What is Onchain staking?
Onchain staking utilizes blockchain Proof-of-Stake protocol to generate rewards through a process typically called “staking”.
Benefits of Onchain staking on Kraken versus staking on other platforms:
✓ Start earning rewards instantly — no waiting or onchain bonding periods
✓ One of the highest returns in the industry
✓ Stake your assets in just three clicks from your Kraken balances
✓ Instant un-staking when using Flexible terms
Rewards (annual percentage rate)
All rewards that have been earned via staking are counted and will appear in the total rewards column on the Earn page. Please note that this is not an amount of accrued rewards as these have either been added to your Staked amount, or in the case of ETH, deposited into your Spot Wallet already. This is informational only.
The staking rewards rates shown are an estimate, before our commission, and are based on the average staking rewards accrued over the past period. Average staking rewards are calculated as follows:
- •Determine the total amount of staking rewards earned by Kraken in a payout period, based on on-chain data.
- •Divide staking rewards by the total amount staked for the relevant assets, and the number of days in the payout period, to determine the annual percentage rate.
- •Construct a range, based on the estimated APR, depending on variations in reward payouts observed over a recent time period.
Staking payouts happen once per week and the timing will differ per person. There may be variance in payout timing due to platform upgrades, but reward amounts will be accurate to the period accrued.
Rewards will only be added if the reward is greater than the smallest decimal precision.
Currency | Flexible Staking annual percentage rate (APR) | Bonded Staking annual percentage rate (APR) |
|---|---|---|
Bittensor (TAO) | 6%-12% | N/A |
2%-5% | N/A | |
3-6% | 9-12% | |
7%-11% | 14%-20% | |
1%-2% | 2%-5% | |
1%-3% | 2%-5% | |
N/A | 2.25%-6% | |
0.1%-2% | N/A | |
1%-7% | 10%-16% | |
4%-7% | 11%-14% | |
2%-5% | 5%-9% | |
6%-10% | 12%-19% | |
7%-12% | N/A | |
4%-8% | 10%-16% | |
1%-3% | 3%-6% | |
7%-11% | 13%-19% | |
1%-3% | 3%-6% | |
2%-5% | 5%-11% | |
5%-10% | 11%-16% | |
6%-9% | 10%-17% | |
1%-3% | 3%-5% |
Rates are estimates and are subject to change in compliance with Kraken’s terms of service. Assets subject to a onchain bonding period do not accrue rewards during the period after you elect to unstake and before the onchain unbonding period ends.
† Rewards are earned only through Flare network airdrops.
* Assets with no onchain unbonding period.
** As of the Shapella upgrade rewards will be issued to your account as unstaked ETH, fully unlocked and able to stake, trade or withdraw in your account. Kraken will continue to distribute weekly rewards on a variable rate that reflects what we’ve earned Onchain minus our fee. Rewards will vary according to the rules of the Ethereum protocol. ETH staking rewards are not auto-compounded and will be added to your spot balance.
Am I eligible for Onchain staking?
Geographical restrictions can be found here. If Onchain staking is not showing as an option on your account, you may not be eligible.
Assets eligible for Onchain staking
Currently we offer Onchain staking for Bittensor (TAO), Cardano (ADA), Celestia (TIA), Cosmos (ATOM), Dymension (DYM), Ethereum (ETH), Flare (FLR), Flow (FLOW), Injective (INJ) Kava (KAVA), Kusama (KSM), Polygon (MATIC), Mina (MINA), Polkadot (DOT), Sei (SEI), Solana (SOL), Secret (SCRT), Tezos (XTZ), The Graph (GRT) and Tron (TRX).
When you are logged in to your Kraken account and navigate to the Earn section at the top of the page. We have plans to introduce Onchain staking for other assets in the near future — such as Dash (DASH).
Follow our blog for announcements.
Fees
There are currently no transaction fees for staking or unstaking. Kraken takes a commission based on the rewards you receive from the network.
Staking and restaking are considered separately when determining commissions. For example, if you stake 2,000 ETH and restake 3,000 ETH, Kraken will retain a commission of 22% of the rewards earned, and not 16% as applicable to a 5,000 ETH current balance staked.
The APR rates shown above are an estimate of the rewards you could earn on the assets you hold, before our commission, and are based on the average staking rewards accrued over the past period. In cases where we are subject to a validator commission, the APR rates shown are after such commissions. Commissions for onchain bonded staking, and for flexible staking on assets with no onchain unbonding period, are based on current balances staked per asset.
For example, if you stake 5,000 ETH, which earns 250 ETH in network rewards, Kraken will retain a commission of 12% of the rewards earned (30 ETH).
