We’re excited to introduce Chainlink Rewards—a community engagement and rewards program designed to incentivize active participation in the Chainlink Network. The program enables Chainlink Build projects to make their native tokens claimable by Chainlink ecosystem participants, including eligible LINK Stakers. 

Chainlink Rewards is launching in collaboration with Space and Time—a premier Build member who is making 4% of their total SXT token supply (200,000,000 SXT) available to Chainlink ecosystem participants, including LINK Stakers. The first batch of SXT tokens, consisting of 100,000,000 SXT, will become claimable by eligible LINK Stakers on May 8, 2025 during Season Genesis, the first pilot season of Chainlink Rewards, where claims will be open for 90 days. 

The remaining 100,000,000 SXT, as well as any unclaimed SXT from the 90-day Season Genesis claim period, is planned to be made available in the future of the Chainlink Rewards program. 

Space and Time is a decentralized database network that uses ZK proofs to enable secure data processing & analytics for smart contracts. The long-time Build member project leverages Chainlink services to enable its ZK-proven queries to be delivered to smart contracts. In an exciting new development, Space and Time announced this week their upcoming SXT token launch. 

The Season Genesis pilot is an experiment, informing how the program could evolve into the future. The future of the Chainlink Rewards program is planned to feature a more advanced claiming mechanism incorporating a collection of Chainlink Build projects. 

In this blog, we dive into the evolution of the Chainlink Build program and the eligibility criteria for Season Genesis with Space and Time.

How Chainlink Rewards Supercharges the Chainlink Build Ecosystem

The Build program is a Chainlink Economics initiative that accelerates the growth of early-stage and established projects in the Chainlink ecosystem by providing enhanced access to Chainlink services and technical support. In exchange, projects commit a percentage of their total token supply to the Chainlink ecosystem, which includes service providers such as LINK Stakers.

By joining Chainlink Build, participants can gain access to:

• Comprehensive technical support: Receive priority support from service providers in the Chainlink ecosystem, including engineering and product experts.
• Priority access to services: Gain access to Chainlink services in alpha/beta releases before they go live, enabling roadmap alignment with Chainlink product releases.
• Custom solutions: Obtain the ability to integrate with custom Chainlink Data Feeds, supported by ongoing maintenance and monitoring for maximum reliability. 
• Go-To-Market support: Leverage the expertise of domain experts and leaders in the Chainlink ecosystem to accelerate an application’s adoption.
• Ecosystem collaboration: Connect with other participants in the Build program to foster collaborative growth, including workshops and in-person event opportunities. 
• Partner support: Connect with Chainlink’s established network of channel partnerships and strategic alliances, providing security tooling, cloud credits, auditing services, and more. 

Projects in the Chainlink Build program represent a wide range of Web3 use cases that span AI, DePIN, interoperability, derivatives, DEXs, lending, tokenized assets, gaming, stablecoins, NFTs, and more. Projects in Build have been able to accelerate their growth and, in return, are making a percentage of their token supply available to the Chainlink ecosystem, including LINK Stakers. 

Over time, certain projects have transitioned out of the Build program due to factors such as them shutting down, inactive or halted development, and shifts in priority. In parallel, we plan to continue evaluating and onboarding additional great projects into the Build program. For a full list of projects currently in the Build program, refer to the Chainlink Build webpage.

Chainlink Rewards represents the next evolution of the Build program. Committed to supporting and securing the Chainlink Network, LINK Stakers include some of the most active and engaged participants across the entire crypto ecosystem. In making their tokens claimable via the Chainlink Rewards program, Build projects expand their own community and create global awareness of their unique products.

Season Genesis Launch With Space and Time

The pilot of Chainlink Rewards, Season Genesis, is launching in collaboration with Space and Time on May 8, 2025. Space and Time was one of the first members of the Chainlink Build program, joining in September 2022, and has accelerated the growth and adoption of their ecosystem as a result. Last year, Space and Time integrated Chainlink Functions to enable ZK-proven queries to be delivered to smart contracts.

Space and Time is a decentralized database network that enables fast queries and tamper-proof analytics for onchain apps. It merges blockchain data with a next-gen database, using a sub-second ZK Coprocessor optimized for SQL to let smart contracts process data at scale and get ZK-proven answers, making it easier to build data-driven decentralized apps.

You can learn more about Space and Time by visiting spaceandtime.io and reviewing the whitepaper.

Season Genesis Eligibility Criteria and Launch Details

With Chainlink Rewards being the first pilot implementation of a Chainlink Build token claims mechanism, it was crucial to establish eligibility criteria for Season Genesis that rewarded the most active and committed participants as it relates to helping expand the Space and Time community. Furthermore, such criteria needed to be based on objective onchain data, collected in a credibly neutral manner without bias. With these goals in place, eligibility criteria of Season Genesis was set to maximize success while enabling a broad distribution of potential claimers. 

In total, Space and Time committed 4% of their total token supply (200,000,000 SXT) to the Chainlink Build program. Half of this commitment (100,000,000 SXT) will be made available to eligible LINK Stakers on May 8, 2025 during Season Genesis, where claims will be open for 90 days. 

During Season Genesis, SXT will be made available in variable amounts to eligible active LINK Staker addresses based on their time-weighted average stake. This approach takes into account both the amount of LINK staked and the amount of time staked during Staking v0.1 and v0.2, in a linear manner. Additionally, SXT will also be made available to eligible historical and active LINK Staker addresses in fixed, static amounts.

The cut-off date to be considered an “active LINK Staker” was March 31, 2025, when a snapshot of all active stakers was taken. This date was when Payment Abstraction launched on mainnet and the first phase of the Chainlink Build claims mechanism was announced to be code-complete and planned to be launched in the near future.

The exact amount of SXT tokens claimable by each eligible LINK Staker for Season Genesis, including both variable and fixed rewards, will be viewable and claimable on the Chainlink Rewards website interface that launches on May 8, 2025. 

SXT tokens not claimed during the 90-day claim period will be forfeited. After the 90-day claim period for Season Genesis has ended, any unclaimed SXT tokens will be withdrawn for use in the future of the Chainlink Rewards program. The remaining 100,000,000 SXT, as well as any unclaimed SXT from Season Genesis, is planned to be used in the future of the Chainlink Rewards program. 

This eligibility criteria of Season Genesis was ultimately designed to prioritize rewarding active eligible LINK Stakers who have staked the most and for the longest, while also helping ensure eligible participants staking smaller amounts are able to actively engage in the Season Genesis launch.

The Next Evolution of Chainlink Build

The introduction of Chainlink Rewards, starting with the upcoming Season Genesis pilot launch, marks the beginning of a new era for the Build program and its participants. Chainlink Rewards gives early-stage and established projects new ways to further expand their community and extend their reach. We look forward to our continued collaboration with the Chainlink Build community and furthering the growth and adoption of the Chainlink ecosystem.

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Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and contains statements about the future, including anticipated product features, development, and timelines for the rollout of these features. These statements are only predictions and reflect current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events; they are based on assumptions and are subject to risk, uncertainties, and changes at any time. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in these statements, although we believe them to be based on reasonable assumptions. All statements are valid only as of the date first posted. These statements may not reflect future developments due to user feedback or later events and we may not update this post in response. Please review the Chainlink Terms of Service, which provides important information and disclosures. The Chainlink Rewards program is being built to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and will not be available in certain regions, such as the United States, which could change in the future.