Staking Rewards is providing this tutorial in collaboration with the Radium Team. We hope to make the Radium staking experience for you as easy as possible.
To stake RADS it is recommended to run the Radium Core wallet on your Computer or a Virtual Private Server (VPS). Make sure to follow the below steps to get started.
1. Download the wallet
First go to the Radium Products page and download the Radium Core wallet for your operating system.
2. Sync the Blockchain
Once you have downloaded the file, open it to run the Radium Core Wallet. The wallet will then have to download the blockchain from other nodes, which can take anywhere from 3-6 hours.
If you hover over the checkmark at the bottom right, you’ll also see a status message that says, “Up to date.”
3. Encrypt your wallet
Now that your Radium Core Wallet is synchronized with the rest of the network, you will want to Encrypt and Backup your wallet. To Encrypt your wallet, click on Settings in the upper left and in the dropdown menu click Encrypt Wallet. You will be asked to enter a password that will be used to unlock your wallet file. Use a STRONG and UNIQUE password. DO NOT LOSE THIS PASSWORD – YOU may LOSE ACCESS TO YOUR WALLET!
The wallet will now tell you it needs to restart. It will close itself once you agree. Then you must restart your wallet.
4. Backup your keys
You will now want to backup your wallet file. To do this click on File in the upper left of the Radium Core Wallet and click Backup Wallet. It is best to save this file onto a USB thumb drive and/or onto another secure computer. Please note, that if you change your password you will want to replace your old backups as they will still use your previous password to unlock.
5. Transfer Radium
Now that you have an encrypted and backed up wallet. It’s time to send it Radium. To get an address to send the tokens to, click on the ‘Receive” button on the menu to the left. Then copy the address you wish to send tokens to. Use this address to send your Radium from an exchange or another wallet. Once the transaction comes through, it will take a few minutes to confirm.
6. Start Staking
Once the Radium are confirmed and in the wallet, they will have to “mature” in the wallet for 120 blocks or around 2 hours before they are ready for staking. But, at this point you can unlock your wallet for staking only. If the wallet is not unlocked for staking, your wallet will not be used by the network to verify transactions. Unlocking for staking only means that to transfer any Radium from the wallet, you will have to reenter your password. Make sure not to unlock your wallet completely and leave it unlocked as it is possible for a hacker to easily steal your Radium.
To unlock your wallet for staking, click on Settings in the upper left and then click on Unlock Wallet. A popup window will appear and by default the “For staking only” checkbox is checked. Leave that checkbox checked. Then type in your password and hit Ok.
7. Keep it open and earn!
Your wallet is now unlocked for staking only and for maximum rewards, leave your wallet open 24/7. This maximizes your chance at finding a block and also helps secure the network. If your computer restarts, make sure to restart your wallet and unlock it for staking.
8. Add additional Radium network peers to your wallet (optional)
Adding additonal peers helps to improve synching and staking.
Usually this is optional but it may be necessary if the automated peer-discovery fails, which is rare.
- Check to see how many peers you are connected to by hovering over the signal strength bars in the bottom left hand corner of the wallet
- Close your wallet
- Press the Windows Key +R to open the Run dialogue
- For Windows type in %Appdata% and hit Enter
- A window will open and you should see a folder entitled “radium.”
- Double click to enter that folder
- FOR MAC USERS: Browse to ~/Library/Application Support/radium/
- Click this link to download the latest peers file
- Save/Move the radium.conf file to your “radium” folder from step 4
- Open your wallet and check your connections again. You should be connected to several more peers now. Worth noting, you will most likely not connect to every peer on the list
How to Quick-Sync your Radium Wallet
- The Bootstrap method employs using a trusted snapshot of the Radium blockchain as a means to accelerate the synchronization process. This means you do not have to synchronization the wallet from day 0, but rather you begin the process much close to the present block count.
- To begin, download the Radium Bootstrap Utility from here: http://bootstrap.radiumcore.org
- Open the application
- As per the dialogue, press Y to continue.
- The utility will begin downloading the blockchain.
- Once completed, you may close the application and open your wallet.
How much can i earn staking Radium (RADS)?
The individual Radium reward depends on the Block Reward, Block Time, Daily Network Rewards and Total Staked %.
Every block one staker is randomly selected whereas 1 staked coin counts as one “lottery ticket”. The selected staker has the right to create a new block and broadcast it to the network. He then receives the block reward and a share of the daily network rewards (transaction fees).
This is achieved via the spread fee protocol. Fees are awarded back to the stakers slowly, over the subsequent 1440 blocks rather than all at once, ensuring that no one powerful staker can capture all the rewards.
In our Staking Calculator you can play with the above mentioned metrics to understand the dynamics and create all kinds of reward scenarios.