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Polkadot has recently introduced a series of major staking upgrades. DOT issuance now follows a declining emission schedule toward a fixed 2.1B supply cap. Staking rewards are expected to gradually decrease as issuance declines. The unbonding period has been reduced from around 28 days to around 2days. Validator commission is now 0%, and nominators are no longer exposed to slashing. As staking rewards become increasingly competitive, earning more is no longer only about staking. It’s about making your staked assets work harder. For many holders, tthat strategy is liquid staking with vDOT. Minting vDOT on Bifrost carries zero fees, and the position compounds automatically. The vDOT Pi Day Campaign To mark these network upgrades, Bifrost is launching the vDOT Pi Day Campaign. Users earn additional BNC rewards simply by increasing their vDOT holdings during the campaign window. Campaign period: July 9, 14:00 SGT to August 10, 14:00 SGT Join Now: https://app.bifrost.io/dot-pi-day How rewards work Your rewards are measured in Pi Points, calculated from your net increase in vDOT holdings over the campaign. Each tier combines three components: A base reward once you reach the minimum threshold A progressive mint reward calculated only on the amount above that tier’s entry threshold A redeem penalty if you reduce your vDOT holdings during the campaign Tier Net Increase in DOT Base Reward Progressive Mint Reward Redeem Penalty 🥉 Bronze 200–4,999 10 Pi Points +0.02 Pi Points per DOT −0.05 Pi Points per DOT 🥈 Silver 5,000–19,999 300 Pi Points +0.03 Pi Points per DOT −0.05 Pi Points per DOT 💎 Diamond ≧ 20,000 1,500 Pi Points +0.04 Pi Points per DOT −0.05 Pi Points per DOT After the campaign ends, Pi Points convert directly to BNC: 1 Pi Point = 1 BNC The campaign starts with a 60,000 BNC reward pool. If participation is strong, the pool may be topped up with additional rewards. Example: How Pi Points Are Calculated Alice starts the campaign with 0 vDOT. She mints and increases her holdings by 6,000 DOT, which places her in the Silver tier. Silver base reward: 300 Pi Points Progressive reward: (6,000 − 5,000) × 0.03 = 30 Pi Points Running total: 300 + 30 = 330 Pi Points Later, before the campaign ends, Alice redeems 500 DOT. Redeem penalty: 500 × 0.05 = 25 Pi Points Net increase after redemption: 6,000 − 500 = 5,500 DOT Because 5,500 still keeps her in the Silver tier, she retains her Silver base reward. Final: 300 + 30 − 25 = 305 Pi Points → 305 BNC If Alice had redeemed more and her final net increase fell below 5,000 DOT, she would fall from Silver to Bronze, lose the Silver base reward, and have her total recalculated at the Bronze tier. This is why holding your position through to the end matters. Estimated APY Compared with Native Staking The campaign rewards sit on top of your normal staking return. Depending on how much you add, the estimated APY works out to: Holding Level Estimated APY Higher Than Native Staking Bronze Entry (200 DOT) 5.56% +0.25% Silver Entry (5,000 DOT) 5.80% +0.49% Diamond (20,000+ DOT) 6.18% +0.87% In other words, users can earn an estimated 0.25%–0.87% more than native staking, depending on their participation tier. Join the Discord Lucky Draw The campaign also features an additional 20,000 BNC Discord reward pool. Draw Date Prize Pool Winners Round 1 July 17 5,000 BNC 20 Round 2 July 24 5,000 BNC 20 Round 3 July 31 5,000 BNC 20 Round 4 August 7 5,000 BNC 20 To participate: Earn at least 10 Pi Points Join the official Bifrost Discord: https://discord.com/invite/bifrost Bind the wallet address in #command-only channel Receive the Pi-Participant role Enter the #Lucky-draw channel In short Polkadot’s upgrades make one thing clear: as issuance falls, holding DOT and staking it the old way earns less over time. The way to stay ahead is to make the same DOT do more. That is what vDOT is for. It keeps your DOT staking and earning, while the vDOT you hold stays liquid, compounds on its own, and can be put to work across DeFi as collateral or liquidity. The Pi Day Campaign stacks extra BNC on top of that, so your position earns an estimated 0.66% to 2.34% more than native staking, before counting the additional Discord pool. The window is one month, and the main pool is shared among participants. The sooner you increase your vDOT holdings, the more of the campaign you capture. Start here: https://app.bifrost.io/dot-pi-day

