Staking Polkadot FAQ

I’ve seen a lot of questions asked in various forums and subreddits about staking. Many of them are the same questions I had when I started out staking Polkadot and Kusama. So I decided to compile all of them here with answers. Hope this help you on your journey staking Polkadot / Kusama.

Before we start, if you need a primer on how to stake DOT and KSM, refer to my 2 How-To guides here:

How to stake Polkadot

How to stake Kusama

1. Where can I stake? You can stake DOT and KSM in your own wallet (recommended) or using one of the exchanges that support DOT / KSM staking. For staking in your own wallet, you can see my guides on how to stake DOT / how to stake KSM. If you opt to keep your coins on the exchange and stake it there, the big exchanges that support DOT / KSM staking are Binance (non-US only) and Kraken. Coinbase do not carry DOT / KSM at the moment.
2. What’s the return rate that I can expect for staking Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM)? As of 3/7/21, DOT returns an average of 13.8% annually, with the highest return of up to 14.1%. KSM returns an average of 14.8% annually, with the highest return of up to 16.8%. As you can see, staking from your own wallet generally yields a higher return than staking on an exchange, in addition to owning your own keys which is recommended. If you stake on an exchange, Kraken and Binance returns 12%.
3. What’s the minimum DOT I need to stake? This fluctuates daily. I recommend you check https://polkaview.network/dot to see the current minimum required. In addition, I recommend having an extra 20–30 DOT above that level as the requirement tend to creep up slightly every day, plus you also need about 2–3 DOT in your controller and stash accounts to cover for transaction fees.
4. I bonded the minimum DOT to stake, but the minimum has gone up. What can I do? You have 2 options at this point. You can either bond more DOT to get past the minimum or you can unbond and stake it on an exchange. Both are fairly easy to do. Just keep in mind that if you decide to unbond, it takes 28 days to do so before you can move it to the exchange.
5. Can I bond more DOT? Do I need to wait to bond more DOT? Yes you can bond more DOT any time. No, you don’t need to wait. You can bond more DOT any time you want. The process is similar as when you first bond originally and takes just a few seconds to do.
6. I staked my DOT but don’t see any active nominations. What’s happening? It’s either because A) you don’t have the minimum required DOT, B) it hasn’t been 1 era (1 day) since you made your nomination, or C) your validator isn’t actively validating.
7. What’s the difference between staking directly on the chain itself (i.e. Polkadot / Kusama) vs. staking on the exchanges? This can be a long philosophical answer about exchanges being centralized, but to get to the crux of it, there are 3 things you’ll need to consider: A) whether you have the minimum required DOT to stake on your own, B) how soon / often you plan to trade your DOT, and C) do you feel more comfortable having control of your tokens and keys yourself or leave it up to the exchange. A) If you don’t have the minimum required DOT, staking on the exchange is the recommended path. B) If you trade often and can’t wait for the unbonding period, the exchanges allow you to unbond faster. C) If you’re like me and prefer to keep my own keys and avoid exchange hack risks, you’ll want to have your own wallet. I’ll also add a 4th item D) consider the upcoming parachain auctions. If you plan to participate in those or want to take the chance of getting free airdrops for just having DOT in your wallet (like how BTC holders got free airdrops of XLM and other tokens years ago), you’ll want to keep your own wallet.
8. If I want to unstake / unbond, how long does that take? DOT takes 28 days to unbond. Kusama takes 7 days.
9. I mistakenly sent my DOT to the validator. How do I get it back? Let me first clarify. You do NOT need to send your DOT anywhere to stake. If someone is asking you to send DOT to stake, it’s a scam. Now, if you mistakenly sent your DOT to a verified validator, you’re at their mercy. I’d find out their contact by clicking on their validator identity. Then contact them to request that they return your DOT. They’ll be able to verify the transaction on the ledger and send it back to your original sender address.
10. How do I select validators? I’ll be writing up a separate guide on staking strategies and how to select validators to minimize slash and optimize returns. It’ll be linked to this page. Stay tuned.
11. Do I need to run a validator node to stake? No. You can stake without running a validator.
12. What’s the difference between the check sign vs. chain sign on a validator? I had this same question when I first started. The check sign next to a validator indicates that’s the main original account they started with. The chain sign indicates it’s a sub-entity. For staking purposes, if both are actively validating, it doesn’t make a difference which one you choose assuming they’re both yielding the same return.
13. I see a bunch of validators with the same name, which one do I select? They seem to have the same name but should have an italic grey number or letter after their name. This indicates this is a sub identity of the main account. Refer to my staking strategies page on selecting validators.