On-chain staking utilizes blockchain Proof-of-Stake protocol to generate rewards through a process typically called “staking”.

Benefits of On-chain staking on Kraken versus staking on other platforms:

✓ Start earning rewards instantly — no waiting or bonding periods (other than ETH2)
✓ 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*

*Only FLOW.S can be unstaked by Kraken clients whilst FLOWH.S will be unstaked automatically by Kraken as it periodically becomes available for unstaking on the network.

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. ETH rewards will not be visible in your balances since some ETH rewards cannot yet be traded or withdrawn. This is informational only. 

Rewards will only be added if the reward is greater than the smallest decimal precision. 

Currency	Flexible Staking rewards per year (RPY)	Bonded Staking rewards per year (RPY)	Reward schedule (Flexible Staking)	Reward schedule (Bonded Staking)
Algorand (ALGO)****	1%-4%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 01:30 UTC	N/A
Cardano (ADA)	3%-6%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 06:00 UTC	N/A
Cosmos (ATOM)	7%-11%	18%-22%	Thursday Starting* at 03:00 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 03:00 UTC
Ethereum (ETH)***	4%-7%	N/A	Sunday Starting* at 01:45 UTC	N/A
Flare (FLR)	1%-5%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 05:45 UTC	N/A
Flow (FLOW)	3%-5%	8%-11%	Thursday Starting* at 07:00 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 05:15 UTC
Kava (KAVA)	5%-7%	12%-15%	Thursday  Starting* at 02:30 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 02:30 UTC
Kusama (KSM)	5%-9%	13%-18%	Thursday  Starting* at 05:00 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 05:00 UTC
Mina (MINA)	12%-20%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 08:00 UTC	N/A
Polygon (MATIC)	1%-2%	2%-5%	Thursday Starting* at 02:00 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 04:45 UTC
Polkadot (DOT)	7%-11%	15%-19%	Thursday Starting* at 04:00 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 04:00 UTC
Secret (SCRT)	8%-10%	20%-24%	Thursday Starting* at 03:15 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 03:15 UTC
Solana (SOL)	2%-3%	5%-7%	Thursday Starting* at 08:30 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 05:45 UTC
Tezos (XTZ)	5%-7%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 03:30 UTC	N/A
The Graph (GRT)	2%-4%	7%-10%	Thursday Starting* at 03:45 UTC	Tuesday Starting* at 03:45 UTC
Tron (TRX)	2%-5%	N/A	Thursday Starting* at 07:30 UTC	N/A

*Rates are estimates and are subject to change in compliance with Kraken’s terms of service. Assets subject to a bonding period do not accrue rewards during the period after you elect to unstake and before the unbonding period ends.

***ETH rewards are not added to your staking balance. After The Merge, Kraken will also collect additional rewards payable to stakers. This includes tips paid to Kraken’s validators as a result of fee activity on the Ethereum network and for MEV activity. The additional rewards will be issued to your account (estimated to begin on September 25th 2022 after 01:45 UTC) 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 On-chain minus our fee.  Rewards will vary according to the rules of the Ethereum protocol.

****You will receive additional variable rewards for each 3-month governance period which will be added to your staked balance. The rewards rate will vary per period. This will be determined by the number of committed Algos, and computed as the ratio of the total Algos being committed against the total reward pool for that period. For more information pertaining to Algos governance model and reward distribution.

See country specific restrictions.

An overview of eligibility criteria (including geographic restrictions) can be found here. If On-chain staking is not showing as an option on your account, you may not be eligible.

There are currently no fees for staking or unstaking.

For Ethereum staking, due to the specific network rollout and complexity, Kraken retains an administrative fee from earned staking rewards and provides clients variable reward rate.

In addition to the standard Flexible staking option, Kraken offers 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 Bonded term staking, your assets will be subject to a wait time after you  unstake them. The wait time (known as the unbonding period) can last 3- 28 days, depending on the asset.

Currency	Bonded Staking lockup period	Bonded Staking Rewards per year (RPY)
Cosmos (ATOM)	21 days	18%-22%
Flow (FLOW)	14 days	8%-11%
Kava (KAVA)	21 days	12%-15%
Kusama (KSM)	7 days	13%-18%
Polygon (MATIC)	3 days	2%-5%
Polkadot (DOT)	28 days	15%-19%
Secret (SCRT)	21 days	20%-24%
Solana (SOL)	3 days	5%-7%
The Graph (GRT)	28 days	7%-10%

*Rates are estimates and are subject to change in compliance with Kraken’s terms of service. Assets subject to a bonding period do not accrue rewards during the period after you elect to unstake and before the unbonding period ends.
** Bonded staking is not available to residents of Canada or the United States. 

 

While your assets are staked via our On-chain 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.

Unlike other staking services, at Kraken there is no minimum On-chain staking time needed to earn rewards. You start earning pro-rated rewards for On-chain staking as soon as your instructions to stake are processed by Kraken (which may be within minutes of you staking your assets).

For example, if you utilized On-chain staking for a few hours and then un-staked your assets, you would still be credited pro-rated rewards on the next payout day. In contrast, on other services you would not receive anything. Unlike other staking services we also have no bonding and unbonding period for On-chain staking (other than ETH2).

You can stake and unstake with the Kraken Pro app.