Tech Development Runtime 25000 (Released) Runtime 25000 has been successfully deployed with several infrastructure improvements, including: A new risk control mechanism for large inbound cross-chain asset transfers USDT accumulation for the FeeShare operational revenue model Automatic creation of bbBNC positions when distributing bbBNC rewards Runtime 25002 (In Testing) Development of Runtime 25002 is currently underway with the following improvements: Fixed reward settlement snapshot logic for expired bbBNC positions Reduced PaymentInRound for parachain staking to 90 BNC per round Tightened access control for the SLPv2 add_delegator call Faroo 0.3.0 (In Testing) Development continues for the next Faroo release, including: stPROS staking contract for Pharos mainnet stPROS Yield Vault contract Integration of the Pre-Mint Fixed Yield Vault into the Faroo dApp Backend Services (In Development) The backend infrastructure continues to be upgraded with: Ongoing architecture refactoring and optimization A more comprehensive monitoring and alerting system Product Updates Bifrost’s Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $17,941,305 this month. Bifrost Proposes Renewal of the 1M DOT Treasury Loan Bifrost has submitted a proposal to renew its 1 million DOT Treasury loan for another 12 months. The proposal includes full repayment of the previous loan’s 53,185 DOT interest, a new blended interest rate of approximately 3%, and a commitment to use the capital exclusively for vDOT staking and liquidity support. The proposal also enables vDOT holders to participate in Polkadot OpenGov through delegated voting. Read the proposal on Polkadot OpenGov: https://polkadot.subsquare.io/referenda/1904 Preparing vDOT for the Polkadot DAP Upgrade Bifrost is actively preparing vDOT for the upcoming Polkadot Dynamic Allocation Pool (DAP) upgrade. Once implemented, the network’s unbonding period will be reduced to 2 days, allowing vDOT holders to benefit from: Lower network-level staking risk Higher capital efficiency More frequent arbitrage opportunities between vDOT and DOT Faroo Launches stPROS Pre-Mint Faroo officially launched the stPROS Pre-Mint campaign this month, allowing users to subscribe through the Faroo App and receive early access before the public launch. Learn more and join the campaign: https://app.faroo.xyz/pre-mint Marketing & Community DAP Reform Brings New Opportunities for vDOT Polkadot OpenGov Referendum #1909 introduces the Dynamic Allocation Pool (DAP) reform, allocating 22.6% of staking rewards toward validator self-stake incentives while adopting a 0% validator commission model. For Bifrost vDOT, these changes are expected to improve validator capital allocation and staking efficiency without changing the underlying risk profile. Read more: https://x.com/Bifrost/status/2069363718283309307 Reminder for Interlay & Kintsugi Users Bifrost reminded users that the Interlay and Kintsugi networks will officially shut down on July 22, 2026. Users holding vDOT, vKSM, BNC, or other assets on either network should withdraw their assets before the deadline, as any remaining assets may become inaccessible once the networks are discontinued. More details: https://x.com/Bifrost/status/2065479295259271174 Proposal to Make vDOT a Zero-Fee Liquid Staking Token The Bifrost Foundation has officially submitted a proposal to remove the remaining protocol fees on vDOT by: Reducing the staking commission from 10% to 0% Eliminating the 0.1% unstake fee If approved, vDOT will become a zero-fee liquid staking token, allowing holders to receive 100% of DOT staking rewards while staking and redeeming without protocol fees. The proposal is currently open for community discussion and governance voting. Learn more: https://x.com/Bifrost/status/2071522039152914649

If you hold DOT and stake it through a liquid staking protocol, you’re probably not extracting the maximum yield available to you. Not because your strategy is wrong. Because of a routing choice most people never think about. Minting vDOT vs swapping for vDOT. Same token, same protocol, meaningfully different output. What Is vDOT? vDOT is Bifrost’s liquid staking token for Polkadot. Stake DOT through Bifrost and you receive vDOT: a yield-bearing token that appreciates against DOT as staking rewards accumulate. Unlike traditional staking, vDOT is tradeable. You can hold it, use it in other DeFi positions, or redeem it back to DOT after the standard 28-day unbonding period. The exchange rate is not 1:1. Because vDOT accumulates staking rewards over time, it takes progressively fewer vDOT to represent 1 DOT. One DOT is worth more than 1 vDOT, and that ratio moves continuously upward. Two Ways to Get vDOT Minting means depositing DOT directly into the Bifrost liquid staking contract. The protocol issues you vDOT at the current internal exchange rate. Swapping means buying vDOT from a liquidity pool on the open market. The rate you get depends on supply and demand at that moment, not on the protocol rate. Most users mint by default, which is a completely reasonable choice. But the swap route frequently returns more vDOT for the same DOT input. That gap is worth checking. The Numbers: A Real Example Here’s a concrete illustration using a 10,000 DOT position: Route DOT Input vDOT Received Mint 10,000 6,096.216 Swap 10,000 6,163.550 Difference — +67.334 vDOT Swapping yields 67.334 more vDOT than minting for the same 10,000 DOT input. This might seem like a small number — but consider what it means at redemption. Since all vDOT remains redeemable for underlying DOT after the