Introduction

Building on the success of the DPOS consensus mechanism, Peerplays introduced a unique enhancement called Gamified Proof of Stake (GPOS). This idea was first proposed as Peerplays Improvement Proposal (PIP) #2 in January 2019.

The original intent of Peerplays was to operate as a Decentralized Autonomous Cooperative (DAC) where DPOS enables the voting collective of core token holders to determine who would act as Advisors, Witness, and Proposals within Peerplays. However, like other DPOS based blockchains, the challenges of voter turnout continue to plague Peerplays.

What Makes GPOS Different?

GPOS made a protocol change such that PPY token holders now receive a participation reward based on their voting performance and how many PPY they have vested or staked.

This is a significant change from the original protocol where token holders were rewarded with their share of a rake, taken from a percentage of the blockchain fees, and then distributed to token holders relative to their token holdings, regardless of any voting participation.

Put simply, this means that each PPY token holder needs to vest some, or close to all, of their PPY balance towards GPOS and then once a month vote for either Witnesses, Advisors or Proxies.

Why is GPOS Important?

Being a DPOS consensus blockchain, the importance of voter participation from the PPY token holders is paramount to the security of the blockchain. The introduction of GPOS ensures that token holders will take an active interest in the operation and governance of Peerplays.

Each vote cast impacts the people behind the successful operation of Peerplays, in particular the Witnesses. A Witness receiving high votes is much more likely to be elected as a block producing (active) Witness.

Under DPOS the Witness position is more secure because a lot less token holders are voting and subsequently it might just take one or two major PPY token holders to influence the election of a Witness. Under GPOS all token holders should participate making it a much more democratic process, and also receive rewards for voting.

Participation Rewards

Participation rewards combined with voting performance are what makes the Peerplays consensus mechanism gamified.

The rewards are calculated as follows:

Qualified Reward %

This is the percentage of a user's maximum possible reward received based on their voting performance. This reward decays at a rate of 16.67% per month. For example, if a token holder doesn't vote for a month the qualified reward percentage drops to 83.33% and if the token holder doesn't vote for six consecutive months the reward will be 0%.

Estimated Rake Reward %

This is the potential percentage reward a user could receive based on the qualified reward percentage, the amount of PPY they have vested and their share of the total GPOS balance.

So the estimated rake reward is calculated as:

GPOS balance = b Total GPOS balance on blockchain = TB Qualified reward % = q

Estimated Rake Reward% = (b / TB) * q

For example:

A user has a GPOS balance of 1,000PPY and is entitled to 100% of their reward based on voting performance. The total GPOS balance on the blockchain is 4,000,000PPY.

The user would receive the following percentage of the rake:

(1,000 / 4,000,000) * 100% = 0.025%

So if the total (month) rake was 100,000PPY then the user would receive 25PPY.

GPOS related cli_wallet commands

create_vesting_balance account amount asset_symbol vesting_type broadcast

Creates vesting balance of GPOS type, enables user to participate in GPOS

Example:

create_vesting_balance account_name 50 PPY gpos true

vote_for_witness account witness approve broadcast

Cast or withdraw vote for a witness by given account. To keep user vesting performance, it is best for user to vote in each GPOS subperiod

Example:

# Cast a vote for a witness
vote_for_witness account_name witness_name true true

# Withdraw a vote for a witness
vote_for_witness account_name witness_name false true

withdraw_GPOS_vesting_balance account amount asset_symbol broadcast

Once the vesting period expires, user is able to collect his reward with withdraw_GPOS_vesting_balance command. User is not allowed to withdraw his balance before vesting period expires. Default GPOS vesting period is 30 days.

Example:

withdraw_GPOS_vesting_balance account_name 10 PPY true

How to retrieve GPOS info

Some GPOS info is stored in global properties object. Retrieve GPO and inspect the following values - gpos_period, gpos_subperiod, gpos_period_start and gpos_vesting_lockin_period.

