Start Here! Radix Staking Introduction | The Radix Knowledge Base

TL;DR‍

Staking is one of the most critical things that the Radix community can do to support the decentralization, security, and performance of the Radix Public Network. It’s what decides which validator nodes verify transactions, participate in consensus, and ultimately operate the Radix Public Network.

If you’re really pressed for time please read: How should I choose validators to stake to? Next, head over to the Radix Wallet Guide to learn how to stake and unstake tokens.

What is staking on Radix, and why is it important?

A key element of the decentralization, security, and performance of the Radix Public Network is the use of a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) system where users stake (delegate) their XRD tokens to validator nodes. The network then selects those validator nodes that receive the most stake to conduct consensus on transactions. Because of this, the community of XRD token holders is, in effect, choosing the set of validators that operate the Radix Public Network. Radix’s DPoS system, and your participation in it, is thus critical to the ongoing decentralization, security, and performance of the Radix Public Network.

Economic incentives are built into the Radix Protocol to encourage holders of XRD tokens to stake their tokens to good nodes and for node-runners to operate their nodes well. The Radix protocol creates these incentives through the minting of new XRD tokens called emissions. Emissions are provided to both stakers and node-runners (if they have specified a validator fee) if each node is doing its job by correctly participating in consensus on transactions. Total emissions per year are targeted at 300m XRD.

Staking XRD tokens, therefore, requires making some careful choices on which nodes to delegate your stake to. It’s imperative that you are confident that the nodes you stake to are trustworthy and performant and for you to delegate your stake to a diversity of node-runners in case something goes wrong with any one of them.

When you stake, you receive Liquid Stake Unit tokens, or LSUs directly from the Radix Protocol. These tokens are not locked, and are available to exchange with other tokens in Radix DeFi. Radix therefore provides native liquid staking.

For those that hold LSUs, unstaking takes 2,016 epochs, or about 7 days.

Further reading:

To learn how staking works, see How does staking work on Radix?
To learn how XRD emissions work, see How do XRD emissions work?
To learn how network emissions are calculated, see How XRD staking emissions rewards & penalties are calculated - general
For guidance on which validators to stake to, see How should I choose validators to stake to?
To learn how to stake and unstake using the Radix Wallet and Radix Dashboard, see Start Here! Radix Wallet User Guide and Start Here! Radix Dashboard User Guide.