Question 1

What are Archway and ARCH?

Accepted Answer

Archway is a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) smart-contract chain built on the Cosmos SDK; ARCH is its native token. Its distinction is that the network credits part of the value generated by applications to developer rewards for the relevant applications under protocol rules, rather than retaining incentives only for validators and delegators. ARCH is used for staking to support validator voting power, delegating to validators, participating in governance, and settling incentives within the network. Archway also supports IBC, so compatible chains can transfer assets or data when the relevant channels, wallets, and applications provide support.

Question 2

How do ARCH staking and delegation work?

Accepted Answer

Holders can run validators themselves or delegate ARCH to validators. Validators form voting power from their own and delegated staked ARCH; only after entering the active validator set do they participate in proposing blocks and consensus. After validators receive block rewards, they first deduct their self-set commission and then distribute the remainder to delegators. A delegator's outcome therefore depends on the delegated amount, whether the validator is in the active set, its commission, and its operating performance; merely holding ARCH does not generate rewards.

Question 3

When can tokens be used after unstaking ARCH?

Accepted Answer

Delegated ARCH remains in the delegator's custody while bonded, but cannot be freely transferred. To restore usability, the delegator must initiate unbonding; the unbonding cooldown is 21 days, during which tokens are frozen and no longer earn rewards. Before unbonding is completed, Archway v6.0.0 introduced the ability to cancel unbonding: after cancellation, tokens remain staked instead of waiting for the original cooldown period to end. This distinction means that “unbonding initiated” does not mean tokens are already transferable.

Question 4

What validator-related risks do ARCH delegators bear?

Accepted Answer

Delegation is not risk-free income: when a validator is offline or double-signs, both the validator and its delegators may be slashed. Downtime typically causes a smaller loss of staked tokens and an interruption of rewards; double-signing has more serious consequences, and the validator may also be jailed, while delegators' tokens enter an unbonding state and stop earning rewards. Therefore, a validator's uptime, self-delegation, commission, and voting record affect the delegation experience: uptime reflects its ability to keep participating in consensus, self-delegation means it also bears slashing risk, and commission is deducted directly from delegation rewards.

Question 5

How does Archway turn application usage into developer incentives?

Accepted Answer

Archway's developer incentives consist of three components: gas fee rebates, Developer Inflation Tokens (DIT), and contract premiums. They respectively correspond to transaction fees consumed by applications, allocations of newly minted ARCH, and fixed additional charges set by developers for contract interactions. The three components do not mean end users necessarily receive rewards. Gas fee rebates and DIT are protocol-level rewards credited to applications or contracts; contract premiums are charges users pay when calling specific contracts in addition to normal gas fees. How developers or contract owners use the income received depends on their own arrangements.

Question 6

How are gas fee rebates allocated and claimed?

Accepted Answer

According to Archway's reward description, after a transaction consumes gas, 50% of its transaction fees are rebated to the dApp responsible for that gas consumption, while the other 50% is permanently burned. In other words, the rebate applies to on-chain execution fees generated by the application, rather than paying all gas fees to developers. The rebate ratio is a network parameter that can be changed through community governance voting. After rewards are calculated, they are first stored as reward records; a contract must execute a withdrawal for the corresponding ARCH to be transferred to the reward_address designated by the contract owner.

Question 7

What is the difference between Developer Inflation Tokens and gas fee rebates?

Accepted Answer

DIT is a portion of newly minted ARCH from network inflation allocated to developers, while validators and delegators also receive network-security-related rewards from inflation. In the official example, if total inflation is 8%, and 25% of DIT at that time goes to developers and 75% to validators and delegators, that corresponds to 2% and 6%, respectively; the example illustrates the allocation relationship and is not a fixed current inflation rate. The developer share and related allocation ratios can both be adjusted through governance. Therefore, DIT comes from new issuance, unlike gas fee rebates from user transaction fees and unlike contract premiums set independently by applications.

Question 8

Why might calling an Archway application require paying a contract premium?

Accepted Answer

A contract premium is a custom fixed fee set by a developer for interacting with its smart contract, which users pay together with gas fees when calling that contract. Gas fees pay for the resource cost of executing a transaction on the network; a premium is an additional charge set separately by that contract. Whether a premium is charged and how much is charged depend on the contract developer's settings. Consequently, two transactions executed on Archway can have different final costs because they call different contracts.

Question 9

How can ARCH holders participate in governance, and what can governance change?

Accepted Answer

After ARCH is staked, bonded tokens can be used to vote on governance proposals; delegators can also participate in governance with their bonded tokens. At the same time, delegating to validators carries corresponding voting power, so whether validators actively and publicly participate in governance is a practical consideration when selecting a delegation target. Governance matters because it can modify configurable parameters, including the gas fee rebate ratio and the developer inflation allocation ratio. When staking or using applications, these parameters should be regarded as network rules that can change through governance, rather than permanent commitments.

Question 10

What does Archway's IBC support mean for users?

Accepted Answer

Archway supports IBC, a communication method for transferring data and assets between compatible blockchains. This enables Archway to interoperate with other compatible chains when the relevant IBC channels are established. However, “supports IBC” does not mean any asset can automatically cross chains or that any wallet can use it. Actual transfers also depend on whether the target chain and channel are available, whether the wallet or application used supports that route, and the specific transaction initiated by the user.

Question 11

How do Archway's staking, burning, and inflation mechanisms affect understanding of ARCH supply?

Accepted Answer

ARCH's price or tradable supply does not automatically rise or fall because of a particular network mechanism. Staking makes bonded tokens illiquid before unbonding, gas fee burning reduces the quantity of tokens burned, while DIT creates new ARCH; these are supply mechanisms acting in different directions. Whether they affect market price also depends on conditions such as application transaction volume, the actual staking ratio, governance parameters, holders' willingness to trade, and overall market liquidity. Equating application usage or burn mechanisms directly with price appreciation overlooks these intervening factors.

Question 12

What stages do Archway developer rewards go through from generation to receipt?

Accepted Answer

For developers to receive Archway rewards, a contract must first generate transactions or reward records that meet the rules; the calculated reward records then create a right redeemable for ARCH, and the contract initiates a withdrawal to transfer tokens to the reward_address designated by the contract owner. Therefore, “an application has usage,” “rewards have been calculated,” and “tokens have entered the designated address” are consecutive but distinct stages. If the contract has not executed a withdrawal, the reward record itself does not mean a token transfer to the target address has been completed.

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