What is SDL?
SDL is the native governance and incentive token of the stake.link protocol — a liquid staking platform for Chainlink (LINK). As an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, SDL connects stakers, node operators, and DAO contributors into a single aligned ecosystem. Its contract address is 0xA95C5ebB86E0dE73B4fB8c47A45B792CFeA28C23.
SDL serves two primary functions: governance participation and yield enhancement. Raw SDL tokens confer no voting power on their own — to access either function, SDL must be locked into the reSDL system, converting the liquid token into a position that actively participates in the protocol. This design ensures that governance is controlled by long-term stakeholders rather than short-term traders.
Holding SDL without locking still entitles holders to participate in incentive programs and liquidity campaigns across DeFi venues, but to unlock the full potential of the token — boosted staking rewards, voting power, and priority pool access — locking is the required step.
The reSDL Locking System
When you lock SDL into the protocol, you receive a reSDL NFT — a transferable ERC-721 representation of your locked position. The reSDL contract address is 0x0B2eF910ad0b34bf575Eb09d37fd7Da6c148CA4d. Each NFT encodes your locked SDL amount, lock duration, and the resulting boost multiplier. It is the primary credential for everything that matters in the stake.link ecosystem.
reSDL NFTs can be freely transferred and sold on NFT marketplaces. When you transfer your reSDL NFT, the entire locked position — including boost, voting power, and priority access — moves with it. This makes reSDL positions composable and usable as collateral or delegation primitives in future protocol extensions.
Locks can be created for any duration between zero and four years. A zero-duration lock still converts SDL to reSDL and gives a 1× base boost, but no additional multiplier is applied. The longer the lock, the higher the boost. Withdrawal can be initiated after 50% of the lock duration has elapsed; the withdrawal period equals half the original lock duration. Upon expiry, SDL can be reclaimed by burning the reSDL NFT.
Boost Mechanics
The boost system is what makes SDL locking economically compelling. Your boost multiplier determines your share of the staking rewards pool relative to other stakers. A staker with a 9× boost earns nine times the yield of an unboosted staker for the same LINK deposited. The formula is linear:
Where lockYears is your chosen lock duration (0–4 years).
The table below shows the boost multiplier for each supported lock duration. The average boost across all active lockers — displayed in orange on the analytics dashboard — gives you a live benchmark of where the community is positioned.
| Lock Duration | Boost Multiplier | Relative Yield vs No Lock |
|---|---|---|
| No lock (0 yr) | 1× | Baseline |
| 1 year | 3× | 3× baseline |
| 2 years | 5× | 5× baseline |
| 3 years | 7× | 7× baseline |
| 4 years (max) | 9× | 9× baseline |
There is no minimum lock amount — any quantity of SDL can be locked for any supported duration. This allows smaller holders to participate in the boost and governance system without needing a large position.
Priority Pool Access
Chainlink staking has limited capacity, and when that capacity opens — either during initial deployment or when the protocol expands — reSDL holders gain priority access before general stakers. This priority pool mechanic means that users who have locked SDL are first in line to deploy their LINK into the highest-priority staking slots.
Priority access is not just a convenience feature — during high-demand periods when Chainlink staking capacity is fully subscribed, it is the difference between earning staking yield and sitting in a queue. reSDL holders secure their position ahead of time by committing to the protocol through SDL locking.
The priority pool is sized relative to the total reSDL supply and lock durations. Longer locks carry greater protocol commitment and correspondingly stronger priority positioning. This creates a natural incentive alignment: the most dedicated long-term stakers get first access to constrained staking capacity.
Governance & Voting
Voting power in the stake.link DAO is denominated in reSDL, not raw SDL. Unlocked SDL carries zero voting weight. This design ensures that governance decisions are made by participants who have skin in the game — their tokens are locked for months or years, aligning their incentives with the long-term health of the protocol.
The DAO operates across two Snapshot spaces. Community proposals are hosted at community.stakedotlink.eth and are open to all reSDL holders. Council-level decisions, which cover more sensitive protocol parameters, are gated to council.stakedotlink.eth. Both spaces use reSDL balance as the voting credential at the time of snapshot.
New governance proposals follow the SLURP process (Stake.Link Universal Request for Proposals), which defines a structured lifecycle from forum discussion to Snapshot vote to on-chain implementation. Any reSDL holder can author a SLURP. Notable recent SLURPs include the Morpho vault incentive campaign and ESP staking approval. Following the SLURP process is how major protocol changes — including SDL incentive campaigns — get ratified.
SDL Incentive Campaigns
The DAO allocates SDL from the treasury to incentivize liquidity across key DeFi venues. These campaigns are time-bounded and governed by SLURP votes. Current active and upcoming allocations are tracked on the analytics dashboard and distributed via Merkl's on-chain distribution infrastructure.
| Venue | SDL Allocation | Expiry |
|---|---|---|
| Curve stLINK/LINK pool | 258,333 SDL | 7 Jul 2026 |
| Morpho Vault | 62,500 SDL | 27 Jul 2026 |
| Morpho Market | 31,250 SDL | 27 Jul 2026 |
| Uniswap SDL/LINK | 14,406 SDL | 14 Mar 2026 |
Incentive campaigns serve a dual purpose: they deepen liquidity for stLINK and wstLINK across DeFi protocols, and they distribute SDL into the hands of active protocol participants who may become long-term governance stakeholders. Each campaign is drawn from the DAO treasury at 0xB351EC0FEaF4B99FdFD36b484d9EC90D0422493D.
Token Supply & Distribution
SDL has a hard maximum supply of 100 million tokens. Approximately 54 million SDL are currently in circulation, with the remainder held in the DAO treasury, vesting contracts, and reserve allocations. There is no mint function callable by any individual — new tokens can only be issued through DAO governance.
Market price has traded in the range of $0.25–$0.40 in recent periods. Because SDL is not a revenue-generating asset in isolation — its value derives from the boost it confers on staking yield and the governance rights it encodes — its price is closely tied to the growth of the stake.link protocol's total value locked and the demand for boosted staking positions.
The supply is distributed across multiple stakeholder groups including the core team, community, liquidity incentives, and the ecosystem fund managed by the DAO. Ongoing campaigns gradually distribute treasury SDL into productive DeFi venues, gradually expanding the circulating supply in a way that is governed and transparent through the SLURP process.