1. What’s Staking?
One of the critical upgrades of ETH2.0 is the switch from PoW to PoS. With ETH2.0’s beacon chain released at the end of 2020, users can stake as low as 32 ETH to become the validator of the beacon chain. Staking means locking the ETH the user holds in the smart contract, and users will become validators after the ETH is locked in. Validators may get staking returns from validating the blocks on the chain.
With PoS (Proof of Stake), users get returns by pledging their assets in the blockchain. ETH2.0 has started a wave of staking on the public chain. Other PoS public chains such as Solana, Polkadot, Near, and Cardano, have also offered similar staking services. WhaleFin has launched a one-stop Staking service, lowering participation barriers and providing a better user experience.
2. Is Staking risky? How does it differ from DeFi?
In WhaleFin Staking, we provide access to popular PoS projects on the public chain, which have been evaluated internally and systematically, posing minimal risks in the crypto market. The only risk lies in project scams or failure due to uncontrollable factors.
There is an essential difference between the WhaleFin Staking and DeFi services. Staking makes returns by PoS block generation, which is relatively stable, while DeFi projects such as Dex liquidity mining pose random risks which are borne by users.
3. What’s the difference between Staking and Earn?
In Staking, users pledge their assets to a protocol, and their returns are provided by the protocol on the blockchain. In Earn, the returns are from WhaleFin.
Staking and Earn are relatively stable and low-risk products. Staking’s risk lies in the PoS project itself. The projects on WhaleFin are the top ones verified by the market, posing smaller risks.
Fixed Earn products offer limited currencies to choose from, partially due to the financial activities we carry out in the market. Flexible Earn comes with a comparatively low interest rate, while the interest rates of Staking services depend on their corresponding PoS projects.
Subscription and redemption are more flexible in Earn since all assets are under the custody of WhaleFin. For Staking, each project's transfer period, interest accrual period, and redemption period may vary, subject to the project’s rules. Redemption is not available for ETH2.0 currently.
4. How is the APR calculated?
APR is the average annualized interest rate calculated by recent actual returns from the blockchain using WhaleFin’s improved algorithms. It may change daily and show a more significant increase when the node where the user participates generates blocks. Users can see these dynamics in different projects from the APR.
5. About the transfer period, interest distribution period, and redemption period
Due to different consensus protocols and how they are executed, public chain projects may vary in their block generation period, pending period, interest accrual period, interest distribution period, and redemption period, which can be as long as an entire month.
In WhaleFin Staking, we have calculated the transfer period, interest distribution period, and redemption period for each project.
Currently, redemption is unavailable for ETH2, which can only be realized after the platform allows the on-chain transfer. Redemption is available in all the other projects on WhaleFin. Yet the pending assets can only be redeemed after it’s successfully transferred to the chain.
6. Pledge limit of Staking services
WhaleFin currently sets no upper limit to users’ pledge amount since all returns are from the public chain projects, and the higher the pledge amount, the more stable the pool. There is a minimum pledge amount per order for each project to cover the transfer and operation costs, but the participation barrier is low for regular users.
7. How does Staking distribute returns?
The interest distribution period of public chain projects might differ, and the period of the same project may change over time. WhaleFin calculates users’ returns based on the specific interest distribution period and their principal, and distributes returns at 10:00 (UTC+8) on the second day.
Check the interest distribution history via [Staking History] - [Staking returns].
8. When do the redeemed assets be credited?
When users redeem their assets, WhaleFin sends applications for online redemption. The redeemed principal and pro rata interest will be credited to their Wallet once the redemption is complete. The arrival time depends on the on-chain redemption progress. WhaleFin will distribute interest right after the redemption is fulfilled.
Check the redemption history via [Staking History] - [Redeem].