Example:

# Output is shortened, check out "extensions" section
get_global_properties 
{
  "id": "2.0.0",
  "parameters": {
...
    "maximum_tournament_start_delay": 604800,
    "maximum_tournament_number_of_wins": 100,
    "extensions": {
      "sweeps_distribution_percentage": 200,
      "sweeps_distribution_asset": "1.3.0",
      "sweeps_vesting_accumulator_account": "1.2.0",
      "gpos_period": 15552000,                   <----- Length of GPOS period (180 days)
      "gpos_subperiod": 2592000,                 <----- Length of GPOS subperiod (30 days)
      "gpos_period_start": 1609376400,           <----- Epoch time of last GPOS subperiod start (2020-12-31 1:00:00)
      "gpos_vesting_lockin_period": 2592000,     <----- GPOS Vesting period (30 days)
      "rbac_max_permissions_per_account": 5,
      "rbac_max_account_authority_lifetime": 15552000,
      "rbac_max_authorities_per_permission": 15,
      "account_roles_max_per_account": 20,
      "account_roles_max_lifetime": 31536000,
...
    }
  },
...
}

How to check account's last voting time

Account's last voting time is stored in account's statistic object. To retrieve the account statistic object, user needs account statistic object id, which is stored in account object.

Example:

# Get the account object first, and retrieve statistic object id
get_account account_name
{
  "id": "1.2.20",
  "membership_expiration_date": "1970-01-01T00:00:00",
  "registrar": "1.2.18",
  "referrer": "1.2.18",
  "lifetime_referrer": "1.2.18",
  "network_fee_percentage": 2000,
  "lifetime_referrer_fee_percentage": 3000,
  "referrer_rewards_percentage": 0,
  "name": "account_name",
  ...
  "statistics": "2.6.20",          <--- HERE IT IS!!!
  "whitelisting_accounts": [],
  "blacklisting_accounts": [],
  "whitelisted_accounts": [],
  "blacklisted_accounts": [],
  "owner_special_authority": [
    0,{}
  ],
  "active_special_authority": [
    0,{}
  ],
  "top_n_control_flags": 0
}

# Retrieve the account's statistic object
get_object 2.6.20
[{
    "id": "2.6.20",
    "owner": "1.2.20",
    "name": "account_name",
    "most_recent_op": "2.9.0",
    "total_ops": 0,
    "removed_ops": 0,
    "total_core_in_orders": 0,
    "core_in_balance": "5000000000000",
    "has_cashback_vb": false,
    "is_voting": false,
    "lifetime_fees_paid": 0,
    "pending_fees": 0,
    "pending_vested_fees": 0,
    "last_vote_time": "1970-01-01T00:00:00"     <--- HERE IT IS
  }
]

Version 1.5 of the Peerplays Core Wallet added the GPOS functionality for the first time; this document will step you through the new features it implements to ensure you qualify for maximum participation rewards.

The landing page is the entry point to use the different GPOS features.

Power Up

Clicking on Power Up will take you to the deposit screen where you can vest PPY towards GPOS and in turn, add to your participation rewards.

You can click Power Up at any time since you are free to come back and vest more PPY at your discretion.

Power Down

Clicking on Power Down is very similar to Power Up except this time you'll be taken to the withdraw screen.

You can withdraw form your GPOS balance at any time up to the value of your balance.

Vote

For anybody familiar with earlier versions of the Peerplays wallet, the voting section is much the same as before. Only the steps to go through to access this feature have changed.

If you have a GPOS balance then you can access the Power Down screen from the .

After clicking on the Power Down button you'll be taken to the Power Down screen; from here you can withdraw from your GPOS balance.

Unsurprisingly the Power Down screen follows a very similar format to ; you just use it to withdraw from your GPOS balance, instead of adding to it.

You can withdraw up to the total amount of your Opening GPOS Balance.

In the example above the user has no vested balance. If an amount of 80PPY is vested the New GPOS Balance will be 80PPY and if the user power's up again the Opening GPOS Balance will be 80PPY as will the New GPOS Balance.

GPOS Balance Holding Period

In the example above note that although the Opening GPOS Balance is 80PPY the Available GPOS Balance is zero. This is because there is a 30 day holding period on new deposits. In this example the deposit was made the same day as the requested withdrawal.

The main reasons for having a holding period are:

• It's in your best interest to maintain a GPOS balance, withdrawing from the balance will effect your participation rewards.

