Staking with a Ledger in Cøsmos explained to my dog — Part 1
After having seen how the Proof-of-Stake on Cosmos Network works, let’s see today how you have to move if you want to put your ATOM on stake on one of the network validators.
In this first part, we will see how to set up a Ledger and install the Cosmos application on it.
This guide will therefore focus on the use of one of the devices of the French company Ledger SAS, that is Ledger Nano X or Ledger Nano S. If you do not have one of the two devices you can buy it directly on the website of the manufacturer or on Amazon.
Initialization of the Ledger
First, we’ll have to go set up our Ledger. Once you have connected your device to your computer using the appropriate cable, you must first set a PIN.
The PIN will then be asked whenever we want to unlock our Ledger, and it is therefore important to choose one that we will remember in the future. In case we do not remember this numeric code, in fact, at the third attempt to unlock with an incorrect PIN the device will reset and we will have to set it up again from .
While choosing the PIN, we will be able to perform three actions:
- Using the left and right keys, we can scroll through the numbers.
- Pressing both keys will confirm the number selected as the value of the current digit.
- If we want to confirm the use of a PIN shorter than 6 digits, just scroll through the numbers until you find the check mark (✓) and confirm by pressing both buttons.
Once the PIN has been set, you will be asked to confirm it. To do this, simply enter the same code and then confirm it.
Now that you have a protected device, the Ledger will ask you if it should be configured as a new device. If you have never used a Ledger, and you have never generated a Cosmos account in any other way (via the CLI, mobile wallet, etc.), confirm with the right button. Otherwise, if you have the 24 words of recovery of an account (the seed phrase), choose the option of recovering an existing account through the left button.
Initialization as a new account
If you have chosen this option, you will find yourself in front of the first of the 24 words that will make up your seed phrase, that is, the list of words that you must necessarily keep. After writing the first entry on a piece of paper, press the right button to show the second. Once again, write down what you see on the screen, and then move on to the next one until you have written all 24 of them.
I recommend writing them on paper and not on a digital support. This will ensure greater security from any hacker attacks that you may suffer and that could lead to the spread of your key.
It is good to remember that whoever comes into possession of your seed phrase will be in effect you, and may misappropriate your funds. So be very careful to protect it. Once lost, moreover, there is nothing to make you get it back and with this loss you will also lose access to all your funds forever.
Once you have completed the word list, you will be asked to re-enter this sequence to confirm that you have written it down on paper. You will be presented in front of a random word, and with the left and right button you can scroll back and forth in the list of words that make up your seed. When you find the first word in the list, simultaneously press both keys on the device to confirm your choice. Once done, proceed in the same way for the remaining words. When you have finished the whole list, you will be ready to use your device.
Recovery from an existing account
f you have chosen this option, you will be presented in front of the words “Enter letters of word #1”. At this point, what you have to do is scroll through using the keys on the device until you find the initial letter of the first word of your seed phrase. Once done, press both keys to confirm your choice and repeat the procedure for the second letter. At a certain point you can choose between a list of words and your own, always confirming by pressing both buttons.
Repeat this procedure for all 24 words, keeping their natural order. Entering the words in a different order from the original will result in an error in the generation of the address, and will result in the need to repeat the procedure again.
Once you have entered all the words the device will recover your account and you will be ready to use it.
Installation of Cosmos
Once you have initialized the Ledger as a new device or have recovered your existing account you will be ready for the next step.
What we are going to do now is to install the application of Cosmos, necessary to be able to use the Ledger during the signing of the transactions of sending, delegation and unbonding that we have seen in the other guides.
First, connect the Ledger to your computer and unlock it. At this point you will have to download and install the desktop application Ledger Live, which you can find on the official website of the manufacturer, in the download section.
Once that’s done, you should be faced with a screen like this.
Take your Ledger, and confirm the use of the Ledger Live application by pressing the right button.
Once done, press on the gear icon in the upper right corner to open the settings.
Then go to the Experimental features section and enable the Developer mode option.
After that, you can exit the settings and go to the Manager section. Look for the application called Cosmos in the toolbar. If you find two of them, be careful not to use the older version named COSMOS. Be sure to choose the version with the highest version number between the two.
Confirm your wish to install the application on the Ledger by pressing the “Install” button. At this point the procedure will start, and you should be in front of a screen like this one.
Once the process is finished, the application will confirm the installation
Once this is done, you’ll be ready to use your device to send and delegate your Atom.
Recap
As we have seen in this guide, initializing your own Ledger for use with Cosmos is quite simple. What I want to remember is to save in a safe place your 24 words that make up the seed phrase. This list will be all you need at any time to recover your funds.
Finally, I hope that this guide has been useful. If so, I suggest you checkout out the second part (available from Tuesday) where we will see how to put our ATOM on stake using the device we’ve just set up. Until then, I wish you a happy staking!🚀
