Polkadot

What is Polkadot?

Polkadot is a Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) network designed with the roles of validators and nominators to optimize chain security.

The Polkadot network includes a primary blockchain known as the "relay chain," alongside numerous user-generated parallel chains referred to as "parachains."

Polkadot also incorporates a connecting layer, commonly termed a "bridge," facilitating the seamless transfer of value and data between a multitude of blockchains. This bridge functionality also extends to non-blockchain databases, enhancing Polkadot's versatility and interoperability.

DOT is the native cryptocurrency of the Polkadot used as a governance token, which allows holders to have a say in the future of the protocol, and for staking, to secure the network.

Nominators earn an extra yield on their DOT tokens for nominating their voting power and participating in the PoS consensus. Validators are in charge of creating and verifying blocks and have to maintain blockchain nodes with strict uptime goals. Polkadot's active validator set is dynamic and elected based on a sequential Phragmen method.

What is Polkadot staking?

Staking is a great way for long-term crypto investors to earn passive income on their Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrency assets (such as DOT) while taking part in securing the network.

Stakers, by delegating tokens to validators, give voting rights to these to validate transactions on the blockchain and propose new blocks. The more stake is attributed to a validator, the more it will be able to take part in the network consensus and earn rewards for its stakers.

A quick example: Suppose a blockchain network offers a 5% reward rate for a staking period of 1 year (5% APR). You decide to lock up and stake 100 tokens on the network. After a year, you can access your staked tokens, and you receive 5 additional tokens as your reward – minus eventual fees charged by the staking provider.

Staking Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies such as DOT does not require stakers to transfer their tokens to validators. It is a non-custodial process.

Why is Stakin a great choice for Polkadot staking?

Staking your assets on your own is operationally challenging as it requires specialist expertise to set up nodes and ensure constant uptime to maximize rewards or prevent so-called slashing: partial loss of your staked cryptocurrencies due to prolonged downtime, or inappropriate/malicious behavior by the node operator.

Stakin is an excellent choice for staking your Polkadot (DOT) tokens, as we have a strong expertise and track record of reliable operations on this network. Stakin has been an active Polkadot Mainnet validator since January 2021 and an early testnet participant, operating nodes on Westend and Alexander test networks. We are also a validator on several Substrate-based blockchains.

Stakin offers reliable dedicated Polkadot node infrastructure. With dedicated nodes, institutional nominators can maximize their potential staking yield and benefit from institutional-grade services. We can adapt the deployment to regulatory or geographical constraints for compliance and decentralization, and provide slashing guarantees backed by our treasury or through selected third-party insurers.

There are several advantages when staking your DOT tokens with Stakin, such as:

• Triple AAA-rated institutional staking provider by Staking Rewards

• ISO 27001-certified staking provider

• Tracking dashboard, to easily track and generate reports for the performance of your staked assets

• Reliable infrastructure - We distribute our servers across various geographical locations and partner with premier bare metal and cloud providers

• Enhanced yield service for institutional investors, taking into account NPoS constraints

• Automatic claiming of the rewards every 1 era (24 hours) which enables your staking rewards to compound

• Dedicated support for all your staking, unstaking, and network-related questions

• Institutional grade SLAs with uptime and slashing guarantees

What kind of institutional services does Stakin offer for Polkadot (DOT) Staking?

As an institutional-grade Polkadot (DOT) node operator, Stakin has a full range of staking services and advantages to cater to the needs of enterprises and investors, such as asset managers, company treasuries, exchanges, VCs and hedge funds, wallets, custodians, and liquid staking services.

• Institutional grade SLAs with 99.5%+ uptime guarantees and slashing guarantees

• Dedicated Account Manager to answer all your technical and commercial questions

• Whitelabel and dedicated nodes with dedicated infrastructure which can be deployed in your preferred region to fit decentralization or compliance needs

• In order to adapt to NPoS (Nominated Proof-of-Stake) specificities, we can deploy as many dedicated servers as required for institutional customers, which contributes to optimizing the yield on Polkadot

• A dedicated infrastructure for avoiding coordinated slashing events, which carry a higher slashing penalty on Polkadot, distributed at several bare metal providers in different geographies

• Automated payouts, commissions, reward claims and management with clear reporting. Commissions and rewards can be set to specific addresses and handled directly by the protocol, without any custody from Stakin

• 24/7 monitoring and alerting with a private dashboard for dedicated and whitelabel nodes

• Free premium access to Stakin Dashboard which includes staking data visualization across any validator and premium historical data features (on selected networks)