Everyone wants a legit way to earn more cryptocurrency.
Staking is a way to earn free crypto without having to do any work.
Today, we are going to learn how to stake one of the top cryptocurrencies, Cardano, so that you can earn passive coins to build your bag.
Cardano is the 7th largest crypto by market cap. It has a great future ahead of it with lots of planned projects, making it a great coin to hold right now.
Cardano has been known to roll out things slowly, which makes staking it a good move right now. Get some more ADA before the projects start gaining more ground and the future should be looking bright for you.
Let’s dive in.
What is Staking?
Basically, staking is a form of
cryptocurrency mining, where just by holding the crypto on a wallet, you are eligible to mine blocks, and you will generate a small amount of crypto. This is similar to earning a small amount of money in interest just by holding money in a savings account.
Staking Cardano
There are two great ways to stake Cardano and earn a passive income from your holdings. The first is an extremely easy way to do it, but you earn less. The second way is a bit harder and a little more complicated for beginners, but you do earn a bit more passive Cardano.
Coinbase
The first, and easiest, way to stake Cardano is through Coinbase. ADA is the newest crypto that is able to be staked on Coinbase.
It’s extremely easy to set up Cardano staking on Coinbase. All you have to do is own some of the cryptocurrency, then go to the Cardano page. On Cardano’s page, you will see a few things including the crypto’s charts, your wallet (how much you own and how much it’s worth), and some information about ADA. You are going to want to click on your wallet. Once here, you will see a small section on the top about staking. Click ‘Manage’, and turn staking on.
Yup, it’s really that simple.
On Coinbase, you will earn 3.75% APY on your Cardano. The more you hold, the more you will earn over time.
If you want to easily stake Cardano, you can join Coinbase using this link to get $10 in Bitcoin, which you exchange for more ADA.
Daedalus
Daedalus is another, more complicated, way to stake your Cardano. However, using this method will actually generate a bit more ADA than Coinbase, so it is worth the extra work.
Here’s how you do it:
First, you are going to want to download the Daedalus wallet.
After a pretty simple installation, you will need to start verifying the blockchain. This part can take hours, literally, as you are downloading the entire blockchain, which is every single transaction ever made using Cardano. So, keep your computer open and go enjoy an ice cream cone.
Once you’re actually in Daedalus, you will have to have your wallet receive Cardano. You can send this Cardano from any exchange, including Coinbase, for a small fee. Remember, the more you have, the more you will earn.
In order to receive Cardano on your wallet you will need to click the ‘Receive’ tab, copy one of the addresses (any one, it doesn’t matter), and paste that as the address you will send your ADA to. Wait a few minutes and the Cardano should now be available in Daedalus.
Okay, so we’ve got the Daedalus wallet and we’ve got some Cardano in the wallet. Now, we need to stake it.
To start staking your Cardano, you need to click the second tab on the left side, under the picture of the wallet. This is the Delegation Center, where we will set up the ADA to be staked. The Delegation Center shows how much ADA you are staking, when the next rewards will be given, and your staking pool. We’re about to join a pool right now.
To join a staking pool, click the Stake Pools tab at the top. Now, we will choose a pool to stake our Cardano with. Pools are a group of people all staking their Cardano just like you. It’s good to join a pool since you have a higher probability to be the one to mine the block. The rewards are then split between the miners in the pool.
You can choose any pool you want, though I would recommend a pool in the top 20. You want to be close to 100 percent saturation, but you don’t want to be in a pool with over 100 percent saturation because then you may receive smaller rewards.
Now that you have chosen a pool, click Delegate to this pool, then follow the instructions like choosing which wallet you will use. If this is your first time delegating you will lose 2 Cardano, but don’t worry, you will receive these 2 Cardano when you unstake your crypto.
Once you have delegated to a pool, your crypto will be staked and you don’t have to do anything except sit back, relax, and watch the ADA start flowing.
You will see about 5% percent return on your Cardano, and you will receive rewards every 5 days.
You do not have to keep Daedalus running on your computer in order to receive awards. But you will have to verify the blockchain (that hours long process) since the last time you opened the wallet when you eventually do open Daedalus again.
Summary
There are two great ways to stake your Cardano: an easy way earning less rewards, and a more complicated way that earns higher rewards.
The easy way is to stake your Cardano right on Coinbase by simply having ADA on the exchange and turning on a setting. This will net you 3.75% APY.
The more difficult way is to follow the instructions and stake your Cardano using the Daedalus wallet. Staking here will earn you about 5% APY.
Now that you know how to stake Cardano, learn about other
ways to get free cryptocurrency.
