Guide: How To Use Daedalus Wallet To Stake Cardano (ADA)

Staking can be somewhat confusing at first. But once you understand the basics, it is rather simple and straightforward. Let's have a look together how does Cardano staking work using Daedalus wallet. As of today, this is the only way to stake. In the future, there will other wallets and exchanges who will also support such actions.

Last Edited on 30.07.2020

Staking is very easy once you understand the basics. So, let's see.

First, make sure you read up details on our Staking ADA Delegator Page. Now, that you have done it, we can explore further.

As you may have heard, following the hard fork on the 29th of July 2020, only Daedalus wallet is capable of delegating your stake. If you have already migrated to the new Shelley wallet and have balance ready there, skip this section and go to "delegating to a stake pool" instead.

Go ahead and open your Daedalus 2.0 Wallet. If you are running an older version, make sure to download the latest from official Daedalus website. Once downloaded, go ahed and install it. Before anything, your wallet will be syncing with the blockchain at first. Once the sync is completed, the new wallet will let you inside its interface.

You can now see that your wallet is marked as Byron wallet. That is the system we have just forked away from. Your new wallets will be now called Shelley wallets. Be careful, there are some older version of Shelley wallets but those belong to the test-net interface only.

If you had balance on your old wallet, it should now show up in this wallet as well. However, you will need to move this balance onto new Shelley wallet instead. For that, you need to go ahead and create a new Shelley wallet. Once you have done so, you will now see two wallets inside your Daedalus. One labeled as Byron (your old) and new empty Shelley wallet.

You can go ahead and send your funds from the old wallet to the new wallet. However, test the network first by sending a sampling amount of ADA, e.g. 1 or 5. This is to ensure that everything is in order and working. If it does, proceed to move your full balance to the new wallet. And that is it. Now you are using fully compatible wallet that you can delegate your ADA to pool of your choice.

Delegating to a stake pool:

Your Daedalus wallet will do most of the heavy lifting for you. However, few key things to keep in mind. Always be sure what you are doing in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Most of the time, any changes made in delegation will take time to complete. In fact, general rule is that these changes need to wait to be implemented until the current and next epoch ends. In real time terms, an epoch lasts for about 5 days. Make sure you understand the timeline accordingly.

Any wallet you decide to delegate with needs to have an absolute minimum of 10 ADA in order to be able to stake with it. You will need to get your spending password ready, too.

As hinted, Daedalus has a smart way of figuring out which pools would be best for you. The ranking mechanism takes a lot of parameters in the background and computes for you which pools are top choices. If the pool is labeled in green colour, then it will be a plausible candidate for you to explore. If you are unsure to which to delegate exactly, you can also learn more about each individual pool. This allows you to check their credentials and who they really are. Every ADA that you use represents a vote within the network. Staking your ADA with reputable operator ensures that you are giving them support they need to keep functioning.

When you first open your Daedalus, you will see three buttons on the top left. First one is your wallet overview. Second one is where your delegation center is located. Once you click on there you will be brought to the main info page. The infographic there shows you how many blocks are being produced by the stake pools. Currently, you will see zero there. That is because no pools are producing blocks now after the forking took place. In the future, as we move towards more Cardano upgrades, you will be able to visualise how centralised or not the entire network is.

Rewards tab will show your accumulated rewards in due time for each individual wallet that you have created. Stake pools tab is where all the magic happens. On this tab you can easily browse all the stake pools available on the network to choose from. They range from the 1st one in green to the very last one in red. The lower on the list pool is, the less desirable it is to join it presently. If you are already staking your ADA in one of the pools, your pool will be showing atop showcasing who it is.

In order to learn more about each pool, you can click each ticker icon. There will be important information about costs and efficiency. You will also find URL where you can visit and learn more about the stake pool individually. Once you have made your decision, you can move on directly to Delegation Center tab. Pay close attention to what you see there. It shows you at what point of each epoch are we currently in. That determines how quickly your changes to delegation will occur on the network.

Below is the list of each wallets. By clicking on DELEGATE button you are able to proceed. In the steps proceeding you choose which wallet you are using to delegate your ADA. You can choose yours by looking up its ticker code and confirming your choice. The last, third step includes confirmation of your delegation. Be mindful that this incurs transaction fee that will be charged to you. Once you confirm your delegation with your spending password, you just need to wait until network also confirms that. As mentioned, these changes will resolve when the current and next epochs end. And that's it. Wasn't that hard, was it?

Are you still having some issues or would you like to chat more about these, reach to out. Let's see if we can help.

Happy staking everyone! Undecided about your pool yet? We invite you to consider staking with us. We are small community pool that would welcome you. Reach out to us on telegram link in the footer of the page. Pool Ticker: FAY

Pool ID: 9ac6f4118dccc20d978e7239d73d47e939cc594c350effa8711f5ac4

URL: www.cryptofay.io