Solana is a fully decentralized blockchain boasting high scalability and bandwidth. The latter enables it to process up to 50,000 transactions per second against Visa’s peak performance of 4,000. Solana is among the fastest-growing ecosystems in the crypto industry, with thousands of projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, and Web3.
If you joined the Solana ecosystem, you can delegate your tokens and enjoy up to 7% APY.
The wallet Solflare enables users to create a special wallet to stake SOL either using a password-protected Keystore file or by connecting a Ledger hardware wallet which offers much higher security.
This is how you connect a Ledger wallet.
Install the Ledger Live app
Install the Ledger Live app from Ledger’s official website.
Open the “Manager” tab located on the left-hand side panel of the Ledger Live app, plug your Ledger into your PC, and confirm the connection.
In the app catalog, find Solana in the list and install it.
Great! Now you can create your online Solflare wallet.
Install the Solflare web extension and connect your Ledger
Solflare is a convenient online wallet for Solana holders with an intuitive interface where users can easily stake SOL tokens. First, go to the Solflare website and click Add to Chrome.
In the new window, click Add to Chrome, then Add extension.
After that, you can click on the extension’s icon in the top right corner and pin the Solflare wallet to have easy access to it.
Run the extension and choose the method that suits you best:
Attention! Web wallets can be vulnerable to online attacks like phishing or data interception. Use Ledger devices to access your wallet to prevent theft of funds and make staking safe. Hackers will not be able to steal coins without access to your hardware wallet.
Select Continue with Ledger if you are starting from scratch. If you have a wallet already, use your Recovery Phrase.
In this guide, we cover creating the wallet from scratch.
Create an account
Connect your Ledger and unlock it.
Open the Solana app and click Continue when ready.
Select your device in the browser pop-up and confirm the connection.
Set a passcode for your wallet. Press Continue.
Now choose a derivation path, i.e., a piece of data that dictates how a wallet can derive a specific key within a tree of keys. There are infinitely many derivation paths, so you can generate an infinite number of public key addresses from a single mnemonic phrase. Sollet and Phantom use the derivation path “m/44’/501’/0’/0’”, and Solflare uses “m/44’/501’/0’”.
Select one or more addresses and click Continue. If you start from scratch, selecting one is enough.
The main page will display the balance and your address.
Adding funds to a wallet
Copy your wallet address in the dashboard and send SOL to that address from a wallet or exchange, or share the details with the sender. You can also click Receive and provide the sender of funds with a QR code.
As soon as the network validates the transaction, the tokens will appear on the balance of your crypto wallet.
Stake SOL
Once you have coins available in your wallet, click Start Staking.
We will stake with a validator in this Guide. Choose Native SOL Staking and then Start Staking.
Specify the amount you want to stake.
Note: before staking, make sure to keep at least 0.05 SOL in your wallet to pay for transactions! If you stake the maximum possible sum, you won’t be able to unstake and withdraw coins further on.
Begin entering the first letters of the validator’s name, e.g., Everstake. You will see how many coins are staked with the validator already, as well as the validator’s fee. The commission may vary from 0 to 15% depending on a validator. Click Stake.
Why stake with Everstake?
It’s profitable: the validator charges an average fee (7%) and ensures ~100% uptime. Read more about us here. We also propose special terms for large investors. Contact us for more details.
It’s reliable: Everstake is a large, high-performance validator constantly improving its services and performance and running the best hardware/software with highly professional specialists on board. We have a vast validating experience in ~50 PoS blockchains.
It’s convenient: we provide services for staked assets monitoring. We support users and assist with staking-related issues.
It’s simple: we regularly issue staking guides in our blog to help newbies quickly figure out how to delegate assets across different wallets. We have dedicated Blockchain Managers for each of the networks to manage the operational flow in the most efficient way.
Confirm the transaction on your Ledger. Follow all steps one by one and click on Approve.
Wait until the transaction has been validated by the Solana network. Done!
You can now see your stake in the wallet dashboard being activated. Your SOL will begin earning staking rewards once the stake account becomes active in the next epoch (up to 2-3 days). Track the epoch progress on solanabeach.io.
Unstake SOL
To track your stake, click on your staking account to expand its details.
You can choose to split or undelegate. Splitting will create a new account and move the desired amount there instantly. Click Undelegate to withdraw your funds from the validator.
Confirm the transaction on your Ledger.
Done! Tokens have been unstaked and will be withdrawn once the stake deactivates after the end of the current epoch.
Оnce the stake becomes inactive, withdraw your tokens by clicking the eponymous button. Confirm the transaction on your Ledger and start using the tokens as you see fit.
Please note that rewards will no longer be generated from the moment of unstaking. After the withdrawal, your SOL tokens are available for transferring and other operations.
However, the stake account is still there, so you may find a fraction of the coin on the account (this is done automatically to keep your staking account in the network). You can choose to close the account and withdraw that fraction of SOL. Confirm the transaction on your Ledger.
Sometimes, you can get an Error:
Error: Transaction still not confirmed, please check explorer manually.
In this case, we advise checking the transaction on the explorer to ensure it went through. You can also refresh the page and check your staking account balance.
Once all staking accounts are closed, you won’t see any available in the dashboard.
Solana Staking FAQ
What is an Epoch?
An epoch is a unit of time in computing. It varies slightly but usually is around 2-3 days. When you start staking, the epoch you are in will not accumulate rewards. Check the epoch length on solanabeach.io.
What does activating/deactivating stake status mean?
When you delegate or undelegate a stake account, the tokens do not change their state immediately. Newly delegated tokens are considered “activating” or “warming up” and are not eligible to earn rewards until they are fully activated. Newly undelegated tokens are considered “deactivating” or “cooling down” and cannot be withdrawn until deactivated.
I staked all my SOL, and I cannot unstake.
You need to transfer a small amount of SOL to the wallet to pay for trxs. Solana’s recommendation is to keep at least 0.05 SOL in your wallet for all future gas fees.
How long to unstake, and do I have to do extra steps?
It takes an epoch for the stake to get deactivated. After that, you will need to withdraw tokens.
How to track all my SOL staking rewards?
Track your staking rewards with Solana explorers. Check out our detailed guide here. Find more answers and Staking Guides for Exodus, Phantom, Solflare, and Trustee wallets on the dedicated page.
About Everstake
Everstake is the biggest decentralized staking provider, trusted by 625,000 users. For the past four years, the company has been using enterprise-level hardware to run more than 8000 nodes for the most popular blockchain networks. Everstake employs 100+ experts worldwide and has been heavily involved in the development of complex blockchain products, such as Metaplex.
The Everstake team selects only promising PoS projects. Delegating with Everstake is safe and profitable – our team performs thorough project research before joining the network as a validator.
Check Everstake Twitter and Discord for the latest updates.
And If you have any questions you can always contact our Solana Blockchain Manager on Twitter.
