Cardano is a Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS) network meaning that network participants can delegate their ADA to stake pools and earn consensus rewards.

Delegators earn rewards every epoch (approximately 5 days in length) based on the blocks that their delegated Stake Pool produces.

Staked ADA balances are always liquid and are controlled by the Payment Address holding the balance.

Staking rewards automatically accrue in your Stake Address and can be withdrawn only by the Stake Address.

Pier Two operate Stake Pool(s) on the Cardano Network and provide an API to assist in crafting various staking transactions listed below

Stake Account Registration
- /cardano/txcrafting/registerStakeAddress
- A transaction that will activate your Stake Key and allow it to be delegated to a Stake Pool
- This transaction will automatically deposit 2 ADA into the Stake Address which is a requirement of the network for the Stake Address to be active
- This transaction must be signed by both the Stake Key and the Payment Key that owns the input UTXO's funding the 2 ADA deposit
Stake Account Delegation
- /cardano/txcrafting/delegateStake
- A transaction that will point your Stake Key to a Pier Two stake pool and allow your ADA to earn staking rewards
Stake Account Registration + Delegation in one transaction
- /cardano/txcrafting/registerAndDelegate
- A convenient method of performing the previous 2 actions in a single transaction
Staking Rewards Withdrawal
- /cardano/txcrafting/stakingRewardsWithdrawal
- Withdraw rewards to a chosen address
- The rewards are spent into the output UTXO's belonging to the chosen recipient
Stake Account Deregistration
- /cardano/txcrafting/deregisterStakeAddress
- A transaction to close your Stake Key and reclaim your 2 ADA deposit
- As part of this transaction, all rewards will be withdrawn to a specified recipient address