Staking and Earning Yield

Staking means locking up coins to help secure a proof-of-stake blockchain. In return for committing your funds and (directly or through a validator) helping confirm transactions, the network pays you rewards — a yield expressed as an annual percentage.

You can stake in a few ways. Solo staking means running your own validator, which keeps the full reward rather than sharing a cut with a pool operator, but requires technical setup and a minimum deposit. Delegated or pooled staking lets you contribute a smaller amount through a validator or exchange that runs the infrastructure for you, sharing the rewards.

Yield is not free money. Staked funds are often locked for a period and can't be sold instantly, so you carry price risk the whole time. Some networks can also slash (penalise) a validator that misbehaves or goes offline, which can cost delegators a share of their stake. Understand the lock-up, the validator's track record, and the real source of the yield before staking.