• Withdrawing all the balance before 30 days could also effect your reward percentage by stopping you from voting.

• There are fees associated with creating a balance and withdrawing from it. A holding period protects you from 'experimenting' with vesting and incurring unexpected fees.

What is the difference between Qualified Reward and Estimated Rake Reward?

Qualified Reward is the percentage your maximum possible reward based on voting performance. This reward decays at a rate of 16.67% per month.

Estimated Rake Reward is the potential percentage reward you could receive based on the Qualified Reward percentage, the amount of PPY you have vested and your share of the total GPOS balance.

For more information see Participation Rewards.

Why does the panel say I only qualify for 50% rewards even though I voted?

Voting qualifies you for participation rewards but the actual amount you qualify for is also based on the percentage of your PPY balance you've vested.

Why does my PPY balance show as 19.99PPY when it should be 20PPY?

Every time you withdraw from you GPOS balance there is a transaction fee of 0.01PPY.

My voting performance is 'OK Rewards', how do I improve this?

Basically, vote more often!

The performance rating is based on voting performance, to have a rating of 'OK' would mean that you've missed voting for about three months.

Why can't I vest my entire balance?

There as a 1PPY fee every time you power up (deposit) to your GPOS balance. So you must make sure you have enough PPY left to cover the transaction fee.

What would be a sensible amount to vest?

There's no hard and fast rule, it's going to depend on how active you are as a Peerplays wallet user and other factors. It's certainly beneficial to vest as much as you can as you're total participation rewards are based on how much you vest.

But you should note that as all wallet operations incur a small fee, vesting too much could actually stop you from withdrawing PPY from GPOS until you deposit more PPY to your wallet.

Why is the Power Down button disabled?

You can't power down until you have powered up for the first time, or if you've withdrawn from your GPOS balance leaving it at zero.

Why can't I withdraw any of my GPOS balance?

It's theoretically possible for this to happen if you don't have enough available PPY to pay the withdrawal fee. But the most likely reason is because there is a 30 day holding period on GPOS deposits before they can be withdrawn. For more information see GPOS Balance Holding Period.

How are participation rewards different from traditional dividend payments?

GPOS introduces a number of significant changes to the old method of dividing the Peerplays rake between all token holders relative to how many tokens they hold.

The biggest change is that the percentage of the rake is based on the total of all GPOS vested balances, and not the cumulative value of all PPY in circulation. This gives the opportunity for regular voters to get a larger share of the rake than before by virtue of other unreliable voters.

I'm confused, just how exactly are my rewards calculated?

At first the new formula for calculating your estimated reward percentage can be a bit confusing; this example should help:

If you have a GPOS balance of 1,000PPY, and have voted recently, so you have qualified for a 100% reward, and the total GPOS balance on the blockchain is 4,000,000PPY when the rake is distributed, then your percentage of the rake would be:

(1,000 / 4,000,00) * 0.025%

What you'll actually receive as a dividend is based on the monthly rake, so if the rake is 100,000PPY then you'd receive 100,000 * 0.025% = 25PPY.

The GPOS Panel

The home page of the wallet now includes a panel to display your GPOS status.

The features of the panel are:

GPOS Balance

This is the total amount of PPY that has been vested. In the above example the amount is zero which is reflected in the Voting Performance as well.

Voting Performance

Voting performance is calculated based on the last time you voted for either Witnesses, Advisors or Proxies. The text and colour of the caption indicates your performance according to the following table:

Get Started

Clicking on the GET STARTED button will begin the GPOS vesting process.

If you have a zero GPOS balance, which will always be the case if this is the first time you are using it, the button text will be Get Started. However, the text on the button will change to PATICIPATE once a balance is vested. See Power Up

Participate

As mentioned, this option is only available once you have a GPOS balance.

Clicking on PARTICIPATE will take you to the GPOS Landing Page as before, except this time both the Power Down and Vote buttons will be enabled.

You made it this far; now you qualify for participation rewards for contributing to the governance of Peerplays.

After you vote you'll see the following screen:

So like the avatar says, go and share your experience with your friends, family and the Peerplays community.

If you have a GPOS balance then you can access the Vote screen from the .

After clicking on the Vote button you'll be taken to the Vote screen from where you can vote for Witnesses, Advisors and Proxies.

