How to stake NEAR (Near Protocol)

Overview

About NEAR

NEAR is a decentralized blockchain designed to make it easier for developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps). It focuses on scalability, developer-friendly tools, and user experience. NEAR uses a unique sharding mechanism called "Nightshade," which allows the network to process transactions in parallel, increasing throughput and reducing congestion.

The blockchain operates on a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus model, which is more energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work (PoW) and allows token holders to participate in securing the network through staking.

NEAR also emphasizes accessibility, offering features like human-readable account names instead of cryptographic addresses, and its innovative "Rainbow Bridge" enables seamless interoperability between NEAR and Ethereum, allowing assets and data to move across both networks.

How to Stake

1. Create a Wallet

To get started, you will want to choose a wallet. Some recommended wallets are My Near Wallet or Meteor Wallet.

Assuming you are planning on creating an account, you will want to select the blue box on the left, 'Create Account'.

The screen below is what will pop up. Enter a strong and memorable password (or use a password manager) and click the consent boxes to continue.

This is where you have the opportunity to create a NEAR Account. You pick your account name and then click Create Account.

• Note: You cannot change your account name once you have claimed it (although you can buy and sell it).

In the next step, you need to choose your security method. You can opt for creating a new seed phrase, or creating a new account connected to your Ledger device.

If you opt for the passphrase route (aka your wallet seed phrase) after you click continue you are shown the passphrase. It should be 12 words long.

To make sure you have recorded the mnemonic passphrase correctly, you will be prompted to input one of the words at random.

After you do that, you will be brought to wallet home screen, as shown below.

2. Fund your account to get Near ID

Here is where things can get a little tricky. NEAR is built around an Account model, where users have human-readable ID’s.

In order to get that ID though, you need to fund your account with 0.1 NEAR.

Clicking on either 'Receive' or 'Deposit NEAR' will present you with either and address to deposit NEAR to in order to fund your account, or show you different options for acquiring NEAR if you do not yet have any.

Once you have some NEAR or have someone who can send you some, have it sent to your single use deposit address.

• This can be found by clicking 'Receive' as shown in the screenshot above.

• Below is an example of how it would look.

You may need to refresh the wallet web page or navigate away from the screen and come back to it in order to get your NEAR balance to show.

Once you receive the NEAR you're all set! Congratulations your account is funded and that account ID is yours forever! (or until you decide to sell it)

3. Setting up your Account

Now that your account is funded you click on the 'Account' tab along the top of the page to make some changes (if you wish) to your account settings.

On the right column, you can see your different security permissions. You can enable or disable password protection for your wallet, connect a Ledger hardware wallet, view your seed phrase, or name and export full access keys to your account.

You can also change your password here, delete or add access keys, or export your private key locally.

Finally, if you wish to, you can remove your NEAR account from your wallet, although this is generally not advisable unless you have a specific reason for doing so.

4. Add or Import an Existing Account

You might want to connect other existing NEAR accounts you have set up to the wallet interface. This will allow you to navigate quickly between accounts.

From the home page of the wallet, in the top right corner you can either click import or create new account.

If you want to import an existing account you will have many options to choose from, including a passphrase (aka seed phrase), using a Ledger device, importing a private key, or if you set up a NEAR account when these features were still offered, via an email or mobile number.

5. Staking NEAR tokens

To stake your NEAR, navigate to the 'Staking' tab on the top left of the screen.

Click on it and you will get a screen as displayed below.

This is the first step in staking. Click the blue button 'Stake My Tokens' and you will next be prompted to select a validator.

You can either scroll through the list of type chorus in the search bar to find the Chorus One public validator.

• chorusone.poolv1.near

Once you've selected the Chorus One validator, you will see an overview screen of your existing staking history (if applicable) as well as information about the validator.

To begin, click 'Stake with Validator' and you will be prompted to input the amount of NEAR that you would like to stake.

If you want to stake everything in your wallet click 'Use Max’ -- However, it is advisable to leave a small amount of NEAR in your wallet to cover future gas fees.

Next, go ahead and click 'Submit Stake'.

Next, confirm your stake as depicted in the screenshot below. All you have to do is click ‘Confirm’.

You will see the following screen upon successful staking!

6. Withdrawing Rewards (Unstaking)

Your account will start earning rewards upon staking and after some time you will be able to withdraw them.

If you want to unstake, you have to select the ‘Unstake’ on the right hand side from the Unstaking tab.

This will then prompt you to select which validator you would like to unstake from.

Unless you are staking through multiple different validators there should only be one option.

The following screen will then prompt you to input the amount of NEAR you wish to unstake.

You can then choose to either unstake just your earned rewards or more if you like.

• Similar to the staking interface used before, you can also select 'Use Max'.

Finally, confirm that you are ready to unstake that amount of NEAR that you entered.

The tokens become available on the 4th epoch after release which is usually between 52–65 hours in time.

After hitting confirm you will then get the following message showing you successfully unstaked your NEAR.

To check on your unstaking progress, navigate to the Staking tab of your wallet, which will reflect your tokens pending release and eventually they will become available for you to withdraw.

After the required 4 epochs have passed, you can return to the wallet and you will see your NEAR ready to unstake.

Simply click on 'Withdraw' and you will be prompted to select the validator you wish to withdraw from.

• Most likely this will only be one option unless you have initiated an unstaking transaction from multiple validators.

A Note to Institutional Investors:

If you are an institutional investor looking to stake Near Protocol (NEAR) with Chorus One, please reach out to us via our staking request form.