Staking Polkadot by Swiss Staking
Everything you need to know about staking on Polkadot. Be aware of phishing sites!
This is a short step by step guide to stake successfully on Polkadot. Currently we are in the first phase of the mainnet launch process. In the second, so called “nPOS-Phase”, the validator set will be enabled. To make this process as smooth as possible, spread your stake among multiple validators. To this day, you can already claim and choose your validator and once the validator set is enabled, you’ll take part in the staking process.
You’ll find our node addresses at step 6.
Why to stake?
- 10% inflation/year when the network launches
- 50% targeted active staking (could be more or less)
- ~20% annual return
Nice to know before delegating/nominating:
- You can delegate any amount
- You can spread your stake among multiple validators (recommended!)
- It takes 28 days to “undelegate/unbond” (to make your coins transferable)
- You only give your staking and voting rights to Swiss Staking; We don’t have control over your funds. Your private key, your coins!
- In this guide we use the following web application to stake: https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#/explorer
- If something feels suspicious, let it confirm by others on the main telegram channel. Plenty of people, including us, are happy to help. https://t.me/PolkadotOfficial
Nomination (Delegation) Instructions
Step 1 — Claim your DOTs
For those who participated in previous DOT sales, you can learn how to claim your DOTs here. Others can’t buy or trade any real DOTs yet.
Be aware of phishing sites. Use this URL:
Step 2 — Access the Polkadot Interface
Use the following URL to access the official Polkadot web application. https://polkadot.js.org/apps
Be aware of phishing sites. To avoid it, simply verify the certificate of the link. It should be “issued for” like this.
If it looks like that, you are good to go.
Step 3 — Staking tab
Go to the staking section. Your view may vary from this screenshot. If you do not have an “Account actions” tab, you must first add an account (by claiming your DOTs). Some features are currently hidden and will only become available once you have accounts. Without account, no staking. So claim your DOTs first before continuing with this guide.
Step 4 — Nominate / Delegate
In the account actions tab, select the nominator button.
Step 5— Set up nominator
Choose the same account for both controller and stash, select a “value bonded” that is less than the total amount of DOT you have, and select the payment destination of your preference.
Kusama Network has shown, that this approach is the most used one. If you want to add an additional layer of security, create a stash/controller account. If you would like to do that, but don’t know how, please join https://t.me/PolkadotOfficial and ping me there with @swiss_staking
Step 6 — select validators
Choose multiple validators in this section to eliminate slashing risk. This nominated account is our Swiss-Staking validators located in a datacenter in Switzerland. We would be happy if you choose us as validator.
- 13WAmUbyS4PMcPQe7bLXJdcuuF3A4cshY7QBGA94dzP2VxLk (0% fee), index of this address is: 1kLUd
Congrats, sign your transaction and you are done!
Nice to know after delegating
The “Payouts” subsection (link) allows you to claim rewards from staking.
The “Targets” subsection (link) will help you estimate your earnings and this is where it’s good to start picking favorites.
The “Waiting” subsection (link) lists all pending validators that are awaiting more nominations to enter the active validator set. Validators will stay in the waiting queue until they have enough DOT backing them.
The “Validator Stat’s” (link) allows you to query a validator’s stash address and see historical charts on era points, elected stake, rewards, and slashes.
Swiss Staking is “Staking-as-a-Service” provider in Switzerland ran by two crypto enthusiasts. We were one of the first validators on Tezos, one of 30 validators on the Alexander Polkadot Testnet and currently also in the validator set of Cosmos. Over 700 days of staking experience.
