Staking is like a highly risky version of bank accounts. So here’s a list of some of the best crypto-staking platforms to do it right.
Crypto staking is analogous to fixed-term deposits but with added dangers of stocks. It’s a complicated mix that needs thorough understanding before any investment.
And you can’t stake just about every cryptocurrency. The ones that support the Proof-of-Staking consensus protocol can only be staked. Others, like Bitcoin, which have Proof-of-Work (aka crypto mining) for transaction validation, don’t allow crypto staking.
So I hope you understand this upfront. But go through our crypto staking guide if you’re new. This will only take about 5 minutes. I recommend reading before going ahead.
In a nutshell, crypto staking puts your cryptocurrencies in hibernation on an exchange or staking pool to get rewards after the lockup period.
Sounds easy!
But factor in the swinging prices of crypto coins, and you soon get the full picture.
Your staked crypto can plummet to the ground during the staking contract. Or everything can be super positive, with your coin touching the never imagined peaks, but you can’t sell them. Thanks again to your staking terms.
Conclusively, you should not stake more than you can afford to lose.
Best Crypto Staking Platforms
With the formal warning out of the way, I’m going to tell you about some of the best staking platforms along with the reasons to choose them. In the end, you’ll be able to select the crypto-staking platform of your choice.
Don’t wait. Dive in.
ByBit
If you fear fixed-term staking, ByBit has an additional–flexible staking–to ease off your concerns. Besides, the ample choice of top coins makes it a perfect staking destination.
ByBit savings support staking in BTC, ETH, USDT, Bit, SOL, DOT, etc. As of this writing, there were also some time-bound staking offers, including USDC, DAI, BUSD, ADA, ATOM, etc.
Flexible terms come with daily yields that auto deposited in the user account.
What’s missing is compound staking, and you will have to reinvest manually for continuous earnings.
Regardless, ByBit staking is one of the most flexible offerings in the crypto verse with industry-leading APYs that you shouldn’t miss.
Atomic Wallet
Atomic Wallet isn’t a typical staking platform but a self-custodial crypto wallet from where you can buy, exchange, and stake without looking outside.
The staking process is simple and starts with setting up the Atomic wallet. Afterward, you can enter the staking section and select the coin of your choice.
As of this writing, there were 15 coins to pick from with varying minimum staking amounts, APY, reward frequency, etc.
In addition, there are detailed staking guides for every coin indicating specifics you need to go through before jumping in.
Finally, the ease of staking makes Atomic wallet staking unique in its own right.
Cake Defi
Among many programs, staking at Cake Defi can help you earn high returns without any hassle.
The best thing about Cake Defi is its transparency. The platform publishes a quarterly report indicating its growth, roadmap, rewards paid, etc., which is highly uncommon in the crypto industry.
Coming to the staking part, the APY mentioned includes all fees and indicates the amount you’ll finally get. Additionally, Cake Defi supports one-click un-staking.
This platform also permits rewards auto compounding to get the highest possible returns.
You can also check the node addresses with past activity, further ensuring the platform’s legitimacy.
Finally, you can begin staking at Cake Defi without any minimum amount limitations.
Nebeus
What is impressive about Nebeus is that it offers two different services to earn on your crypto: staking and renting.
By staking your crypto with Nebeus, you are able to earn up to 7.5% rewards per year in over 20 crypto assets in a flexible way as it allows you to unstake at any moment for no additional cost.
The other alternative to earn on crypto is crypto renting, which offers 4 different programs to gain rewards up to 12.85% in stablecoins and 6.5% in crypto per year, which are among the highest rates in the market. Greater benefits are provided as a result of the assets being locked for a predetermined time.
What is unique to Nebeus’ crypto renting is that you can earn interest on a different crypto than the one rented, so if you are planning to buy a new coin, you can avoid conversion fees in this way.
Both services are fantastic for making money on your cryptocurrency because they have no costs and pay-out incentives on a monthly basis. In addition, your digital assets are in a safe platform as Nebeus is authorized and registered by the Bank of Spain as a cryptocurrency custody and services provider and received the VASP license.
If you are still trying to decide which one to choose, check out Nebeus’ crypto blog, where they explain their differences and advantages in-depth.
Kraken
As of this writing, Kraken is the fourth largest crypto exchange, as ranked by CoinMarketCap. Kraken permits staking in 12 crypto assets with unstaking support for most crypto coins.
Unstaking means taking out your staked amount to trade or withdraw. So practically, there is no bonding period.
In addition, you instantly earn staking rewards, with Kraken paying you once a week or more, depending upon the coin. And you can further stake your rewards to maximize your earnings.
Kraken calls this traditional way on-chain staking. However, they also feature off-chain staking available in select countries. Finally, Kraken doesn’t charge any additional fee for staking or un-staking.
Binance
Binance is the greatest crypto exchange in terms of daily exchange volume. It’s also one of the best crypto staking platforms supporting over 100 staking coins.
Binance has two types of staking: locked and flexible.
As evident by the name, locked staking is about a set bond period, while flexible gives you freedom at the cost of reduced staking rewards. Notably, locked staking also permits flexible withdrawals, but you’ll be losing out on all your rewards.
Binance’s locked staking generally holds our funds for a minimum of 30 days, but a few coins do allow a 10 or 15 days staking period. They often command higher annualized percentage yield (APY) and are safer.
Flexible locking periods come with DeFi staking. Here, you invest in 3rd-party DeFi projects which may result in the smart contract getting attacked and your staking amount biting the dust.
But the prime advantage of DeFi staking is that you don’t have to maintain an on-chain wallet for every project you stake in. And then there are extremely short bond periods like most have 24h.
