How to stake Polkadot (DOT)
Do you want to earn Polkadot staking rewards by staking polkadot? Polkadot can be staked in multiple ways on desktop and mobile devices to earn more than 8% interest. Have your DOT work for you instead of letting it sit in your wallet doing nothing. We will go over the best ways to stake your DOT so that you can start earning interest right away.
Earn Polkadot Staking Rewards
1. Celsius (Easiest Option)
Celsius is a popular crypto borrowing and lending platform that allows you to earn interest on a variety of different cryptocurrencies. Earning interest on Celsius is extremely easy because all you need to do is hold the cryptocurrency in your Celsius wallet, no need to lock it up. Celsius currently provides 9.02% interest on your DOT. Currently Celsius has disabled withdrawals, so now is not a good time to sign up.
Desktop Version:
- Go to https://celsius.network/ and create a new account. Earn up to a $50 sign up bonus when you use referral code 109902077a at sign up.
- You must transfer the required amount to earn the Celsius sign up bonus.
2. Once your account is set up, you will see your dashboard.
3. Click on the “Receive” tab and then click “Add New Coins”. Add Polkadot (DOT) and it will then show up on your list of coins. Click “View and Copy Address”.
4. Send your DOT to the provided address.
5. After receiving your DOT, you’re all done! You will start accruing interest immediately and rewards are distributed weekly.
Mobile Version:
- Go onto your mobile device’s app store and download the Celsius app (Android and iOS supported).
- Earn up to a $50 sign up bonus when you use referral code: 109902077a at sign up.
2. Open the app and click Join Celsius and complete the process of creating a new account.
3. Once your account is finished setting up, press the “Transfer” tab to bring up options.
4. Press “Receive”.
5. Select Polkadot (DOT) from the drop-down menu to get your DOT address.
6. After receiving your DOT, you’re all done! You will start accruing interest immediately and rewards are distributed weekly.
- Note: As of April 15, 2022, New US customers for Celsius will not have access to any interest earning opportunities at all until their Earn Interest Product 2.0 comes out. Non-US customers and prospective customers are not affected by this.
2. Software Wallets
Software wallets are more recommended for holding your crypto because they are safer in them rather than holding them on an exchange. Generally, they will generate a seed phrase for you so that as long as you have this phrase, you will always have access to your cryptocurrencies, even if the software wallet you had them on originally is shut down, as long as the new software wallet you use supports the currency, you can restore your crypto balance onto the new software wallet.
Polkadot{.js}
Polkadot{.js} is the official wallet for Polkadot and was developed by the creators of Polkadot. This is the recommended wallet to use on desktop and can be downloaded as a web extension for Chrome-based browsers and Firefox. You can get up to 14% interest per year using Polkadot{.js}.
- Go to https://polkadot.js.org/extension/ and download Polkadot{.js} for your chosen browser.
2. Open Polkadot{.js} and create a new account. Ensure that you use the Polkadot Relay Chain.
3. Once finished, you will see your account listed with a Polkadot label.
4. Go to https://polkadot.js.org/ and click on the apps wallet.
5. Your Polkadot{.js} extension will automatically open up. Allow access for the apps wallet.
6. If everything was done properly, you will see your account listed in the “Accounts” section. You may see a message at the top of the screen asking you to update your extension. Follow the instructions provided in the message to do so and update your metadata.
7. After confirming that your account is shown on the app wallet and updating your extension, open up your Polkadot{.js} extension and transfer your DOT to your Polkadot{.js} address.
8. Go back to the Polkadot app wallet and hover over the “Network” tab and then click “Staking”.
9. Click on the “Account actions” button and then click on “+Stash” to create a stash account.
10. Choose the amount of DOT you wish to stake. If you are planning on holding long-term, we recommend staking nearly all of it. You must leave some DOT in your account to pay for fees, so don’t stake 100% of your DOT. Note: There is a 28 day unbonding period if you wish to unstake where you will not be able to transfer your funds.
11. After bonding your DOT, your stash account will now be listed. Click on the ellipses and click “Set nominees”.
12. Select validators from the list of candidate accounts to stake with. You can select multiple validators and are encouraged to do so. You can visit https://support.polkadot.network/support/solutions/articles/65000150130-how-do-i-know-which-validators-to-choose- for tips on how to choose which validators to stake with. After picking your validators, click “Nominate” and then sign the transaction.
