Cardano - Step by step guide to staking ADA

Cardano, and its native coin ADA, is one of the most solid blockchain platform projects currently. The team has shown repeatedly that they can deliver on their promises and the project is famous for being backed by peer-reviewed research. Exciting news are coming for this project so be sure to check their website https://cardano.org and their roadmap https://ift.tt/3gPFelH post will be a step-by-step guide to staking your ADA. There are various ways to proceed but we will be using the Yoroi chrome extension. Additionally, although not required, it is highly recommended to use a hardware wallet. Any of the following will do:Ledger Nano SLedger Nano XTrezor model TThis guide will cover the following:Set up the Yoroi google chrome extensionConnect or create your ADA walletSend ADA to your walletChoose a stake pool and delegate your ADAStaking rewards1) Set up the Yoroi google chrome extensionFirst of all, we need to install the Yoroi Chrome extension. Navigate to the official wallet page https://ift.tt/2QMCeGq and download the extension.​Download the Yoroi Google Chrome extensionOnce dowloaded, you will need to click 'Add to Chrome' and 'Add extension' to enable the extension in Chrome.It will then appear in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser (click the little puzzle piece icon) and you may want to pin it to keep it visible.​Shortcut to the Yoroi extensionNow you can launch the Yoroi extension and, as this is the first time, we will need to go through a few setup steps:Choose languageAgree to the terms and conditionsChoose 'Simple' level of complexitySkip 'Cardano payments URL' and confirm (you can always set it up later if needed)That's it, the extension is ready to use and your home page should now look like this.​Yoroi wallet home screen2) Connect or create your ADA walletThe safest option at this point is to use a hardware wallet. If you do not have one yet, you can always create a local wallet to start with (and and transfer your coins to your hardware wallet when you do buy one).2.a) Connect to a hardware walletI will use the Trezor model T to illustrate but the Ledger Nano works similarlyOne the home screen menu, select 'connect to a hardware wallet',Select 'Cardano'Select your hardware wallet type: either Ledger or TrezorChoose Shelley-era wallet, as we want to be able to stakeYour hardware wallet needs to have already been initialised, press 'Next'​https://ift.tt/3xAiKel, make sure your hardware wallet is connected to the computer and unlocked, press 'Connect'​https://ift.tt/3aSd0Tx new page pops up to ask you to transfer your public key to the wallet. This is expected as the public key allows you to receive money to your wallet. Note that the private keys never leave your hardware wallet. Now click, 'Export'​https://ift.tt/2QIScXR, the wallet name, retrieved from your hardware wallet, will appear. Click 'Save' to complete this step and reach the Yoroi dashboard.2.b) Create a local walletThis section is only if you do not own a hardware wallet and want to use a software wallet instead. If you own a hardware wallet and have completed step 2.a, you can skip this section and proceed to step 3.On the home screen menu, select 'create wallet',Select 'Cardano'Choose 'Create wallet'Enter a wallet name and a strong password, then 'Create personal wallet'​https://ift.tt/3xBq4GM next step will give you your 15 words seed phrase. Make sure to write it down (on paper, no electronic support) and to keep (several copies) safe and labelled.​https://ift.tt/3eIVaDJ you have written it down, you will be asked to enter it to check you have it correctly.Now you can confirm, your wallet is created and you are taken to the Yoroi dashboard.3) Send ADA to your walletWelcome to your Yoroi dashboard.​Yoroi dashboardIn order to transfer ADA to your wallet, simply go to the 'Receive' tab in order to copy your address. You can then use this address to transfer the ADA you will have bought in your favourite exchange. Note that ADA transaction fees are rather low at roughly 0.17 ADA.​https://ift.tt/331yfOx) Choose a stake pool and delegate your ADAFrom your dashboard, we now move on to the 'Delegation' tab.​https://ift.tt/32Z53I5, we need to choose a staking pool from the list. If you do not know yet which pool to use, the best thing to do is to navigate to https://pooltool.io/ in order to find a staking pool that you like, more on that later.Once you have chosen a pool from the list, simply click 'Delegate' and confirm. You will also have to confirm the delegation with your Trezor/Ledger if you are using a hardware wallet. That's it, you're all set and you should see the total ADA delegated onto your dashboard. A few things to note:you can only delegate to a single poolbut you can cancel the delegation or switch pool at any time, there is no lock-up periodthere is a 2 ADA staking fee registration that you need to pay the first time you start staking, so you do not need to pay it again in the future if you switch pool or add ADA to your walletany ADA sent to your wallet will automatically be staked in the pool you have chosensimilarly, the rewards are automatically added to your wallet and thus the interest is compounded.Now the remaining question is how to choose a stake pool. The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no risk associated with staking ADA and the worst that can happen is that you do not receive any reward. First of all, we need to consider the followingEpoch: the staking rewards are computed for each epoch, which lasts 5 days.Fees: each pool will charge a fixed fee (typically 340 ADA per epoch) and a variable fee (aka pool margin). The fees will not be taken from your wallet and you can only earn ADA by staking. The fees are charged to the total amount earned by the stake pool during the epoch and then, the remaining is distributed among the participants of the pool proportionally to their contribution to the stake pool. In the example below, there will be 9,000 ADA left to be distributed to the members of the pool:​Total pool reward (example)10,340 ADAFixed fee (340 ADA)-340 ADALeft after fixed fee10,000 ADAVariable fee (e.g. 10%)-1,000 ADALeft after all fees9,000 ADA​Saturation: in order to discourage centralisation, the concept of saturation decreases the amount of reward to too large pools. Currently, the saturation level is 64M ADA. This means that you should not stake your ADA to pools where the staked amount is more than 64M ADA.Now, let's go to https://pooltool.io/ to select our pool.​A few stake pools on pooltool.ioThe important fields are the following:Pool ID: you can copy this address to paste in your Yoroi delegation tool once you have selected the right poolEpoch Fee: these are the fixed fees and should be 340Variable Fee: you want to avoid too large fees but it is also worth paying a bit more to join a pool that you trust. Be aware that some pools are effectively closed and thus charge a 100% fee. Note also that some pool will have a very low, even zero, fee to help them grow but it might be increased in the future.Declared pledge: the amount pledged by the pool operator at the time of creation of the pool, not massively important for the pool selection.Epoch ROS: the expected annualised return in the current epoch, this will typically be around 5%.Live stake: the total amount staked in the pool, it is important that this remains under the saturation threshold of 64M.Lifetime ROS: the historical return of the pool, this shows you past performance of the pool.There is also an official calculator to compute your expected rewards depending on the various parameters: https://ift.tt/3bIKJQh .5) Staking rewardsThe staking rewards are paid with a three epochs delay. This means that you do not receive any reward for the first 15-20 days but you keep receiving rewards for 15-20 days if you cancel your delegation.The rewards are paid at the end of every epoch (for the amount you delegated three epochs prior), hence every 5 days. The typical APY will be around 5% but the rewards are spread over 365/5 = 73 payments. Consequently, the average rewards per epoch is approximately​Average reward per epochFor example, this is approximately 0.68 ADA per epoch per 1,000 ADA delegated.​Average reward per epoch for 1,000 staked ADAI hope you will find this guide helpful.LinksCardano website https://cardano.org and the roadmap https://ift.tt/3u65iwH wallet https://ift.tt/2Sffaq0 https://ift.tt/3gKYJfn https://ift.tt/3bIKJQh

Submitted April 30, 2021 at 02:51PM

No comments:

Post a Comment