Staking guide
Staking means locking your AUR to back a validator. Validators run the computers that confirm payments. In return, new AUR is shared with the validators and everyone who staked with them.
How it works
- You choose a validator in the wallet's Stake tab and enter an amount.
- Your coins are locked. They still belong to you.
- Rewards build up as blocks are confirmed. Press Claim to move them to your balance.
- To get your coins back, press Unstake. They return after a waiting period (the "unbonding" period; 28 days by default on mainnet), shown under Coming back to you.
Choosing a validator
Look at three things in the table:
- Share of network. Spreading stake across many validators makes the network safer. Pick one that is not already huge. No validator can have more than a capped share of the voting power.
- Fee cut (commission). The part of your rewards the validator keeps.
- Status. Avoid ones marked paused (they missed too many blocks) or banned (they cheated and were penalised).
Risks
- Penalties. If your validator cheats (signs two different blocks at the same height), part of the stake behind it is cut and burned. Pause-level mistakes such as long downtime have a smaller penalty. Choose reliable validators.
- Waiting period. You cannot spend staked coins until the unbonding period ends.
- Unaudited software. AUREN has not been independently audited yet. Only stake what you can afford to lose.
Rewards
New AUR is issued each block (3% a year at the start, falling by 15% a year down to a floor of 0.5%). 10% of it goes to the node-reward pool (Node rewards) and the rest to validators and the people who staked with them, after validator commission. Fees paid by users are burned, not paid out. Details: Tokenomics.
Run your own validator
If you want to run a validator yourself, read Validators. It needs a larger stake and a reliable computer.