Formerly known as Matic Network, Polygon is now one of the most successful blockchain projects ranking among the top 10 by market capitalization. With a team of experienced developers behind it, the latest technologies, and an ambitious goal – the Ethereum scaling – Polygon is developing incredibly fast, attracting a wide range of features and low commissions to users and developers alike.
Rather than competing with Ethereum, Polygon’s development team strives to create inventive solutions that enable individuals to utilize Ethereum’s dApps without incurring exorbitant fees.
What Is the Polygon Blockchain?
Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, which aims to improve the network’s scalability and usability. Polygon provides a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, which can be customized for various use cases and business needs. By using Polygon, developers can create decentralized applications that are faster, more efficient, and cheaper to use than traditional Ethereum-based dApps. Polygon achieves this by using various scaling solutions, such as sidechains, plasma chains, and state channels, to process transactions off the Ethereum mainnet while maintaining high security and decentralization.
Taking advantage of the security and vast Ethereum ecosystem, Polygon, with its scaling potential, significantly impacts crypto’s growth and mass adoption.
MATIC is the native cryptocurrency token of the Polygon network. It has several use cases within the Polygon ecosystem, such as paying gas fees, governance, liquidity, and security.
To learn more about Polygon and its uniqueness, check out our article, Polygon Overview: Scaling the Ethereum Blockchain.
Why Stake MATIC?
Staking is one of the most critical processes on PoS networks. Such chains create and verify new blocks through a staking process, where the protocol can randomly choose validators who lock their coins to create a block. Validators are rewarded for their contribution to the network. On Polygon, validators also stake MATIC to secure the network and validate transactions.
Staking serves several purposes in a blockchain network, such as securing the network, reducing the supply of tokens in circulation, and incentivizing long-term token holders. Additionally, staking can provide a way for token holders to earn passive income on their holdings, as they can earn rewards for simply holding their tokens in a staking wallet or platform for a while.
You can calculate your potential rewards with the Rewards Calculator.
This article will walk you through staking Polygon’s native token MATIC with imToken wallet.
What Is the imToken Wallet?
imToken mobile wallet is known for its multi-coin support and user-friendly design. It is a decentralized digital wallet that manages and safeguards many blockchain and token-based assets, identities, and data. Since its founding in 2016, it has helped its users transact and exchange billions of dollars in value across more than 150 countries worldwide. imToken allows users to manage assets on 12 mainstream blockchains and all EVM chains, as well as seamlessly connect with dApps via a decentralized applications browser.
The wallet provides a comprehensive risk control system and full protection, putting security first. imToken also supports hardware & cold wallets and even created its one, imKey. The built-in dApp browser supports ETH, EOS, and TRON decentralized applications.
imToken is a mobile wallet available on iOS and Android mobile devices.
How to Set Up an imToken Wallet?
Please visit the official imToken website, click Try imToken, choose your preferred operating system (iOS or Android), and install the app.
Once installed, go to the imToken app. If you are a new user, click Create Identity to open a new multi-chain wallet, or choose Recover Identity if you already have one. In this article, we will go through the entire creation process.
An identity enables you to create new multi-chain wallets like ETH, BTC, ATOM, and more. Wallets created with the same identity can all be recovered with the mnemonic (a set of 12 English words) linked to the identity.
To create the identity, you’ll need to give it a 1-12 characters name, set and confirm the password, and, optionally, set the password hint. Then read and agree to the terms of service and click Create identity.
After creating your identity, you can start adding coins to your wallet. ETH required for MATIC staking will be added automatically. Add more coins of your choice and click Confirm.
You need to back up your wallet to take advantage of all the security features imToken offers. Be careful at this step, as the security of your funds is solely in your hands, and losing or leaking your mnemonic could lead to losing their permanent loss. Tap Back up mnemonic to continue.
You will receive a 12-word phrase you must write down and keep in a safe place. If your device is lost or stolen, this phrase will allow you to regain access to your funds.
After you write down the phrase, click Confirmed backup to proceed to verification, enter your words in the correct order, and tap Next. After the backup is complete, your wallet is ready to use.
To add MATIC to your token portfolio, click How to get tokens? on the main page and enter the token name in the search bar. After finding MATIC, tap on the + on the right.
How to Connect imToken Wallet to Polygon
To start staking, you need to connect your imToken wallet to Polygon. Go to the Polygon Staking dashboard and click Login in the upper right corner of the screen.
The protocol that allows you to connect your wallet to Polygon is called WalletConnect, so you must select it from the list of available connections. The QR code will immediately appear in front of you.
In the meantime, go back to the home page of your imToken wallet and click on the scan code icon in the upper right corner. Then point your device’s camera at the code. After scanning the QR, you will receive a request to connect to Polygon Staking, which you’ll have to Allow.
How to Stake MATIC via imToken Wallet
We are almost there! But before proceeding to delegation, please remember that Polygon staking takes place on the Ethereum mainnet, so you need to have your MATIC in ERC-20 and a provision of 0.05-0.1 ETH for fees to be safe.
Go back to the Polygon Staking dashboard and scroll down to see the network’s overview, all active validators, their uptime, commission, amount of stake, and health status. These “health metrics” will help you choose a reliable validator.
What do these metrics mean? Let’s take a closer look.
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Uptime is the number of blocks signed during a specific period. If a validator’s uptime is not close to 100%, the validator is unreliable and could be penalized.
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The commission rate is the percentage the validator receives for their services from your reward. Consider this indicator because you will not be rewarded if you choose a validator with 100% commission.
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The amount of stake is the total number of tokens delegated to a particular validator.
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Health status is divided into colors, where green represents excellent performance and orange means the validator already needs to pay attention, as its performance is weakened. Validators marked in red have had a low performance for a long time and are at high risk of forced unstake.
Choosing a responsible validator is the key to the safety of your funds and income, so be sure to familiarize yourself with these metrics before making your choice.
To choose Everstake, enter the name of the validator in the search bar and click Delegate.
Now enter the MATIC amount you want to stake and click Continue. The minimum stake amount is 1 MATIC, so you can always start small. You must confirm the transaction, so return to the imToken app and tap Next in the pop-up window. To confirm authorization, you will need to enter the password that you previously set on your wallet or turn on biometric verification. Enter your password and tap Confirm.
Return to the Polygon Staking dashboard and click Delegate. Then again, confirm the transaction in your imToken wallet and await approval.
If all the important steps were completed accurately, congratulations! Your delegation is now activated, and you can expect to receive rewards that accumulate at each checkpoint, typically occurring every 30 minutes.
You can check your delegation and received rewards in the My Account section of the Polygon Staking Dashboard. Additionally, there, you have the ability to unstake, stake with multiple validators, or restake your funds. To withdraw the rewards, it is necessary to accumulate at least 2 MATIC.
Now you know how to delegate MATIC tokens using the imToken wallet. Remember to fund your wallet with ETH so you have enough to pay for transactions.
Our team of experienced developers, financial experts, and blockchain enthusiasts are always concerned about the convenience and security of user service on over 70 blockchain networks, both mainnet, and testnet.
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