Guide
Staking and delegation
Stake TRAI with a validator step by step, in the Tenrai Wallet or on the command line. How rewards are earned and paid, unstaking, withdrawal and the risks.
Staking bonds TRAI to a validator. The validators with the most stake certify the cuts, and half of all new TRAI and half of all fees go to their stakers. You keep the coins: the validator can never move them, and only your wallet can unstake.
To run a validator yourself, see Run a validator.
The numbers
| Smallest stake | 1,000 TRAI |
|---|---|
| Committee | The 64 eligible validators with the most stake |
| Payouts | Once a day (34,560 cuts), automatically |
| Validator commission | 0 % to 10 % of delegated rewards, in steps of 0.1 % |
| Unbonding | 10 days from unstaking |
Choose a validator
A validator earns for a day only while it sits in the committee and does its job, so the choice matters:
- Stake and committee seat. Only the 64 validators with the most stake form the committee. Stake with a validator outside it, shown as standby, earns nothing until it moves up.
- Health. Healthy means online, at least 95 % of its recent cuts signed and never penalized. A validator that signs less loses whole days of rewards, see Rewards.
- Commission. The validator keeps this share of your rewards. A change is announced 14 days ahead and shows next to the current rate.
Spread larger amounts over several validators.
Stake
Tenrai Wallet
- Open Staking.
- Under Validators, compare health, commission and any scheduled change, and choose one. The validator ID links to its page in the explorer.
- In Stake, enter the amount, at least 1,000 TRAI. Estimated reward shows the expected reward per day and per year after the validator's fee.
- Choose Review stake, check the details and confirm.
The stake appears under Your positions once its transaction is final, within a few seconds.
Command line
-
List the validators and copy the ID of the one you want:
Shell tenrai-wallet validators -
Stake:
Shell tenrai-wallet stake --validator <validator ID> --amount 1000 --wait -
Check your positions:
Shell tenrai-wallet positions
Each position has its own ID, which you need to unstake.
A stake carries one more signature than a payment, so it sometimes fits only seven coins. When the amount lies on more, the Tenrai Wallet offers Compound and send; on the command line, run tenrai-wallet compound --wait and stake again.
Rewards
| How much | Your share of the day's staking pool, in proportion to your stake, less the validator's commission |
|---|---|
| When | Once a day, in the cuts right after the day's last cut |
| Where | The position's reward address, by default the wallet's first address |
| Claiming | Not needed. Each payout is a normal coin |
Each day's rewards go to the positions as they stood when the day began, so a new stake earns from the first full day after it is final. If you unstake during a day, that day pays for the part before the unstake.
A validator qualifies for a day only if it helped certify cuts in at least 9 of the day's 12 two-hour windows. A validator that misses this earns nothing for that day, nor do its stakers, and it is jailed: it cannot join the committee for the next two days. Downtime and jailing never touch the stake itself.
Rewards are not added to the stake. To stake them too, create another position, and merge many small reward coins with compound. tenrai-wallet reward-address --position <position ID> --to <address> sends a position's future rewards to another address.
Unstake and withdraw
Tenrai Wallet
- Choose Unstake on the position under Your positions.
- Wait 10 days. The position counts down to the cut at which it can be withdrawn.
- Choose Withdraw on the position.
Command line
tenrai-wallet unstake --position <position ID>
tenrai-wallet positions
tenrai-wallet withdraw --position <position ID>positions shows the time left in withdrawable_in.
During the 10 days the TRAI earns nothing and cannot be spent. Withdraw returns it as a normal coin to your wallet.
You never need the validator's approval to unstake. When a validator leaves the network, all of its positions start unbonding by themselves, and you withdraw yours after the 10 days.
Risks
This happens when an operator runs the same validator key on two machines, by mistake or not. Choose validators by how reliably they are run, not only by size.