The voting functionality hasn't changed from previous versions of the Peerplays Wallet so will only be documented briefly here.

Proxy

Proxy voting allows you to select another token holder to vote on your behalf. As far as GPOS goes this still constitutes participation as you have made a commitment to the operation of the blockchain.

However, since there are participation rewards at stake, and penalties for poor voting performance, if you use this option make sure you proxy your vote(s) to someone reliable!

Witness

Voting for a Witness is probably the most common use of a vote. By voting for a Witness you are playing an important role in the governance of Peerplays.

You can select one or more Witnesses from the list, or search for them, and then click ADD to add them to your approved list. Click PUBLISH CHANGES to cast your vote.

Advisors

The Peerplays Advisors are a committee that makes decisions on software changes to Peerplays and attributes and parameters of the blockchain. They are an important part of a DPOS consensus mechanism.

Selecting an Advisor works exactly the same way as selecting a Witness.

What is GPOS?

GPOS is short for Gamified Proof of Stake which is an advanced implementation of the DPOS consensus mechanism.

GPOS gives voting weight and rewards to all token holders that commit some of their PPY balance as a vested GPOS balance. For more information see Gamified Proof of Stake.

What is a vested balance?

The best way to understand this is to compare it to the difference between stock options and shares. If you hold stock options you have a stake in the company, but the options have no value unless you can profit from them and to do this the options have to first be vested as shares.

GPOS works the same way, instead of all token holders being entitled to dividends just by virtue of holding tokens (shares), token holders now have a PPY balance (options) that they only profit from when they are vested in GPOS (become shares).

Are there any fees associated with GPOS?

Yes, there is a fee of 1PPY for Powering Up (depositing) and a nominal fee of 0.01PPY for Powering Down (withdrawing).

What happens to the fees?

The fees are 'burned', that is to say they return to the reserve. The reserve can then be drawn on for block rewards for the block producers.

Did I just lose some share of the Peerplays rake?

No, in fact far from it. GPOS gives you every opportunity to not just receive the same dividends as before but actually get higher dividends if there are token holders that don't vote. Just remember to vest a GPOS balance and then vote at least once a month.

Why is GPOS better for Peerplays?

GPOS encourages all PPY token holders to take a much bigger interest, and say, in the governance of the blockchain. This will strengthen the democratic process that goes into electing the operators of Peerplays, and make them much more accountable.

Before GPOS token holder voting was poor and that opened up the opportunity for one or two major token holders to influence the operation of the blockchain. Full participation by token holders in the voting process will mitigate this risk and keep the blockchain secure.

Does GPOS affect how I vote?

Yes and no. The functionality of the voting feature in the Peerplays wallet hasn't changed in the newest version, only the steps you go through to vote have changed.

But GPOS will effect your voting habits as it requires regular participation.

What happens if I don't vote?

Simply put, you'll lose a percentage of your qualifying rewards for every month that you don't vote. If after six months you still haven't voted you won't qualify for any participation rewards.

Can I vote more than once a month?

Yes, you can vote as many times as you'd like to, and you can vote for more than one Witness or Advisor at the same time.

Why can't I vote for the same Witness twice?

Once a Witness or Advisor has been voted for and is in your approved list you can't currently re-select that person for voting again without first un-voting them. This is a known issue that will be fixed in the next release.

Will my voting performance go back to 100% once I vote?

Yes, regardless of your level of voting performance as soon as you vote it'll return to 100%. It will however, start to decay again if you don't vote regularly.

Can I just vote for a proxy and then let them manage my account?

Yes, this is the role of the proxy ... but if you do this make sure your proxy is reliable as your voting performance is in their hands, and you still need to vote once a month.

After clicking on the Power Up button on the you'll be taken to the Power Up screen; from here you can add to your GPOS balance.

The functionality of this screen is very straightforward. Simply select an amount of PPY to vest by either entering it in the Deposit field, or scroll the amount up and down using the + and - buttons.

In the example above the user has no vested balance. If an amount of 80PPY is vested the New GPOS Balance will be 80PPY and if the user power's up again the Opening GPOS Balance will be 80PPY as will the New GPOS Balance.