13. You’re all done and should now see your stash account as staking! Rewards are distributed daily.
Fearless Wallet
Fearless is a popular mobile wallet for Polkadot and Kusama, the Polkadot creator’s other cryptocurrency. It is praised for its easy-to-use interface and information that it provides for you.
- Download the Fearless Wallet from your mobile device’s app store (Android and iOS supported)
2. Create a new account.
3. Choose Polkadot for the network.
4. After finalizing your account creation, press the “Receive” button to get your wallet address.
5. Send your DOT to the provided address.
6. After receiving your DOT, go to the Staking tab. Click “Start staking”.
7.Enter in the amount of DOT that you wish to stake. Choose the “Restake” option if you want your rewards to automatically be added to your staking DOT. Choose “Payout” if you want your rewards to be sent to your normal wallet balance instead. If you plan on holding your DOT for a while, we recommend that you choose “Restake”. Hit “Continue” when finished.
8. Go through the remaining screens until you’re able to confirm your stake.
9. After confirming your stake, you’re all done! You will begin earning interest once your DOT is bonded to the validators.
3. Ledger Hardware Wallet
Ledger is the safest method of storing and staking your DOT. With a Ledger hardware wallet, no one can steal your cryptocurrency unless they also have access to your physical Ledger device. Because of this, we recommend this method if you’re able to do so. You can stake your DOT directly on the Ledger Live app.
- Install the Polkadot app onto your Ledger hardware wallet on Ledger Live.
2. When the app finishes installing, click “Add account”.
3. Follow the on-screen prompts until the account is added successfully.
4. Go to your new Polkadot account and click the “Receive” button or click the “Receive” button on the side bar.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts until you get your Polkadot address. Send your DOT to this address.
6. Once you receive your DOT, you will now see an “Earn rewards” button in your Polkadot account. Click this.
7. Go through the prompts until you must choose how much DOT to bond. Enter in the amount of DOT that you wish to stake. You must leave some DOT unbonded to pay for transaction fees.
8. After bonding your DOT, you will be asked to nominate validators. You should nominate the max amount of validators to give you the highest chance of earning interest on your DOT. Do not nominate validators with 100% commission. You will not receive rewards from them.
9. After completing the nomination process, you will eventually start earning rewards once your DOT has bonded with them.
4. Exchanges
Staking on an exchange is the easiest way to stake your Polkadot because all you need to do is buy it and then leave it in your exchange’s wallet. Unfortunately this also means that you do not own your cryptocurrency and if anything happens to your account, you risk losing everything that you hold on that exchange.
Kraken
Kraken is a popular cryptocurrency exchange based in the US. While it isn’t as beginner friendly as other exchanges, it is still relatively simple to use and also has one of the best support teams out of all the cryptocurrency exchanges. Kraken currently provides 12% interest per year on your DOT.
You can buy Polkadot on Kraken and hold or transfer it in from another wallet. You will start accruing interest immediately. Kraken distributes rewards twice a week.
Transferring DOT to Kraken:
- Go to the funding tab and click “Deposit”. Select Polkadot.
2. Click “Generate deposit address”.
3. Send your DOT to the provided address.
4. After receiving your DOT, go to the “Earn” tab, click “Stake”, then select Polkadot.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts and finalize your staking. You will start accruing interest immediately and rewards are distributed twice a week.
Final Thoughts
We Recommend staking Dot with Celsius because the minimum dot required to stake on other platforms are extremely high and there is no bonding required. Celsius still offers a high staking rewards rate without the downside. Other platforms exclude a lot of people because they simply can’t afford the min required amount of Dot to stake.
Polkadot is one of the rare cases where it is probably better to stake on a mobile wallet rather than a desktop wallet if you don’t have a Ledger hardware wallet. The Fearless Wallet is much easier to use and understand than Polkadot{.js} even though Polkadot{.js} is the official wallet of Polkadot.
If you do have a Ledger hardware wallet, then we recommend staking directly through Ledger Live as it is one of the easiest ways to stake your DOT and keep it safe.
Earn Polkadot staking rewards by staking Polkadot with Celsius, Kraken, Fearless, Polkadot{.js}, Polkawallet, and Ledger. Visit Crypto Staking Rewards to learn how to stake crypto, earn staking rewards, cryptocurrency staking benefits, and where to find the best staking rewards.
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