Did you know that predictable yield is actually possible in the cryptocurrency market?
Yes—and that by crypto staking. By doing this, you essentially receive rewards by locking your crypto asset in a crypto wallet or platform to support Proof-of-Stake blockchain transaction.
Imagine it as bonds wherein the government pays you interest – but in crypto, the developer rewards you as your coins were used to validate proof-of-stake transactions. All these yields without risking your assets as they’re locked into the PoS blockchain network.
In this TRU Insight, we’ll dive deeper into how crypto staking works, its consensus mechanism, and the top 5 crypto platforms to stake cryptocurrencies. Read on and explore a new way to maximize the profitability potential of your cryptocurrency.
What Is Crypto Staking?
Cryptocurrency staking is a validation system used for Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain. This inception of this system was to address the high-computational and power requirements of Proof-of-Work (PoW) system.
PoS system eliminates the need for miners, who essentially solve complex algorithms to generate new blocks or coins through the PoW network.
Instead, PoS allows investors to stake or lock in their coins in the blockchain network, which are then used to validate new blocks or coins. This makes them the block’s validators.
By exponentially cutting computational power and energy consumption, PoS blockchains have lesser fees and faster transaction processes than PoW blockchains.
The likelihood of creating a new block depends on how much validators lock into their wallets. While there’s a minimum set crypto units to stake in the network, a validator can put up as much crypto as they want to increase their chances of creating a new block.
However, crypto staking may be an expensive and risky venture to some valiators due to high stake requirements and the system of locking up your holdings.
Is Crypto Staking Expensive?
Crypto staking provides you with a more predictable profit than by trading. On the other hand, it requires less hardware resources, computational power, and energy consumption than mining.
However, several blockchain networks require a minimum stake amount for validators to sustain their PoS processes. With this, getting started in staking can be expensive for some investors.
For instance, Ethereum, the biggest and arguably the most high-yielding PoS blockchain network, requires a minimum of 32 ETH for validators. This system ensures that the validator has enough ETH manage the significant number of signatures per second.
What Are Crypto Staking Pools?
Again, some investors may find crypto staking inaccessible due to high capital requirements. To address this, most blockchain networks allow staking pools.
Staking pools essentially collect pools of capital from different investors who have insufficient capital to stake by themselves. In staking pools, your share from the pooled reward depends on your proportional share in the pool.
Say your investment is 50% of the pooled stake, this means that you’re entitled to 50% of the reward. However, remember that the wallet holder typically charges commission fees to pool members – which might be deductible from your earnings.
Volatility Risks in Crypto Staking
When you stake in your crypto, you essentially lock it into the blockchain. This means that it cannot be used for trading, payment, or withdrawals unless you unstake it.
While your coins remain safe and sound in the network, the risk lies in their future valuation.
Assume you staked a cryptocurrency with the fair value of $5,000. However, as time passes by, your crypto valuation dips.
One year later, your crypto depreciated to $2,000. This means that you’ve incurred a loss of more than 50% due to the decline in the value of your cryptocurrency.
Counterparty Risk in Crypto Staking
There are various parties involved in crypto staking – including the network itself, the exchange platform, and the staking pool leader.
A blockchain network may collapse or get compromised at any point due to the inherent vulnerability of such decentralized networks to cybercrimes or threats. When an incident occurs, you may risk losing your locked in assets.
Additionally, a conflict-of-interest between the validator and the exchange platform is a common counterparty risk in staking. A crypto staking platform may fail to secure your lock in assets or, worse, halt their operation as it fails to sustain its business operation.
In the context of staking pools, the pool leader may commit network violation that could result in dissolvent of staked assets. Such violation includes malicious block validation and creation.
3 Best Crypto Staking Platforms in 2025
Binance Earn
| Offered Crypto | SOL and ETH: Staking 19 cryptos: Lending and Providing Liquidity |
| APY after Commission | SOL (BNSOL): 11.7% ETH (WBETH): 3.02% |
Binance Earn is the dedicated staking platform of Binance – the largest cryptocurrency exchange per trading volume.
Through Binance Earn, yields from staking are only available on Solana (SOL) and Ethereum. However, Binance also offers 19 cryptocurrencies for lending and liquidity providing through Simple Earn—this includes access to Bitcoin, USDC, USDT, and FUSD.
Kraken
| Offered Crypto | 18 Assets |
| APY after Commission | ETH: 2.5-7% Bonded 8D SOL: 13-16% Bonded 3D |
Kraken is among the first-ever cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Thus, it comes with no surprise that it belongs to the list of top 5 crypto staking platforms.
Through the platform, an investor can participate in Onchain staking for 18 assets, including SOL and ETH. Interestingly, the platform also allows investors to opt in to balance yeilds of several cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies (Euro and US dollar).
Coinbase
| Supported Crypto | 7 coins |
| APY after Commissions | Up to 15% |
Coinbase stands with Kraken and Binance as one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world. And its popularity comes with its commitment to providing profitable opportunities for investors, including its staking feature.
Through its staking platform, an investor can stake 7 cryptocurrencies with a relatively high APY after commission:
| Supported Crypto | APY after Commission |
|---|---|
| ATOM | 15.25% |
| SOL | 7.05% |
| DOT | 6.99% |
| AVAX | 4.47% |
| MATIC | 2.68% |
| ETH | 2.23% |
| ADA | 1.79% |
Related: Guide to 5 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges in South Africa in 2025
Is Crypto Delegating the Same as Crypto Staking?
Staking and delegating are both essential components of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain networks, but they serve distinct roles.
Staking involves locking up your cryptocurrency to help secure the network and validate transactions. However, the high capital requirements for staking often make it difficult for individual participants to become validators.
Delegation allows users to participate in staking without meeting the full requirements of running a validator node. Instead of staking independently, users delegate their cryptocurrency to an existing validator or staking pool, contributing to the network’s security while earning a share of the staking rewards.
Is Crypto Staking for You?
Crypto staking is a great way to earn passive income while supporting the blockchain network.
Instead of actively trading, you can lock up your assets and earn rewards—kind of like earning interest on a savings account, but in crypto.
Of course, like anything in crypto, there are risks. Prices can be unpredictable, and your funds will be locked up for a while. That’s why it’s important to choose the right platform—whether it’s Binance Earn, Kraken, or Coinbase—to match your goals and risk tolerance.
