Staking Mechanism Overview

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Staking rewards automatically accrue in your Stake Address and can be withdrawn only by the Stake Address.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

  • Stake Account Registration + Delegation in one transaction

  • Staking Rewards Withdrawal

  • Stake Account Deregistration