What is staking and how stake your ADA?

When you open this blog, and you don't know much about crypto yet, it is wise to read our other blogs first. In this blog we are going to tell you how to buy Cardano and it can be done staken so that you start earning passive income from Cardano.

proof of stake

As discussed in previous blogs, Cardano is a Proof of stake blockchain. This means that transactions are validated by the stakepools. Stakepools get rewards for doing so. Every ADA owner, therefore, has the option to delegate his or her ADA to a stakepool and thereby share in the profits of the stakepool† How and which stakepool you choose, we will explain later in this article. Do you want to know more about Proof of Stake† Then read the blog 'What is Blockchain† and What is Cardano?

buy cardano

A first step is to buy Cardano. You can buy Cardano through almost any exchange. However, there is only one exchange that we can recommend for Dutch crypto investors and that is Bitvavo.

Bitvavo is a Dutch crypto exchange. This exchange offers a lot of different crypto coins that you can buy at very low costs. In addition, it is good to know that when you want ADA staken, you need to find an exchange where you can get your ADA from the exchange. This is possible at Bitvavo.

Buy Cardano at no extra cost!

Buy Cardano at the best crypto exchange in the Netherlands Bitvavo without extra costs. Pay with iDeal! Sign up for free via the link below!

Log in to Bitvavo

Buy Cardano with iDeal

In addition, you can easily pay at Bitvavo via iDeal via any Dutch bank. Foreign crypto platforms often do not have this, so you need a credit card. Most Dutch people prefer to pay with iDeal than with a credit card because of the extra costs associated with paying with a credit card.

You can easily create an account via Bitvavo and go through the verification process. After doing this, you can start buying ADA. You do this by first depositing euros into your account. After this is successful, you can look up the Cardano and buy it with the euros you just deposited.

Other exchanges where you can buy and send Cardano

• Coinbase
• Binance

Creating a Cardano Wallet

The ADA you just bought is now yours. It is now time to create your own Cardano wallet. Today there are many different Cardano wallets. Below is a handy list:

• Yoro wallet
• Daedalus Wallet
• Nami wallet
• ccVault
• card wallet
• Exodus
• And much more.

A full list can be found at this page.

To keep it simple, we'll start from now on staken from Cardano with the Yoroi wallet. We think Yoroi is currently the most reliable and better wallet for it staken of Cardano. Yoroi was developed by a partner of IOHK namely EMURGO and is available as a chrome extension and app for your smartphone. You can download Yoroi wallet from the link below:

Download Yoroi wallet

When you have installed Yoroi, it is time to create a wallet. You can do this easily by clicking on 'Add wallet'. Now it becomes equally important.

Safely store and store your 'Seed Phrase'! IMPORTANT

When you go through the steps and have given a name and set a password to your wallet, you will see a list of 15 words. We call this list of words your 'seed phrase'. With this list of words you can restore your Wallet on another device or system at any time. You only get to see this list once! In addition, the advice is not to save this list of words on your phone or device itself, but in a physical location. So write it down on a separate note and keep it in a safe place.

TIP: It is advisable to also make a copy, for example, and store it in a different place outside the home. For example with someone you trust. You have to start from the most extreme case of, for example, fire where you can no longer retrieve your seed phrase.

Now you may be thinking, isn't it safer to leave your Cardano on an exchange? No, is the short answer to this. An exchange is an online place. No matter how well secured these exchanges may be, you can never be sure that an exchange will not be hacked and that someone can steal your Cardano.

Securing your Crypto with a hardware device (safest option)

Even better is to choose to purchase a hardware wallet. These are devices that store your private key (a key you need to make transactions). When you have a wallet on your phone and someone steals your phone in combination with your spending password (password you have set for making transactions). Can this person send your ADA to their own address. You will then lose your ADA. If you want to prevent this, you can think about purchasing a hardware wallet. This is a small device the size of a USB stick that you plug into your laptop or connect to your phone when you want to make a transaction. This way you protect your ADA. Even when someone steals your phone or laptop.

TIP: Making transactions with a hardware wallet always takes more time. That is why we always choose to keep 2 separate wallets. One (smaller) wallet without hardware device and one larger wallet with hardware device. You can add as many wallets as you want in Yoroi. This way you don't have to use your hardware wallet every time you want to make a transaction. A bit similar to keeping a checking account and a savings account.

Different types of hardware wallets

There are different hardware wallets from different brands. The most famous brands are 'Ledger' and 'Trezor'. Below you will find links to these wallets. If you buy a wallet via the links on our website, you do not pay anything extra, but you do sponsor our website.

