2023 15:00:00

5/9/2023 15:00:00

28

1.76

23

5/9/2023 15:00:00

6/6/2023 15:00:00

28

1.84

24

6/6/2023 15:00:00

7/4/2023 15:00:00

28

1.92

25

7/4/2023 15:00:00

8/1/2023 15:00:00

28

1.99

26

8/1/2023 15:00:00

8/29/2023 15:00:00

28

2.07

27

8/29/2023 15:00:00

9/26/2023 15:00:00

28

2.15

28

9/26/2023 15:00:00

10/24/2023 15:00:00

28

2.22

29

10/24/2023 15:00:00

11/21/2023 15:00:00

28

2.30

30

11/21/2023 15:00:00

12/19/2023 15:00:00

28

2.38

31

12/19/2023 15:00:00

1/16/2024 15:00:00

28

2.45

32

1/16/2024 15:00:00

2/13/2024 15:00:00

28

2.53

33

2/13/2024 15:00:00

3/12/2024 15:00:00

28

2.61

34

3/12/2024 15:00:00

4/9/2024 15:00:00

28

2.68

35

4/9/2024 15:00:00

5/7/2024 15:00:00

28

2.76

36

5/7/2024 15:00:00

6/4/2024 15:00:00

28

2.84

37

6/4/2024 15:00:00

7/2/2024 15:00:00

28

2.92

38

7/2/2024 15:00:00

7/30/2024 15:00:00

28

2.99

39

7/30/2024 15:00:00

8/27/2024 15:00:00

28

3.07

40

8/27/2024 15:00:00

9/24/2024 15:00:00

28

3.15

41

9/24/2024 15:00:00

10/22/2024 15:00:00

28

3.22

42

10/22/2024 15:00:00

11/19/2024 15:00:00

28

3.30

43

11/19/2024 15:00:00

12/17/2024 15:00:00

28

3.38

44

12/17/2024 15:00:00

1/14/2025 15:00:00

28

3.45

45

1/14/2025 15:00:00

2/11/2025 15:00:00

28

3.53

46

2/11/2025 15:00:00

3/11/2025 15:00:00

28

3.61

47

3/11/2025 15:00:00

4/8/2025 15:00:00

28

3.68

48

4/8/2025 15:00:00

5/6/2025 15:00:00

28

3.76

49

5/6/2025 15:00:00

6/3/2025 15:00:00

28

3.84

50

6/3/2025 15:00:00

7/1/2025 15:00:00

28

3.91

51

7/1/2025 15:00:00

7/29/2025 15:00:00

28

3.99

52

7/29/2025 15:00:00

8/26/2025 15:00:00

28

4.07

53

8/26/2025 15:00:00

9/23/2025 15:00:00

28

4.14

54

9/23/2025 15:00:00

10/21/2025 15:00:00

28

4.22

55

10/21/2025 15:00:00

11/18/2025 15:00:00

28

4.30

56

11/18/2025 15:00:00

12/16/2025 15:00:00

28

4.37

57

12/16/2025 15:00:00

1/13/2026 15:00:00

28

4.45

58

1/13/2026 15:00:00

2/10/2026 15:00:00

28

4.53

59

2/10/2026 15:00:00

3/10/2026 15:00:00

28

4.60

60

3/10/2026 15:00:00

4/7/2026 15:00:00

28

4.68

61

4/7/2026 15:00:00

5/5/2026 15:00:00

28

4.76

62

5/5/2026 15:00:00

6/2/2026 15:00:00

28

4.83

63

6/2/2026 15:00:00

6/30/2026 15:00:00

28

4.91

64

6/30/2026 15:00:00

7/28/2026 15:00:00

28

4.99

65

7/28/2026 15:00:00

8/25/2026 15:00:00

28

5.06

The dYdX Foundation has created a public Google Calendar with start / end dates for Epochs and Blackout Windows - you can subscribe here.

FAQs

When will the rewards and staking pools be activated?
Can dYdX governance modify the epoch schedule?

The initial epoch length is 28 days. dYdX v3 governance can vote to modify epoch lengths, within the specified bounds. The minimum and maximum epoch lengths are 6 days and 92 days, respectively.

What is the Blackout Window?

For the Liquidity Staking Pool and the Safety Staking Pool, an epoch schedule is enforced for withdrawals in order to provide predictability and a regular cadence for the availability of funds in the pool. A staker must request to unstake funds before the blackout window in order to be able to withdraw the staker's funds after the end of that epoch. If a staker does not request to withdraw, then the staker's staked funds are rolled over into the next epoch.

In DIP 17, the dYdX community voted to reduce the length of the Blackout Window from 14 days to 3 days. dYdX governance can vote to modify the blackout window, within the specified bounds. The minimum and maximum blackout windows are 3 days and 46 days, respectively.

When can I withdraw and transfer my earned $ethDYDX Rewards?

Once tokens have been claimed, they can be transferred or delegated to dYdX governance.

What is the purpose of the Waiting Period? How are rewards stored at the end of every epoch?

Retroactive Mining Rewards, Trading Rewards, and Liquidity Provider Rewards were stored in a Merkle tree, which contains the cumulative rewards earned by each user since the start of the distribution program.

At the end of each epoch, the Merkle root is updated using the ChainLink oracle system on the MerkleDistributorV1 smart contract to reflect rewards earned in the last epoch. The update involves setting the proposed Merkle root to the latest value returned by the oracle contract, which becomes active after a 7-day Waiting Period. During this period, dYdX governance can freeze the Merkle root if needed. If the root is not frozen, the new Merkle root is activated, allowing users to claim their rewards from the past epoch.

Each time the epoch changes, the following occurs in order:

  • When an epoch ends, rewards data is calculated for all user activity from the last epoch.

  • This data is added to a data structure on IPFS, stored under a fixed IPNS name.

  • The ChainLink oracle system, also noticing the change in epoch, queries the latest rewards data using the known IPNS name.

  • Each oracle signer uses this rewards data to calculate newly earned rewards for each user.

  • Each oracle signer computes the new cumulative Merkle tree and Merkle root.

  • Each oracle signer writes the Merkle tree data to IPFS, receiving an IPFS CID. (They should have calculated the same tree and should therefore receive the same CID.)

  • If the oracle signers agree on the same values, then the RewardsOracle is updated with the new Merkle root, IPFS CID, and epoch number.

  • An oracle signer (or a third party) calls the public function MerkleDistributorV1.proposeRoot() to set the proposed Merkle root to the new oracle value.

  • A waiting period takes place, during which governance can call MerkleDistributorV1.pauseRootUpdates() to prevent the proposed Merkle root from taking effect.

  • After the waiting period, an oracle signer (or a third party) calls the public function MerkleDistributorV1.updateRoot() causing the proposed Merkle root to become active.

  • Once the new Merkle root is active, users are able to claim rewards from the last epoch.

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