Staked LINK Staking

Deposit your LINK to the stake.link LINK staking pool. If native Chainlink staking is full, the deposited LINK will be queued for staking in the stake.link Priority Pool. When space becomes available, the Priority Pool will auto-stake LINK to Chainlink native staking.

• stake.link deposits LINK to both of Chainlink’s native staking pools: the Node Operator Staking Pool and the Community Staking Pool. Each pool receives a base reward rate of 4.5% while the Community Staking Pool pays a 4% Delegation Fee to the Node Operator Staking Pool. In the current iteration of Chainlink Staking v0.2, the community pool effective rate is 4.32%.
• The node operator minimum effective rate is 6.28%. However, node operator rewards are not fixed to 6.28% of actual stake, but instead fixed to 6.28% of maximum possible stake.
• The maximum possible node operator stake is 4,125,000 total LINK (75,000 LINK for 55 node operators) and the actual staked amount (as of October 2024) is 2,059,150.29 LINK. Effectively, the max rewards are distributed regardless of staked amount resulting in an effective reward rate for the Node Operator Staking Pool of 8.72%.
• When you stake your LINK with stake.link, you receive a blended reward rate from the Community Staking Pool (4.32%) and the Node Operator Staking Pool (8.72%) less protocol fees. As of October 2024, stake.link users have an effective reward rate of 6.52% compared to Native Chainlink Staking at staking.chain.link of 4.32%.

PLEASE NOTE: Beware of fake announcements claiming that more space to stake was suddenly available. Scammers could use this as an opportunity to steal your assets. The only legitimate websites available to stake LINK tokens are at the Chainlink Native Staking app at staking.chain.link and third-party delegated liquid Chainlink Staking protocol stake.link

Third-Party Delegated staking is any form of delegated staking performed by third-parties, as opposed to through a singular entity / entities where staked tokens are locked up for a set period of time before they can be unbonded / withdrawn.

So what problem does it solve?

At scale, node operators, validators, and/or sequencers may not want, or may otherwise not have the capital, to provide the full collateral for the amount of work performed within any given Proof-of-Stake Network. Delegated staking allows node operators, validators, and/or sequencers to receive pooled collateral from stakers, allowing both node operators, validators, and/or sequencers and stakers to secure the network while sharing in the rewards.

Liquid staking allows you to earn rewards while maintaining flexibility for your staked tokens. For example, in traditional Proof-of-Stake (PoS) staking, tokens are locked with set unbonding periods before a user is able to access the staked digital asset. Stake.link offers solutions to this problem:

• Withdraw Capability: The Priority Pool provides a buffer such that users may withdraw their staked digital assets from the protocol, enabling it to be replaced by deposited digital assets from the Priority Pool without restrictions.
• Liquid Staking: Users receive a receipt token (e.g., stLINK) that represents the underlying staked amount and can be used in DeFi protocols for additional features.

StLINK is received by staking LINK with stake.link. It is a rebasing token, meaning your stLINK balance increases as rewards accrue. StLINK can also be swapped for LINK on Curve, usually at a premium due to limited supply.