Commissions per asset are outlined in the table below:
Kraken Commission | 20% | 16% | 12% | 10% | 8% | 6% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0-70K | 70-350K | 350K-2M | 2-10M | 10-40M | 40M+ | |
0-500 | 500-5K | 5-25K | 25-75K | 75-150K | 150K+ | |
0-400K | 400K-1.25M | 1.25-5M | 5-25M | 25-100M | 100M+ | |
0-40K | 40-200K | 200-800K | 800K-3M | 3-10M | 10M+ | |
0-15K | 15-75K | 75-375K | 375K-1.6M | 1.6-8M | 8M+ | |
0-40K | 40-200K | 200-800K | 800K-3M | 3-10M | 10M+ |
Kraken Commission | 26% | 22% | 16% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bittensor (TAO) | 0-200 | 200-750 | 750-2.5K | 2.5K-9K | 9K-30K | 30K+ |
0-4K | 4-20K | 20-80K | 80-300K | 300K-1M | 1M+ | |
0-8K | 8-40K | 40-200K | 200-800K | 800-2M | 2M+ | |
0-16K | 16-80K | 80-400K | 400K-1.6M | 1.6-4M | 4M+ | |
0-500 | 500-5K | 5K-25K | 25-75K | 75-150K | 150K+ | |
Flow (FLOW) | 0-100K | 100-500K | 500K-2.5M | 2.5-10M | 10-25M | 25M+ |
Injective (INJ) | 0-1K | 1-5K | 5-25K | 25-100K | 100-300K | 300K+ |
0-30K | 30-150K | 150-750K | 750K-3M | 3-7.5M | 7.5M+ | |
0-3K | 3-15K | 15-75K | 75-300K | 300-750K | 750K+ | |
0-90K | 90-450K | 450K-2.25M | 2.25-9M | 9-22.5M | 22.5M+ | |
0-35K | 35-175K | 175-875K | 875K-3.5M | 3.5-8.75M | 8.75M+ | |
0-60K | 60-250K | 250K-1M | 1-5M | 5-20M | 20M+ | |
0-4K | 4-20K | 20-100K | 100-400K | 400K-1M | 1M+ | |
0-175K | 175-875K | 875K-4.375M | 4.375-17.5M | 17.5-43.75M | 43.75M+ | |
0-200K | 200K-1M | 1-4M | 4-20M | 20-100M | 100M+ |
For flexible staking on assets with an onchain unbonding period, rewards are generated by staking a portion of your eligible assets onchain, Kraken keeps the remainder unstaked for liquidity purposes. You will receive network rewards on up to 50% of your staked assets. Commissions for flexible staking are 20%.For additional information, please refer to our Terms of Service.
Onchain Bonded staking option
In addition to the standard Flexible staking option, Kraken offers Onchain Bonded terms when staking certain assets, such as DOT and ATOM. Staking rewards will be paid out to your staking balance each payout interval. If you choose onchain bonded term staking, your assets will be subject to a wait time after you unstake them. The wait time (known as the onchain unbonding period) can last 3- 28 days, depending on the asset.
ETH is subject to a onchain bonding period when Staking is initiated in addition to it's unstaking period
Currency | Onchain unbonding period | Bonded Staking annual percentage rate (APR) |
|---|---|---|
21 days | 9-12% | |
21 days | 14%-20% | |
21 days | 2%-5% | |
Variable (Onchain Bonding & unbonding) | 2%-5% | |
Variable (Onchain Bonding & unbonding) | 2.25%-6% | |
Flow (FLOW) | 14 days | 10%-16% |
Injective (INJ) | 21 days | 11%-14% |
21 days | 5%-9% | |
7 days | 12%-19% | |
28 days | 10%-16% | |
3 days | 3%-6% | |
21 days | 13%-19% | |
21 days | 3%-6% | |
3 days | 5%-11% | |
10 days | 11%-16% | |
28 days | 10%-17% | |
14 days | 3%-5% |
*Rates above are estimates and are subject to change in compliance with Kraken’s terms of service. Assets subject to a onchain bonding period do not accrue rewards during the period after you elect to unstake and before the onchain unbonding period ends.
**Onchain Bonded and flexible staking is not available if you are a resident or a citizen of a prohibited location.
Balance hold and impact on equity for margin trading
While your assets are staked via our Onchain staking service, they are not available for trading and cannot be pushed to your external (non-Kraken) account. If you choose Flexible staking, you can instantly un-stake assets at any time for any amount.
Staking also impacts your equity for margin trading, when the asset staked is a collateral currency and will be removed from your trading and equity balances while staked. Your equity balances affect your free margin and margin level for margin trading.
Mobile app availability
Risks of onchain staking
Participating in the on-chain staking process is not a risk-free endeavor. Individuals should be aware of the following risks.
- •If you elect to unstake assets subject to an unbonding period, your assets will not be unstaked and able to be withdrawn or traded until that unbonding period expires, and you will not continue to accrue rewards during that unbonding period. The market price of staked assets may significantly increase or decrease by the time the unbonding period expires and your assets are unstaked, including due to new minting, a hack of the blockchain protocol, or market volatility.
- •We do not guarantee you will earn any reward. Changes to blockchain protocols and network behavior may impact rewards. Future rewards may be less than historical rewards, or even drop to zero.
- •Staking services could be vulnerable to hacks, a payment could default, or an event known as “slashing” can be triggered by malicious actions or technical errors, resulting in a loss of staked funds and subsequent rewards.
We will compensate you for any slashing penalty and non-payment of applicable staking rewards, unless this results from your actions, network maintenance or a bug, a hack, and in certain other situations. For a full list of circumstances where we won’t compensate you for slashing penalties, please refer to our Terms of Service.
You retain ownership of each eligible asset that is staked, and such assets remain your property while Staked. However, you may be affected by bonding periods if you want to unstake assets you have staked using our bonded staking option.
Resources
The decimal and thousands separators shown in this article may differ from the formats displayed on our trading platforms. Review our article on how we use points and commas for more information.