Why different staking protocols in TON show different APY?

After the sub-second update, validator rewards increased ~6x. Previously, different calculation models could show values like 4.19% and 4.28%, while after the update they show ~25.44% and ~22.83% depending on the formula and reward accounting mechanics. Let’s briefly break down where these numbers come from and why they differ.

In TON, staking works in cycles: rewards are distributed only during the active validation phase ~18 hours, while the full cycle including election and holding takes around ~36 hours. Because of this, a single validator participates in roughly half of all rounds per year ~240 out of ~481 — this is critical for APY calculation.

APY (annual percentage yield) accounts for compound interest: rewards are automatically added to the stake and start earning in subsequent validation rounds. In the formula below, which is currently used, compounding accumulates only over ~240 rounds in which the staked amount is actually active.

APY = ((1 + reward_per_round) ^ (rounds_per_year / 2)) - 1
APY = ((1.00085507) ^ 240) - 1
APY ≈ 22.83%

When you stake TON in liquid staking, half of the stake works in even rounds and half in odd rounds, so rewards are received roughly every ~18 hours. If you combine them, it results in a full reward over ~36 hours.

Read more about how staking works in TON