unbonding period, those extra 67.334 vDOT are not just tokens — they represent a claim on real DOT. At the time of this calculation, that swap position could be redeemed for approximately 10,100 DOT. On a 10,000 DOT position, that’s a 100 DOT gain from better routing alone. What That Looks Like Annualized The 28-day unbonding period gives a natural holding window to work with. A 67.334 vDOT spread on a 10,000 DOT position, annualized over roughly 28 days, comes out to about 13% APR. This is not a guaranteed rate. The spread between the mint price and the market price shifts constantly with liquidity conditions. Some days the gap is bigger. Some days it narrows to almost nothing. But the principle holds: when the market trades vDOT below its protocol value, the user who buys via swap gets more vDOT per DOT than the user who mints. No flash loans. No bots. No proprietary data. Just checking which number is bigger before you transact. Why the Gap Exists The mint rate is set by the protocol and updates periodically based on accumulated staking rewards. It does not react to short-term buying and selling pressure. The swap rate is set by the liquidity pool. When vDOT supply in the pool is high (because earlier stakers are selling, or because the spread hasn’t been fully arbitraged away), you can buy vDOT at a discount to what the protocol would give you for direct minting. This is a temporary pricing inefficiency. As more users notice and act on the spread, it narrows. That’s how arbitrage works in any open market. The gap exists right now because not everyone is looking for it. Who Should Care About This A few situations where the swap route deserves a careful look: You’re planning to liquid stake anyway. If you were going to mint, checking the swap rate first costs nothing. If the swap gives you more vDOT, take it. You’re working with a larger position. On 100 DOT, a 13% routing advantage is real but modest in absolute terms. On 10,000 DOT, it starts to matter in ways that are harder to ignore. You have patience for the 28-day window. The redemption math only works cleanly if you can wait through unbonding. If you need fast liquidity, the calculus changes. How to Check on Bifrost The comparison takes a few minutes. Go to Bifrost Dapp and connect your wallet. Enter your DOT amount in the minting interface. Note the vDOT output. If the swap rate returns meaningfully more vDOT, execute the swap instead. Hold the vDOT or deploy it elsewhere. When you’re ready to exit, redeem and wait through the unbonding period. The entire check takes less time than most people spend on gas decisions. The Broader Point This isn’t unique to vDOT. It’s something DeFi does that traditional finance doesn’t: the pricing data is public and available to anyone. In traditional markets, institutions see better prices because they have better access. In DeFi, the pool depth, the exchange rate, and the spread between mint and market price are all on-chain. A retail user with ten minutes and a working wallet can see exactly what a large fund sees. Most DOT stakers never compare both routes. They mint, which works fine. The users who do check both routes consistently pick up yield that the others leave behind. Not because they have a technical edge. Because they took the extra step. Frequently Asked Questions Is swapping vDOT riskier than minting? The underlying risks are broadly similar: DOT price exposure and Bifrost protocol risk apply to both. The main swap-specific consideration is slippage. On large positions, your trade can move the pool price against you, narrowing or eliminating the spread advantage. Check your estimated output carefully before executing. How often does the swap route outperform minting? It varies. The spread depends on pool composition and recent trading activity. When there’s heavy selling pressure on vDOT, the swap tends to outperform. When demand for vDOT is high, minting may offer the better rate. The only way to know is to check both at the time of your trade. Do I need to unstake existing DOT to use this? No. If you hold DOT in a wallet connected to Bifrost, you can mint or swap vDOT directly. No prior staking position required. Is this yield taxable? Tax treatment of DeFi yield varies by jurisdiction. This article is not financial or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional for your situation. Summary vDOT can be acquired two ways on Bifrost: minting at the protocol rate, or swapping at the market rate. The swap route frequently returns more vDOT per DOT. On a 10,000 DOT position, the difference was 67.334 vDOT, equivalent to roughly 13% APR over a 28-day hold. The spread exists because DeFi markets are not perfectly efficient. It persists because most users don’t check. The comparison takes a few minutes. Whether the math works in your favor depends on the day, but it’s always worth looking. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. DeFi protocols carry smart contract risk. Always do your own research before transacting.