• Firstly, delegating from one validator to another can be done without waiting for the unbonding period. You might consider redelegating if your current validator raises their commission rate or gets jailed for misbehaviour on-chain. Once redelegated, you have to wait for 14 days before you are able to redelegate again. 
• Secondly, rewards are not auto-compounded. To get the most out of your tokens, you should consider claiming and staking your rewards more frequently, but consider that each transaction will cost you some gas. By using our Stride staking calculator, you can calculate the optimal re-stake frequency for your amount of STRD.
• Lastly, as a participant in the Stride Ecosystem, once you have staked your tokens, you can vote on Governance Proposals. While your contribution and vote are highly valuable to the ecosystem, participating does not affect the sum of your rewards.
• By delegating to a good long-term oriented validator, you can reduce most of your maintenance and only have to check back to restake your rewards.

It is essential for users to stake their PoS tokens with dependable and highly performant validators, which is why we have rolled out our Staking Rewards Verified Staking Provider (VSP) Program in June 2022. Through this program, we thoroughly scrutinize potential validators, evaluating factors such as security measures, their on-chain reliability, their provider setup, and value-added services for the whole ecosystem.

There are many metrics to consider when selecting a validator to delegate to:

Commission Rates: The commission rate a validator charges is the % of your reward that the validator keeps for themselves. A high commission rate means your rewards will be lower, whilst a low commission rate could mean that the validator is not profitable and could cause issues for them in the future. Keep in mind that validators can adjust their commission rates up or down over time. 

Number of Users: A high number of delegators could indicate positive sentiment towards a validator. 

Validators Self-Staked balance: A provider with a high amount of staked tokens likely has more incentive to continue operating their services as they have more to lose than those with low self-staked balances. This metric has some limitations as Validators can choose to delegate to their own validator from another wallet, which is done to increase security of their funds. 

Current Status: To check if a validator is currently active, go to the Stride Validator Dashboard on Mintscan. The default view on this page is for “Active” validators, but you can also filter to view inactive validators in the top right corner of the page. Keep in mind that only the top 100 validators on Stride, ranked by balance, receive rewards.

Network Share: You typically don’t want to choose a validator with the highest or a low network share. Delegating to the most popular validators increases centralisation risks within the network as those validators will have more say in governance and produce a larger share of the blocks. A validator with a low network share might not be profitable, increasing the risk of them discontinuing their services. If a validator drops out of the top 100, they also stop earning rewards. However, if you are willing to put more time in, then delegating to a smaller validator helps support the decentralization of the network. You would just have to make sure to check regularly if the provider is still active and operating. 

Performance: Make sure you pick a validator with the highest possible performance. Further, please check individual validators’ uptime, and our recommendation is only to pick those with a >=99% uptime and a long history of not getting slashed. 

Value Add to the Ecosystem: Some providers offer extra services to their delegators, such as tax reporting tools or explorers. This can be another great way to filter for validators that are long-term invested in the Stride Ecosystem. By delegating to a validator that is strongly dedicated to the Stride Ecosystem, you are supporting their development that indirectly impacts the value of your STRD investment beyond the rewards from staking.

Staking rewards for STRD are composed of:

Inflation: Stride emits 4,725,000 STRD tokens annually through inflation. These emissions halve annually, mimicking a "halvening" effect, until they approach zero. Overall, 18,900,000 STRD, equivalent to 18.9% of the total supply, will be allocated through inflationary emissions, of which 5.2M are directed to stakers.

Protocol Revenue: Stride protocol generates revenue by charging a 10% fee on the staking rewards of liquid staked tokens. STRD stakers receive 100% of Stride protocol revenue.

You are welcome to play around with our STRD Staking Calculator to get a better feel of how these metrics can influence your rewards. 

We strive to make staking as safe and transparent as possible, however, it's important to consider factors that may influence whether a particular staking option is appropriate for you.

Slashing risk: Stride officially adopted the Inter-Blockchain Communication (ICS) protocol, marking the transition of its block production from Stride's own validator set to that of the Cosmos Hub. Consequently, the economic security of the Stride blockchain shifted from being based on staked STRD to staked ATOM. The primary reason for this shift was to enhance Stride's economic security to match that of the Cosmos Hub, which stood at $2.3 billion, representing an approximate 100-fold increase from Stride's previous level of economic security. Since validators / governors no longer produce blocks on the Stride blockchain, STRD slashing is no longer necessary. STRD slashing has been removed.

Unbonding risk: When staking STRD tokens, there is a lockup period of 14 days. This means that investors will not be able to sell their tokens immediately, but instead need to wait 14 days after initiating unbonding before they can be traded again. This is something to keep in mind when deciding to stake, as crypto markets are highly volatile. Consider keeping funds liquid if you do not intend to hold STRD long-term. 

Dropping out of the active set: A validator could drop out of the top 100 validators, meaning they no longer earn any rewards. Ensure you check back frequently to ensure your validator is active, not jailed and has not unreasonably raised their commission fees. 

Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs, this risk applies not only to staking but also the investment in STRD.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all the risks related to staking.

STRD is the native token of the Stride ecosystem that is used to carry out the key functions of the platform as detailed below:

Token Utilities

• Governance: STRD is used to vote on governance proposals on the network. STRD stakers can propose and vote on governance proposals to change a subset of network parameters. The amount of voting power is measured in terms of stake.
• Staking: Users can temporarily lock STRD up to earn protocol revenue and inflationary rewards.

Stride officially adopted the Inter-Blockchain Communication (ICS) protocol, marking the transition of its block production from Stride's own validator set to that of the Cosmos Hub. Consequently, the economic security of the Stride blockchain shifted from being based on staked STRD to staked ATOM. The primary reason for this shift was to enhance Stride's economic security to match that of the Cosmos Hub, which stood at $2.3 billion, representing an approximate 100-fold increase from Stride's previous level of economic security.

Cosmos is powered by Tendermint BFT. Tendermint BFT is a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine developed by Tendermint. It offers instant finality, is horizontally scalable and is secure against malicious actors. It is also open-source, meaning anyone can inspect and use the code. Additionally, it is simple to set up and use, allowing developers to quickly and easily build distributed applications. The active validator set consists of the 100 highest-ranked validators by staked tokens, from which 1 validator is randomly selected to propose a block with 66% of the remaining active validators being required to attest the block in order for it to become final. The higher the stake, the more likely they are to be selected.

Initial token distribution:

The token distribution of Stride (STRD) is as follows:

• 31.00% is allocated to Community Incentives
• 24.20% is allocated to Core Contributors
• 16.70% is allocated to Partners
• 8.90% is allocated to Strategic Reserve
• 6.30% is allocated to Community Airdrop
• 5.20% is allocated to Staking Rewards
• 3.50% is allocated to Community Growth
• 2.20% is allocated to Initial Security Budget
• 2.00% is allocated to Community Reserve