Sending your ADA to your new wallet

Now that you have bought ADA via Bitvavo and have created a new wallet, it is time to send your ADA to your wallet. To do this, log in to your Bitvavo account (in your browser, mobile app does not support this) and go to your ADA in your list of assets. Click on 'Withdraw' on this screen. Here you can send your ADA to a different address. We want to send our ADA to our new wallet for this.

Go to your new Yoroi wallet and click on 'recieve' at the bottom. Here you will find one (or more) receiving addresses to receive ADA in your Yoroi wallet. Copy one of these addresses and paste it into the address field in Bitvavo. If you want to make sure it went well, you can always check the first 3 and last 3 digits of the address.

If you are sure that this went well, click on continue in Bitvavo. You will now be asked to verify your new address. You do this by confirming this via an e-mail that you receive. Follow the instructions for this. After you've gone through all the instructions, send the ADA. Do you doubt and don't you dare to send everything at once? Then you can also choose to send a smaller amount first, for example. You only pay 0.2 ADA in transaction costs.

Now we just have to wait for the ADA to arrive. This generally takes a maximum of 10 minutes. Your transaction is currently being verified via the blockchain. You can follow your transaction live via a link with the transaction on Bitvavo.

Yes ADA is in! Nice. You have now removed your Cardano from the exchange and put it in your wallet. A common saying in Cryptoland is 'not your keys, not your coins'. You have now stored your Cardano in a more secure way.

Delegating your ADA to a stakepool

Now it's time for the final part, delegating your ADA to a stakepool† By delegating your ADA to a stake pool, you can earn extra passive income for free and without the risk of losing the ADA.

When you open Yoroi, you will see a large button in the main screen of the app with 'delegation center' on it. Click on this. You will now be taken to the search screen for finding a Cardano stakepool† Would you like to do some more research on the different pools, you can also take a look at the website adapools.org.

Some things to consider when choosing a pool are:

• Saturation of the pool (A saturation of more than 100% reduces the rewards you get. From 67 million ADA in a pool is this the case
• parties. These are the extra costs that a pool asks for the maintenance of the pool† Don't choose a pool with a higher fee of 5% or more.
• pledge. This is the amount of ADA that the poolholder himself has deposited. The higher the pledge, the greater the confidence in the poolholder that he or she pool is well maintained.
• What is the mission of the pool† Where are the pool rewards for use?
• Less relevant: ROA (return on ADA). This can differ enormously. There is a factor of luck built into the Ouroboros protocol. This will be rectified in the longer term.

Tip: Stake in smaller pools and in pools where no multiple pools of existence. In this way you help to decentralize the network!

Did you find this information useful? Then think about it, to staken with our own Cardano pool† The rewards of the pool are used for the further distribution of Cardano content for Dutch readers.

Have you made a choice? Nice find the pool in Yoroi and click Delegate. You will now be asked to deposit a small amount of 2 ADA into the pool† You will get this amount back when you withdraw it.

And now you're done! Legs down and wait. We'll explain in more detail how long it will take to receive your first rewards.

Receiving Rewards

Your job is now done and your ADA is now delegated in a pool optionally. You will now automatically earn rewards without doing anything further. We will explain to you how long this will take and how this process will continue.

Epoch 0: Today: You've delegated your ADA and are done for now. At the top of your wallet you can see which Epoch (period of 5 days) you are in and when it ends. In this piece we will assume that this will take another 5 days.

Epoch 1: After 5 days: A new Epoch begins. A snapshot of the delegated wallets is currently being taken. Your current number of delegated ADA is captured (snapshot)

Epoch 2: After 10 days: During this Epoch you earn for the first time rewards.

Epoch 3: After 15 days: Rewards are calculated

Epoch 4: After 20 days: Rewards from Epoch 1 are paid out.

Epoch 5: After 25 days: Epoch 2 Rewards Paying Out

Epoch 6: After 30 days: Epoch 3 Rewards Paying Out

And so on.. So you will receive your first rewards after 15-20 days after you first delegate ADA to a stakepool† From then on you will receive ADA rewards every 5 days.

ISPOs

In addition to getting ADA rewards, it is also possible to participate in a stakepool who is affiliated with an ISPO. ISPO stands for Initial Stakepool offering. This means that mainly new coins prepare a fixed number of coins to be distributed among participants in an ADA stakepool which is associated with this. In addition to your ADA rewards, you will also receive rewards in new coins. You will have to find out for yourself which ISPOs are currently active.

Finally,

We hope you have benefited from this information on this website. We do everything we can to expand the information on our website as much as possible in order to teach more people about the possibilities of Cardano. You can support us by delegating your ADA to our own Dutch stakepool (soon). Or by tipping us!