I checked one of my BTC delegations after the unbonding transaction confirmed because I expected the position to be finished.
From the staking side, it was.
The finality provider had lost the voting power tied to my delegation. Rewards had stopped. Nothing in that state looked active anymore.
But the BTC had not reached the clean side of the exit yet.
It had moved into the unbonding output, and that output still carried the pre-signed slashing path. For the next 301 Bitcoin blocks, a double-sign by the finality provider could still expose the EOTS key and make that BTC slashable.
That is the part I had not priced into the exit.
I had already stopped earning. My stake was no longer supporting the provider. I had made the decision to leave and the unbonding transaction was already on Bitcoin.
Yet the provider could still create a loss for me during the final stretch.
The status looked like an exit, but the risk had not exited with it.
I kept checking the delegation because the numbers no longer lined up in the way I expected. Rewards were at zero. Voting power was gone. The BTC was still waiting through the 301-block window with the slashing condition alive.
That is a strange position to hold because there is no upside left to offset the remaining exposure.
I am not describing a pending withdrawal in the normal sense. I am describing BTC that has stopped working for me while it can still be punished for someone else’s behavior.
Until the 301-block timelock clears, the position is not finished. It is just unpaid risk.
#BABY $BABY @BabylonLabs_io
From the staking side, it was.
The finality provider had lost the voting power tied to my delegation. Rewards had stopped. Nothing in that state looked active anymore.
But the BTC had not reached the clean side of the exit yet.
It had moved into the unbonding output, and that output still carried the pre-signed slashing path. For the next 301 Bitcoin blocks, a double-sign by the finality provider could still expose the EOTS key and make that BTC slashable.
That is the part I had not priced into the exit.
I had already stopped earning. My stake was no longer supporting the provider. I had made the decision to leave and the unbonding transaction was already on Bitcoin.
Yet the provider could still create a loss for me during the final stretch.
The status looked like an exit, but the risk had not exited with it.
I kept checking the delegation because the numbers no longer lined up in the way I expected. Rewards were at zero. Voting power was gone. The BTC was still waiting through the 301-block window with the slashing condition alive.
That is a strange position to hold because there is no upside left to offset the remaining exposure.
I am not describing a pending withdrawal in the normal sense. I am describing BTC that has stopped working for me while it can still be punished for someone else’s behavior.
Until the 301-block timelock clears, the position is not finished. It is just unpaid risk.
#BABY $BABY @BabylonLabs_io