Staking and Earning Rewards
What staking is, the difference between locking and delegating, where rewards come from, and the risks to know first.
Updated Oct 27, 2026
What is staking?
chains like Bitcoin are secured by miners running hardware. chains are secured by coins instead: put coins at stake, confirm blocks, and earn fees and new coins for it.
is how ordinary holders join in. You put your coins behind a validator and share in its rewards, without running a server yourself.
Locking vs. delegating
- Locking (bonding): your coins are committed and can't be spent. Getting them back means waiting out an , which can be days or weeks.
- Delegating: you assign your stake to a validator or . On some chains the coins stay in your wallet and spendable; on others they're still locked while delegated.
How this works on Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Polkadot
- Ethereum
Running a validator takes 32 ETH. Most people stake through a pool or , and withdrawals wait in a queue.
More on Ethereum - Solana
You delegate SOL to a validator from a stake account. Unstaking takes about one epoch (2-3 days).
More on Solana - Cardano
You delegate to a stake pool and your ADA stays in your wallet, spendable any time. There's no lock-up or slashing, plus a 2 ADA refundable deposit.
More on Cardano - Polkadot
You nominate validators. Unbonding takes 28 days, and slashing can apply.
More on Polkadot
Where rewards come from
Rewards come from network fees and newly issued coins, paid out every or so. They're usually shown as an , but that's an estimate that changes over time.
Rewards are paid in the same coin you staked, so their dollar value rises and falls with its price. A validator or pool also keeps a small fee before paying you.
The risks
- Lock-ups: you may not be able to sell or spend while your coins are locked or unbonding.
- [[slashing|Slashing]]: on some chains, a validator that cheats or goes badly offline loses part of its stake, and delegators can lose some too.
- Price risk: a 5% reward doesn't help much if the coin drops 30%.
- Validator choice: a pool with high fees or poor uptime pays less.
- Too-good-to-be-true yields: sky-high "staking" offers are a common scam.
Staking on an exchange vs. yourself
Exchanges make staking one tap, but they hold your keys and keep a cut of the rewards. Staking from your own wallet keeps you in . Liquid staking sits in between: you get a token for your staked coins that you can still use, but you take on the service's smart-contract risk.
Locked coins can't pay for anything on Crypto Barter until they're unlocked. If your chain lets you delegate without locking, the same wallet keeps working for meetups, Garage Sales, and shops.
Key takeaways
- Staking helps secure a proof-of-stake chain in exchange for rewards.
- Know whether your coins are locked, and how long unbonding takes.
- Rewards are estimates, paid in the coin, and carry price risk.
- Exchange staking is easy but means trusting the exchange with your keys.
Related coin guides
Educational use only. Not financial advice. Always do your own research.