Dive into Offline Staking: QTUM rewards
2020-09-10 14:48
In August, the Qtum blockchain platform developers added the ability to stake tokens and receive rewards using “offline staking”. For more information about what Offline Staking is and how it works, look in our other article “How to stake Qtum( QTUM): a complete guide”. In this article, we will delve deeper into the mechanics of Qtum rewards and talk about how rewards are awarded, how much stakers get, and other important things to know before staking QTUM tokens. Let’s get started
How Qtum rewards work
Qtum staking works offline, which is why it is called offline staking. Instead of tokens, holders delegate only their wallet addresses. The coins themselves remain under the control of the delegating wallet, and may be undelegated or spent at any time.
As in most blockchain networks, all stackers in Qtum are divided into two types: validators (superstakers) and delegates (UTXOs). For Qtum offline staking, the delegator’s address is sent to the super staker. The delegated address holds UTXOs (Unspent Transaction Outputs) which are the “coins” to be staked. Superstackers can then win block rewards for the delegates, and charge a fee for staking. But after the delegation, the delegator’s wallet does not need to be kept connected to the network all the time. In other words, delegates receive rewards in passive mode.
For each block, superstaker receives at least 4 QTUM. Of these, the validator receives 0.4 QTUM immediately after making a stake and sends 3.6 to the delegator. The remaining coins will be credited to the wallet balance after 500 blocks are mined.
How often are rewards awarded and how much?
The time to a block reward depends on the amount of QTUM delegated. See the stake calculator for some examples. For example, with the current network weight, the “expected time” to a block reward for 1,000 QTUM is about 20 days, but the block reward could come sooner or later than this and will average 20 days in the long run. The current amount of interest for staking is about 7% per annum.
How to stake QTUM
You have to create a Qtum wallet, top it up and delegate the address, and then start receiving rewards. Please note that if you have multiple QTUM addresses, you need to delegate each of them or transfer all coins to a single address. In our blog we have prepared guides on Qtum staking for various crypto wallets:
How to stake Qtum (QTUM): a complete guide
How to stake Qtum (QTUM) with Qtum Web Wallet: a simple guide for beginners
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What else do QTUM stakers need to know?
The Qtum Protocol has its own features that you should know before you start staking tokens. Let’s list the key points of Qtum staking:
1. Staking fee By default, Superstakers charge 10% for staking — this value is displayed in the field when you delegate an address. But they can set a different fee, so before staking, you need to specify how much the superstaker charges. For example, Everstake charges 10%. If you enter the wrong fee value (more or less), the staking will not work correctly, and your reward will be accumulated slower. Delegations with a fee below 10% will not be staked.
2. The number of tokens staked. If you have staked less than 1000 QTUM, you will also have to wait longer for a reward. The more you stake, the more often you will win a block reward.
Also, note that the superstaker can set the minimum amount for staking UTXOs. By default, the minimum UTXO size is at least 100 QTUM. If you stake with an address with smaller-sized UTXOs (less than 100) the superstaker will ignore those smaller UTXOs which will not receive any rewards. For example, if an address delegated 500 QTUM with UTXOs sized as 150, 150, 50, 50, 50, 50, that superstaker would only stake the two 150s (which are > 100 QTUM) for a total staking weight of 300.
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