Many investors choose to buy and sell Crypto to get a profit, but a lot gets their income from staking rewards. This is the kind of income paid to crypto owners to validate and regulate cryptocurrency transactions.
In simple terms, staking rewards are like interest bearing savings account or dividends earned on a savings accounts but at a higher risk. Cryptocurrency staking comes at a higher risk than most common types of investments.
Like most things in Crypto, staking is quite complicated, but it can also be easy depending on your level of understanding. Before you decide to invest in crypto staking, here is all you need to know.
What Is Staking in Crypto?
Staking is an important element in cryptocurrencies that operate using the ‘proof-of-stake’ validation system. In this system, Crypto investors help validate transactions in a specific cryptocurrency blockchain database. In most cases, the investors have to own a specific number of coins to become a validator.
The validators work from a decentralized computer network which confirms the transactions and ensures that those recorded in the cryptocurrency blockchain are legitimate. Validators are paid with cryptocurrency.
However, the whole crypto staking process comes with its fair share of risks. If they approve fraudulent transactions that do not follow the cryptocurrency blockchain rules, the validators could lose some of their investment.
Investors who do not have enough coins can also pledge to become validators to earn the rewards. However, you can pledge to work with crypto exchanges or crypto platforms with fewer coins. Once you earn the rewards, they are deposited directly into your account.
Most cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum use the proof-of-stake validation system, but some, like Bitcoin, do not.
How Much Can You Earn Through Staking Crypto?
The amount a validator can earn largely depends on the cryptocurrency, the staking platform, and the number of validators.
Popular coins such as Cardano, Ethereum, and Polkadot rewards might vary between 2 and 20 percent. However, with smaller cryptocurrencies, the rewards might go above 100%.
If you are a validator with a crypto exchange, you might receive other earnings from time to time. Some may take their cut, while others pass the exclusive reward to you. Different platforms have different reward systems as well as rules.
Some platforms offer a fixed yield over a lockup period with the maximum reward for every user, while others offer a daily yield based on the staking reward left in a specific pool. The staking yields can change depending on the number of the validators and the total reward pool.
Earnings change mostly because the rewards are fixed over time, but the amount of capital that participates in lending or staking changes. The more people are lending or staking, the lower the rewards and vice versa.
Advantages and Risks
Pros
- Generate rewards
- Maintain the security and efficiency of the blockchain
- No equipment needed
- Environmentally friendly
Cons
- Volatile
- Good to be true?
- Lock up
- Unsecured platforms
When You Should or Shouldn’t Stake Crypto?
You will need to consider a few things if you want to get started in staking crypto. One of the most important questions you must ask yourself is whether the staking aligns with your investment goals. It is also important to consider whether you want to trade your digital coins for profit or hold them for a long while.
If you want to sell your crypto coins for profit, then staking crypto might not be for you more so when the platform requires you to have a lockup period. But if you think cryptocurrency will be lucrative in the future, you will opt for the lockup to sell your crypto assets.
You will also want to consider all the risks we have mentioned above or any other related to the cryptocurrency of your choice or the staking platform.
It is also crucial to understand the conditions of any agreement before you stake digital assets. Some of these conditions include:
- The returns you could potentially earn
- The lock up period and how long it will be
- The minimum amount required for the lock up periods
- Maximum reward per user and the maximum amount that you can stake
- The size of the total reward of the staking pool
All these conditions should play an important role in knowing whether it will make sense for you to participate in crypto staking and the amount of money you can earn. You will need to decide whether the amount of risk involved is worth the returns that you might get.
How to Begin Staking Your Crypto?
Many crypto exchanges offer stake rewards to people who stake crypto coins. So if you are looking for a way to start staking, this is the easiest path for you. However, there are other options available for you to start staking, including DeFi lending platforms and staking-as-a-service platforms.
The simplest way to start crypto skating is through crypto exchanges like Voyager and Binance. If you bought your coins through the platforms, it will be very easy to tell them that you would like to participate in their staking program.
Binance is a great place to start since it holds the world’s largest crypto exchange in trading volume and has millions of users worldwide. Binance also offers DeFi lending services similar to staking stable coins such as Tether and service for the proof of stake system.
With DeFi lending services, your will be lending your assets to stablecoins like Tether. A DeFi lending service is a more attractive option since stable coins have lower volatility, which most crypto owners are looking for.
