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How to Stake Flow Tokens

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Smart crypto ownership is about more than just holding. It's about making your assets work for you. This guide is your streamlined strategy for putting your FLOW tokens into action through staking. We’re decoding the entire process and giving you the step-by-step route to start earning rewards. It's time to stake with confidence and watch your assets grow.

Key Takeaways

  • Delegating your tokens to a node operator is the simplest way to start earning staking rewards without technical requirements.
  • You receive weekly rewards for your stake and must manually manage them by either withdrawing or re-staking to compound.
  • Getting started requires a compatible Flow wallet and enough FLOW to cover both your stake and network transaction fees.
  • You can start delegating with as little as 50 FLOW, making participation highly accessible.

Understanding Flow and the Role of Staking

Flow is a Layer 1 blockchain that was designed to support large-scale use cases like games and digital collectibles. Developed by the team behind CryptoKitties, Flow was built to address scalability and user experience challenges that exist on other blockchains. Its unique modular architecture divides the network's work among different classes of nodes to allow many transactions to be executed at the same time without compromising decentralization. This results in fast transaction finality with user-friendly environment and reduced gas costs.

The security and operation of this powerful network are maintained by its community through a process called staking. Staking means temporarily locking up tokens to help secure a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain like Flow. As a reward for such service, users earn revenue that is derived from the combination of paying transaction fees and newly minted tokens.

The easiest way to participate is by delegation. That enables you to "delegate" your FLOW tokens to an already running node operators, and they take care of all the tech stuff. You still receive rewards for your work, less fees paid to the node operator, with even a minimum of only 50 FLOW to participate.

Pre-Staking Checklist

Before you begin the step-by-step process, make sure you have everything you need to get started.

  • FLOW Tokens: You'll need FLOW tokens to stake. These are available for purchase on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges. If you use a custody provider like Kraken, they may also offer services for staking your tokens.
  • Get Your Wallet Ready: You require a supported wallet to use Flow Port. The following guide is running under native Flow Wallet, though other options such as Ledger and Blocto can be used.
  • Minimum Stake: The minimum amount required to delegate your tokens to a node operator is 50 FLOW.
  • Network Fees: Every transaction on the Flow network, such as submitting your stake, requires a small network transaction fee (gas fee). You'll need to have a small amount of extra FLOW in your wallet to cover them.

Setting Up Your Flow Wallet

Your wallet is your secure entry point to the Flow network. This guide uses the Flow Wallet as an example.

  1. Open your browser and go to the official Flow Port website. Click the option "Sign Up" and you will see a list of compatible wallets like Flow Wallet, Ledger, NuFi and Blocto. When Flow is chosen, you'll be prompted to add the Flow Wallet extension to your browser. Click "Add to Chrome" (or your respective browser) and confirm the installation.
  2. Once wallet is installed, open the extension and choose "Create A New Account". Below you find the steps that guide you in creation a new account.
  3. The wallet will ask you to choose a Username. This makes it easier for friends to send you tokens later on.
  4. This is the most important step. The wallet will show you a secret recovery phrase. Write this down in the exact order and store it somewhere safe and offline. This is the only way to recover your account if you lose your password.
  5. You will be asked to verify a few of the words to make sure you've saved it correctly.
  6. Create a strong password to protect your wallet for daily use on your device.
  7. You'll be offered a recommended option to back up your wallet to a service like Google Drive for easy access.
  8. And a final "Well done" confirmation screen. Click "Launch My Wallet"to finish the setup and access your new account.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Staking FLOW

  1. Now it’s time to return to the Flow Port website. Click to connect using the "Flow Wallet Extension" and approve the connection in the wallet pop-up.
  2. Once your wallet is connected, you will see your account dashboard on Flow Port. Navigate to staking, in the left-hand menu, and click on "Stake & Delegate".
  3. Upgrade to Staking Collection: First-time stakers may need to perform a one-time account upgrade. This enables the "Staking Collection" feature, which allows you to manage multiple delegations from a single account. Click "Upgrade Account" and sign the transaction to complete this setup.
  4. Now on the "Stake & Delegate" screen, you will see two options: "Stake a Node" and "Delegate". Click "Start Delegating".
  5. Start Delegating: You must specify which node operator you wish to support by entering their Node Operator ID. For example, if you wanted to delegate to the DAIC validator, you would use their specific ID: be436e52a1f41893bd81f4ff837866c67287bee89974824f62772e678c33229b. Then click the "Next" button.
  6. Enter Delegation Amount: Specify how many FLOW tokens you want to delegate, keeping the 50 FLOW minimum in mind, click "Continue". 
  7. A final screen will appear showing you the details of the transaction, including the Node ID and the amount. Review this information carefully, and when you're ready, click "Submit" with approving the transaction in your wallet. That's it!

The Staking Lifecycle: Epochs, Rewards, and Unstaking

Once submitted, your delegation will appear as "pending". That's okay, as Flow runs all staking activity over the weekly period known as an Epoch. Your stake will become active and start earning rewards at the beginning of the next weekly cycle, which typically starts on a Wednesday.

Managing Your Rewards

Each week, your rewards are sent to a special rewards pool in Flow Port, not your main wallet. You have two simple choices:

  • Withdraw your earnings at any time.
  • Manually re-stake them to grow your total stake and earn more in the future.

When you decide to unstake your tokens, the process is not immediate. For network security, it takes roughly one to two weeks. Your unstaking request is actually processed at the end of the ongoing weekly period, and your tokens are then retained for another full week before you can withdraw them.

The epoch as the weekly heartbeat of the Flow network - a predictable rhythm that keeps everything running smoothly and securely. To you, it ensures that everything is under your control. You can keep track of your rewards, raise your stake, or plan your exit, all to the weekly beat. Mastering this simple concept is the final step to staking like a pro on Flow.