How much can you earn by staking your Flow (FLOW)?
What is Flow?
Flow is a newly launched blockchain built to support the next generation of apps, games, and the digital assets that power them. Flow is developed by Dapper Labs, the team who also developed the popular CryptoKitties blockchain game.
Founded by Roham Gharegozlou, Dieter Shirley and Mikhael Naayem, Flow was designed specifically for games and digital collectibles. It allows users to create and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are the digital equivalent of a trading card – since each NFT is an asset on the Flow blockchain, it allows their uniqueness to be verified. Like other cryptocurrencies, NFTs can be bought, sold, and exchanged over the internet in a decentralized way (without a middleman).
Notable apps that run on the Flow blockchain include NBA Top Shot, Crypto Kitties, and Seussibles.
What sets Flow apart from other crypto networks is its dramatic speed and throughput improvements that are a result of its design which separates the jobs of miners or validators into four different roles. This separation of roles means that participants in the network can run nodes over a wide spectrum of different computational and financial reward levels.
What is Flow staking?
Since Flow operates with a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, users holding FLOW tokens can earn staking rewards in exchange for using their holdings to secure the blockchain. Staking is the process where a node operator temporarily gives up (or “stakes”) their tokens to the network as a promise that they will not modify their node to do something that is against the rules of the FLOW network, like stealing funds from user’s accounts. Through this process of staking, the Flow network ties its security to the honesty of the majority who are incentivized as token holders to maintain the integrity and value of the network.
How do I stake my FLOW?
To earn a yield on your FLOW tokens, you can use a non-custodial wallet like Blocto or Ledger with Flow Port. You can find a complete guide to staking with Flow Port here. With a non-custodial wallet, you have the sole control your private keys which means that you do not have to trust a third party with your keys. The downside to a non-custodial wallet is that you are solely responsible for not losing your keys and keeping them secure. With this approach, you are responsible for choosing a good and reliable Node Operator to stake your tokens with, so choose carefully.