However, the service presents new risks as well. The stablecoins are backed by tangible assets like the UD dollar or bonds, giving them a firmer valuation than most crypto coins such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. The coins are lent to others, so there is a possibility that they might not be repaid.
DeFi lending yields may differ or be the same as staking minus the volatility.
What Is Proof-Of-Stake?
The Proof of stake algorithm is a new consensus mechanism that works around increasing speed and efficiency while reducing the fees. A major way it reduces the cost is that it does not require all the miners to work through the math problems, reducing the energy-intensive process.
Instead, all the transactions are validated by people already investing on the blockchain through staking. Staking has the same function as crypto mining, in which a network of crypto owners are selected to add the latest transactions to the blockchain and earn crypto coins in the process.
The selection of participants may vary from one project to another. But the whole process work by users putting their token in the line of chance at adding new transactions to the blockchain in exchange for a reward. These tokens act as a guarantee that the transactions are legitimate.
Networks choose validators based on the size of their stake and the time they have held their stake. So if you have invested for longer, you stand a better chance of becoming a validator. If some of the transactions are invalid, the validators will lose part of their stake through the process known as the slashing event.
Here are the steps to follow if you want to start crypto staking:
1. Purchase a Crypto Coin That Uses Proof of Stake
It is important to remember that not all cryptocurrencies offer to stake. It would be best to go for cryptocurrencies that use proof of stake blockchains to verify transactions. Here are some you can choose from:
- Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA)
- Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH)
- Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT)
- Solana (CRYPTO: SOL)
Before you buy, start by learning how the cryptocurrencies use the proof of stake work. Learn about their staking rewards and their staking process. Then you can choose which you prefer and by then off cryptocurrency apps and exchanges.
2. Transfer the Purchased Crypto to a Blockchain Wallet
After you purchase your Crypto, it will be available on the crypto exchange account you bought it off. Some exchanges have their staking programs with particular digital asset. If you have this option, you can stake your Crypto through the exchange.
If you do not have this option, you will need to transfer your funds to a blockchain wallet. Wallets are the best way for you to store your crypto coins safely. You can download a free software wallet, but you can also opt for hardware crypto wallets available for purchase.
Once you have your crypto wallet, here are the steps to follow:
- Chose the option to deposit your crypto coins.
- Then select the type of cryptocurrency that you want to deposit.
- After that, a wallet address will be generated.
- After that, go to your exchange account and choose the option to withdraw your Crypto.
- Copy and paste your wallet address to transfer your exchange account to your wallet.
3. Join a Staking Pool
It is important to remember that staking works differently depending on the cryptocurrency but most use staking tools. Crypto traders combine their funds in the staking pools with a higher chance of earning staking rewards.
You will need to research the skating pools available for the coins you have. Here are some of the things to look out for:
1. Reasonable Fees
Most of the staking pools available will take a small cut of the potential rewards as the fees. The amount depends on the cryptocurrency; however, most charge anywhere between 2% to 5%.
2. Reliability
Remember that you do not earn any rewards while the staking pool servers are down. So make sure that you choose one with an uptime of close to 100%.
3. Size of the Pool
Smaller pools are less likely to validate blocks of transactions, but they offer larger rewards since they do not have to divide the reward among many people. A pool that’s too small could potentially fail. However, some cryptocurrencies limit that pool can earn, so large pools can be oversaturated. Mid-size pools are the best bet.
Once you find a good pool, you can stake your cryptocurrency through your wallet. That is all you need to do to start earning rewards.
Related Question
Why Don’t All Cryptocurrencies Have Crypto Staking?
Some coins, such as Bitcoin, do not allow staking since its blockchain network is relatively simple, unlike Ethereum’s. Bitcoins blockchain works almost the same as a bank ledge that tracks incoming and outgoing transactions.
Unlike Ethereum, which is more complex with various transactions, including DeFi. It runs more transactions on top of the blockchain, where the proof of work model might cause the transactions to take longer and higher fees hence the need for staking.
Closing
Crypto staking works for crypto coins that use the proof-of-stake validating method. Staking involves validating transactions on the blockchain while putting your crypto coin on the line. Once the new transactions have been validated to be legitimate, you earn rewards in the form of crypto holdings.
Key Takeaways
- Staking contributes towards the security and efficiency of the blockchains.
- Crypto staking rewards are in the form of crypto coins.
- Staking requires lockup for your coins for a specific amount of time where you will be unable to do anything with the coins you plan to stake.
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