How liquid staking disrupts parachain auctions on Polkadot By

A crowd loan is a (DOT) crowdsourcing event in Polkadot that allows the community to support project bids in upcoming parachain slot auctions. Users contribute DOT, receive rewards in project tokens and get their DOT back in two years (a standard slot lease duration). This mechanic helps projects raise substantial capital in DOT tokens that may even exceed a few hundred million in dollar notion value.

The obvious downside for users is the need to lock their DOT for two years where they don’t have access to their liquidity during this lockup period.