How to Stake BNC— Bifrost Staking FAQ
by StakeBaby
Staking your BNC is not rocket science; however, if you don’t get the basics you may find yourself receiving zero rewards! Read on to find out how to select a collator to stake your BNC with.
Can I stake my BNC?
You can stake your BNC starting March 22nd, 2022, when collator staking will be enabled.
How to select a Bifrost collator to stake?
Different Birost collators will provide you with different APR. Although it is impossible to predict which one will maximize your rewards in the long term, there are steps you can take to increase your chances for extra-profitable staking.
Bifrost Collator APR depends on 2 factors:
- less total backing of the collator means for rewards for you; this is because you get paid a percentage of the total rewards the collator produces, so the lower the total backing the higher your percentage of that backing
- the more blocks per round the collator produces the more rewards you will receive
You can sort collators by total backing and blocks per round at stakebnc.com
Note that, just because your collator had low total backing when you entered does not mean that they will continue to do so in the future. Total backing can change very quickly so it is worth checking back every month or so to make sure your collator is not getting overcrowded.
The opposite is also true. Collators with lower backing may have a higher risk of exiting the active set. Note that a collator may have enough “secret” reserves to push itself into the active set if they get kicked out. You can see a forecast of backing after unbonding if you click on the small magnifying lens on the far right column.
The most important metric here is the future collator rank (top-right chart). An uptrend (smaller pink bars) indicates that the collator will probably increase its rank and decrease its exit risk. If the pink bars touch the bottom of the chart, that means the collator may come near or off the edge of the active-set.
Our company, StakeBaby, operates collators in Bifrost and other networks. We have had zero downtime and consistently produce higher than average blocks per round. We use multiple backups, custom failover automation on AWS, and we also share our know-how with other collators.
What is the Bifrost APY or APR?
Bifrost launched with a 250% APR on March 22nd. However, this APR will obviously not last long (only a few rounds).
Bifrost has allocated 700K BNC for delegator rewards for the next year. The more BNC is staked, the less the rewards will be per BNC. Therefore, the APR depends directly on the total amount of BNC staked. We will update this section as soon as we have some indication of where APR is likely to land. You can always check the current APR value here, but note that this value is likely to trend downwards as the % staked increases.
Note that this is the network APR. Your personal APR will depend on the collator you choose so it could be well below or above that value.
Where can I stake my BNC?
You can use the official Bidrost app to stake your BNC.
Select the Active collators, and click on the Delegate button next to the collator of your choosing. Our collator is StakeBaby.
Enter an amount that is less than your free balance, to allow for transaction fees and lick Delegate. You will have to authorize the transaction in your wallet.
How long does it take to unstake BNC?
You can request to unbond your BNC at any time, but you must then wait 7 days (84 rounds). You can then go to the Bifrost app and execute the unbonding request to finalize it. Note that this does not happen automatically.
Attention! Due to an issue in Kusama that is affecting all parachain nodes, the current unbending time is close to 10 days. This is due to the longer block time average (18 second instead of 12)
If you find that your funds were unbonded after then 7 days without you taking action, it means that somebody else executed your unbonding request for you. You can cancel your unbonding request at any time while it is pending without a penalty.
When unbonding, you have the option to unbond all your funds from a collator or decrease your stake to that collator. If you choose the latter, you must make sure the remaining stake is above the minimum bond required to receive rewards. You can find the minimum bond at stakebnc.com
How many collators should I choose to stake in Bifrost?
Bifrost is not like Kusama or Polkadot where you have to choose multiple validators. In Bifrost, one staked amount is assigned to one collator only.
You might want to split your stake among multiple collators if you have a large amount. This will help diversify your exposure and will even out your effective APR.
Can I stake with multiple Bifrost collators?
Yes, you can; however, you need to make sure that each staked amount is well above the minimum stake required for that collator to receive rewards.
Will my BNC get slashed?
There is no slashing in Bifrost staking. The worst-case scenario is that your collator is OUT or DOWN, so you don’t receive rewards.
Why did I stop receiving BNC staking rewards?
Staking your tokens doe snot, by itself, guarantee rewards. If you stopped receiving BNC rewards, one of the following 4 things has happened:
- You just staked your rewards and you need to wait 4–6 hours.
- Your collator has left the active set and is not in the “waiting collators” list; this means that, until your collator re-enters the active set, you will not receive any rewards; contact the collator and ask them if they have a plan to re-enter and unstake if they don’t
- The collator is down due to technical difficulties. You will not receive rewards for as long as the collator is not producing blocks, even if they are in the active set. You should probably unstake and delegate to another collator.
- The collator has just joined the active set. They will start producing blocks in 2 rounds.
- Your delegation is not in the top 300 delegations for that collator, i.e. your delegation is below the minimum bond required for that collator. You have two options: either delegate more with that collator, or unstake and find a collator with a lower min bond.
How long before I start receiving BNC staking rewards?
You need to wait 4–6 hours (2 rounds) to start receiving staking rewards.
How often do I receive BNC staking rewards?
You will receive rewards at the end of every round, that is every 2–3 hours.
What is the minimum BNC staking amount?
You must delegate at least 50 BNC; however, this does not guarantee that you will receive rewards. To receive rewards, your delegation must be above the minimum bond required.
Note that collators do not decide or control the minimum bond. This number depends on the top 300 delegations of that collator.
Do I need to claim my BNC staking rewards?
No, your rewards will be deposited automatically to your wallet.
Can I automatically restake my BNC staking rewards?
There is no auto-compounding of BNC rewards; you will have to re-stake them manually.
Can I top up my current BNC stake?
Yes, go to the Bifrost app, find the collator you are already delegating to, and just click on Delegate again. Enter the extra amount you want to delegate, and submit.
Can I change my collator without unstaking my BNC?
No, there is no way to jump from one collator to another. You must first unstake from your collator, wait 7 days, execute your unstake request, and then stake with another collator.
What commission are Bifrost collators charging?
Bifrost collators do not charge any commission. Bifrost has allocated 80K BNC for collation rewards that will be split among all collators.
