How to Stake $SOL with Solflare wallet

SOLFLARE is A NON-CUSTODIAL WALLET FOR SOLANA.

Published in

Coinmonks

7 min readAug 5, 2021

We wrote this step-by-step guide to show how simple is the process of how you can stake your $SOL token on the Solana blockchain using the Solflare wallet and a keystore file.

REMEMBER! A keystore file holds an encrypted version of your private key. The password you choose when creating the keystore file is used to encrypt your private key. This is why you should choose a very strong password when setting it up. Whenever you perform actions on your account, you need to provide the keystore file along with your password.

Solflare is a non-custodial wallet created by Dokia Capital. It was the first wallet that enabled token-holders to send, receive, and stake $SOL without having to touch a single line of code.

Accessing your Solflare wallet

If you want to create a new wallet please follow this link https://solflare.com/create-wallet

Click «Next» then set your password. Remember to use strong password. Do not forget to use special characters to increase security of your wallet.

Check the box next to «Get a Raw Private Key» to save another file in addition to your keystore file. You can use the «Raw Private Key» file to manage the same account with the Command-Line-Interface (CLI) in case you lose your password or keystore file. Afterward, click «Next».

Save both files. Then click «Next». Upload your keystore file to ensure you have access to it. Hit «Finish» to finalize the process.

When your wallet is set You are able to see the key information in the main menu of Solflare about your Wallet Account such as your wallet account address, your balance, or your most recent transactions.

Send some SOL tokens to your Wallet Account to perform any actions such as staking. You can send funds from the exchange on which you bought your SOL to your account address, which you find in the top left corner of the main menu.

Creating a Stake Account

After you successfully funded your Wallet Account, it is time to create a Stake Account. Hint. You as a token-holder have the power to increase the overall security and hence the overall value of the network through enhancing decentralization by delegating to more than one validator. For you to do this successfully, you need to create more than one Stake Account. Split the funds in your Wallet Account across your different Stake Accounts, but make sure to leave some $SOL in your Wallet Account in order to pay for transaction fees. Since these are very low in Solana, leaving ~ 1 SOL in your Wallet Account should be more than enough.

Visit the «Staking» tab in the top menu and click «Create Account». Choose the amount you want to transfer from your Wallet Account to your Stake Account in the pop-up menu and click «Next». Type in your password and hit «Submit». Repeat this process for every Stake Account you want to create.

The staking section of of Solflare wallet

You will find all of your Stake Accounts displayed in Solflare and are now ready to stake!

Delegating your Stake

In the «Staking» tab (top menu) on Solflare, click «Delegate Now» next to the respective Stake Account, select the validator of your choice in the drop-down menu and then click «Next». Enter your password and click «Submit». Repeat this process for every one of your Stake Accounts. To foster decentralization and ultimately the security and value of the Solana network, best choose validators outside the «Halt Power». The «Halt Power» is indicated by a bar on Solanabeach that states: «CUMULATIVE STAKE ABOVE CAN HALT THE NETWORK- IMPROVE DECENTRALIZATION AND DELEGATE TO VALIDATORS BELOW».

Choose a Validator to delegate your Stake to

That’s it! You are now a delegator on the Solana blockchain, congratulations! Please note that your delegated SOL will start earning rewards once the Warmup Period has concluded (~2–3 days). Until this is the case, you will see your Stake Account as «activating».

You can find your Stake Accounts with the validators they are delegating to under the «Staking» tab on Solflare. You can always access your Wallet Account and the corresponding Stake Accounts by clicking «Access» on the Solflare homepage.

Managing your Staking Operations

Solana Staking Rewards

Ever since Inflation was activated on Solana Mainnet Beta in February 2021, delegators earn rewards for staking. Staking rewards automatically accrue on your Stake Account at the beginning of each subsequent epoch and are automatically re-delegated.

To check on your staking rewards, visit the «Staking» menu and click on your Stake Account. In the pop-up window, choose the «Rewards» tab to see your rewards per epoch.

You can also track your staking rewards on solanabeach.io. Simply look up your Stake Account and visit the «Stake Rewards» tab in the box at the bottom of your Stake Account Details page.

How to stop delegating or reduce the delegated amount

If you want to undelegate the whole amount, simply click «undelegate» next to the Stake Account that you want to stop delegating. Confirm this in the subsequent window.

Once the Cooldown Period has concluded (~2–3 days), you can withdraw the undelegated funds from your Stake Account to your Wallet Account. Click on the respective account and click «withdraw» in the subsequent pop-up window, then choose the amount you wish to withdraw.

During the Cooldown Period, you will see your Stake Accounts status as «deactivating». It can take a few minutes until the process is successfully displayed within the SolFlare UI.

What is the Warmup and Cooldown Period in Solana?

The Warmup and Cooldown period respectively, refer to the state of your Stake Account.

The Warmup Period describes the time between the moment you issue the delegation transaction and the moment that your Stake Account is fully delegated and starts to earn rewards. In between, your Stake Account is considered to be «activating».

The Cooldown Period describes the time between the moment you issue the undelegation transaction and the moment that your Stake Account is fully undelegated. In between, your Stake Account is considered to be «deactivating», does not earn rewards anymore, and is illiquid.

A change to the state of your Stake Account is only considered by the protocol at the beginning of an epoch. Hence, if you change the state of your Stake Account, you would have to wait until the new epoch for the change to come into effect. Since an epoch lasts ~2–3 days, you have to wait for the remaining time of the current epoch for your state changes to become effective — the exact duration of your waiting time depends on when you initiated the changes to the state of your Account.

There is a certain threshold of 25% of the total stake across the whole network that can change state in one epoch. In case this threshold is exceeded, you would have to wait for an additional epoch until the exceeding portion of your stake has successfully changed state.

StakeCraft Vote account address CKBuZBQBsHwxSpgVsQC8p7p3fRgCxqGnwpAR7H54Mjom

StakeCraft Identity account address 7Gjec4iDbTxLvVYNsRbZrrHdtyLByzdDJ1C5BmcMMBks

Sincerely yours,

StakeCraft team.

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How to Stake $SOL with Solflare wallet

SOLFLARE is A NON-CUSTODIAL WALLET FOR SOLANA.

StakeCraft - Trustworthy Validator

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