However, some may find Binance confusing. In that case, you can use their officially supported Trust Wallet and stake from it.
And like Kraken, Binance also doesn’t charge any staking fee.
BitStamp
BitStamp is the eleventh largest crypto exchange out of over 300 listed on CoinMarketCap. They pay you staking rewards periodically for holding crypto for a set amount of time.
As of this writing, BitStamp supports staking in Algorand (ALGO) and Ethereum.
ALGO is staked automatically 24 hours after you have them in your account. APY is up to 5% and depends on your staked amount.
The awards are sourced from the Algorand Community Governance Program and are distributed quarterly. Additionally, there is no lock-up with ALGO staking, and you can also opt-out at any time.
For Ethereum staking, one needs to convert all ETH into ETH2. This means moving your Ethereum tokens to the beacon chain, which will ultimately be the only one surviving once Ethereum upgrades to the Proof-of-Stake protocol (a.k.a Ethereum 2.0).
Once migrated, all ETH is automatically staked and eligible to earn up to 4.44% annually. Similar to ALGO staking, the size of the ETH stake determines the staking APY.
For ETH, the rewards are distributed monthly but can only be used after the completion of the staking period. This means you have to wait until the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade completes.
Because of the confusing nature of ETH staking, it’s advised to check out the FAQ section at BitStamp before proceeding.
MyCointainer
MyCointainer is an excellent automatic staking and shared masternode staking service.
Simply put, masternodes have a greater stake, do slightly different things, and earn higher rewards than a regular node in a specific blockchain network.
As of this writing, the rewards you get are the collective sums from the regular and masternode staking. But MyCointainer’s FAQ section promises to display segregation in future updates.
Unlike most crypto platforms, MyCointainer is regulated by the regional Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Besides, you can set up a personal wallet and stake it through MyCointainer. This means making use of your own private keys, which is arguably safer than regular staking. This is slightly more technical, but MyCointainer has detailed guides to take you through.
Adding in the transparency, they clearly state the fee associated with the staking of particular coins. And yes, MyCointainer lets you earn compound interest on the rewards to maximize profits.
Stake.Fish
Stake.Fish is a completely non-custodial staking service. They run public validator nodes on many crypto networks with detailed video guides for delegation.
This is similar to what we have just discussed about MyContainer. You assign your crypto to a public validator node, and they do the work on your behalf for a small fee.
Stake.Fish clearly mentions their service charges, expected rewards, bonding period, and payout intervals against all staking projects.
They might not have a single click staking solution like some in this list; regardless, this is one of the most secure ways of staking from your personal crypto wallet. The only staking method that can outsmart this is running a validator node yourself, requiring substantial investments and technical know-how.
Conclusively, this is one of the best crypto staking platforms if you can think ahead of one-click solutions.
Coinbase
Coinbase presents an effortless staking solution aimed at vanilla crypto users.
For staking at Coinbase, you can buy staking-supported crypto at their exchange or transfer from any external crypto wallet to your Coinbase account. Subsequently, the staking is available at the specific assets page within your portfolio.
This is by far the easiest method of staking, but the most costlier as well. The user agreement shows the commission charged by Coinbase.
They don’t charge differently for specific coins like Stake.Fish, but you end up paying 25% of your staking rewards for the added simplicity.
The only advantage other than the simplistic procedure is there is no minimum staking limit, unlike Binance.
Crypto.Com
Crypto.Com supports flexible and fixed-term staking with a few taps from their smartphone application.
You can check out several cryptocurrencies to stake at Crypto.Com, including some stablecoins.
Interestingly, you can bump up your rewards by adding some CRO tokens to the staking pool. This seems a way to incentivize the use of CRO, which is their native token.
Overall, the platform is pretty straightforward, and even the newcomers will find it an excellent crypto staking platform.
eToro Staking
eToro supports staking in Cardano (ADA) and Tron (TRX) with support to ETH staking in select countries.
The minimum holding period is nine days for ADA and seven days for TRX.
eToro commissions on the rewards are based on the user’s club membership status. For instance, Bronze members pay the highest 25% commission while the Diamond and Platinum+ members take the smallest cut, 10%.
Finally, this crypto staking platform is best for those already associated with eToro to reap maximum benefits.
KuCoin
KuCoin proposes flexible or soft-staking, which comes without any hard locking period. However, you can also subscribe to their fixed-length staking programs to earn higher rewards.
KuCoin’s soft staking programs come with a redemption period which is practically the time between you stop staking and regain access to the staked funds or rewards.
For instance, the Polkadot (DOT) has a 28 days redemption period. Fret not. That’s one of the biggest redemption periods, with most other values lying around a week or even less.
However low, there are minimum thresholds that you need to hold for staking.
Finally, KuCoin is a reputed exchange worthy enough for people looking for a user-friendly crypto staking platform.
Few Pointers Before You Begin
Please note that the mentioned APY is generally awarded in the same coin. So, be extra careful while staking any specific crypto. Because even a seemingly lucrative return won’t mean much if the underlying asset fails.
In addition, choosing a reputed staking platform is a no-brainer, even at the cost of lesser returns as you can also be subjected to slashing, which is a penalty dealt by the network upon the validator nodes for malicious behavior or just being offline. And every event of slashing eats away from your staking rewards.
Finally, don’t get fooled by the no-staking fee banners. Instead, compare the APY between different platforms for the subject coin.
Conclusion
Simply put, the best options for savvy users are Stake.Fish and MyContainer. However, non-technical crypto people should try Binance, Kraken, or KuCoin.
But I’ll repeat: Don’t Invest More Than You Can Afford To Lose.
And I would take the liberty to suggest something out of the box with these fine wine investing platforms.