How to stake and un-stake tokens

On this page, you’ll learn how to stake and un-stake tokens for a validator on a blockchain that uses the Lisk PoS module, like the Lisk Mainnet.

This includes, how to…​

  • Retrieve the stakes of an account.

  • Stake tokens for a validator.

  • Un-stake tokens.

  • Unlock tokens after un-stake.

Introduction

Any account with sufficient tokens can use them to "vote" with their tokens for one or multiple validators. This voting process is also called staking in PoS blockchains. An account performing staking is also called a staker.

Checking the current stakes of an account

To retrieve the current stakes of an account, query the pos_getStaker endpoint.

The endpoint expects a single parameter:

  • address: The address of the staker.

curl --location --request POST 'http://localhost:7887/rpc' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "1",
    "method": "pos_getStaker",
    "params": {
         "address": "lskrkhrkm25u5vqxayy3nu9ommt693vwrb546vefj"
    }
}'

The response will summarize all stakes that the account made.

This includes:

  1. A list of the validators that the account staked for, including the validator address and the amount of tokens used for the stake.

  2. A list of pending tokens, ready to be unlocked.

Example output
{
    "id": "1",
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "stakes": [
            {
                "validatorAddress": "lsk9grkenp3hw8y7hyf3nzbs2r2fuqmbno8duy9m6",
                "amount": "1000000000",
                "sharingCoefficients": []
            }
        ],
        "pendingUnlocks": []
    }
}

How to retrieve the current weight of a validator

To verify the concrete weight of your validator account or any other validator, it is possible to directly request the required information via the RPC endpoint.

  1. Check the validator details.

  2. Use the values totalStakeReceived and selfStake to calculate the validator weight.

Staking

Create a transaction to stake tokens for one or multiple validators.

  • Up to 20 stakes and/or un-stakes can be included in a single Stake transaction.

  • Staking must be done in a multiple of 10 LSK.

The following parameter is required:

  • stakes: An array of items with the following two properties:

    • amount: Number of tokens to stake or un-stake.

    • validatorAddress: The address of the validator to stake or un-stake the tokens to.

Create a Stake transaction

There are various services and tools to stake tokens, for example, Lisk Desktop, Lisk Elements, or the node CLI.

In the following examples, the node CLI is used to create and send the respective Stake transaction.

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core transaction:create pos stake 100000000 --pretty --json --params='{"stakes":[{"validatorAddress":"lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3","amount":15000000000}]}'
./bin/run transaction:create pos stake 100000000 --pretty --json --params='{"stakes":[{"validatorAddress":"lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3","amount":15000000000}]}'

Next, you will be prompted for the passphrase of your account.

? Please enter passphrase:  [hidden]
? Please re-enter passphrase:  [hidden]

The CLI will return the transaction already in hex format, ready to be posted to a node.

{
  "transaction": "0a03706f7312057374616b6518002080c2d72f2a206290c8b58de8b71fedb7e3cb9a6ee9426aa3e7ac0141f278526375d46705b546323c0a1c0a14ae4212f1cff485f273f717931af3941ca4d8f4f81080d88ee16f0a1c0a14b2f75b6968f687b495b69e1fec51d06fa8ae9d8d10ffc7afa0253a404874cf879737b25f0bab462ccbfd08f0a7add0cc1d70c422a62b8d701f45036be5dd50f5e616725729ce2bc95b8f8c9095040086dc6136d26c8daf1d8a40020a"
}
To return the transaction in JSON format as well, add the flags --json and --pretty to the command. 
{
  "transaction": {
    "module": "pos",
    "command": "stake",
    "fee": "100000000",
    "nonce": "0",
    "senderPublicKey": "6290c8b58de8b71fedb7e3cb9a6ee9426aa3e7ac0141f278526375d46705b546",
    "signatures": [
      "4874cf879737b25f0bab462ccbfd08f0a7add0cc1d70c422a62b8d701f45036be5dd50f5e616725729ce2bc95b8f8c9095040086dc6136d26c8daf1d8a40020a"
    ],
    "params": {
      "stakes": [
        {
          "validatorAddress": "lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3",
          "amount": "15000000000"
        },
        {
          "validatorAddress": "lske5sqed53fdcs4m9et28f2k7u9fk6hno9bauday",
          "amount": "-5000000000"
        }
      ]
    },
    "id": "4e9db70299c15a93e56e2a3159a94b3510c6581ff7d57d5cb54b876f7fbedf57"
  }
}

Send the Stake transaction

Use the transaction:send command to send the transaction to your node.

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core transaction:send 0a03706f7312057374616b6518002080c2d72f2a206290c8b58de8b71fedb7e3cb9a6ee9426aa3e7ac0141f278526375d46705b546323c0a1c0a14ae4212f1cff485f273f717931af3941ca4d8f4f81080d88ee16f0a1c0a14b2f75b6968f687b495b69e1fec51d06fa8ae9d8d10ffc7afa0253a404874cf879737b25f0bab462ccbfd08f0a7add0cc1d70c422a62b8d701f45036be5dd50f5e616725729ce2bc95b8f8c9095040086dc6136d26c8daf1d8a40020a
./bin/run transaction:send 0a03706f7312057374616b6518002080c2d72f2a206290c8b58de8b71fedb7e3cb9a6ee9426aa3e7ac0141f278526375d46705b546323c0a1c0a14ae4212f1cff485f273f717931af3941ca4d8f4f81080d88ee16f0a1c0a14b2f75b6968f687b495b69e1fec51d06fa8ae9d8d10ffc7afa0253a404874cf879737b25f0bab462ccbfd08f0a7add0cc1d70c422a62b8d701f45036be5dd50f5e616725729ce2bc95b8f8c9095040086dc6136d26c8daf1d8a40020a

If the sending process was successful, it will return the following message, including the respective transaction ID.

Transaction with id: '1809da284fe26dba90d34dc3aab837a32d3c291a4ca78a9bfa263f927c69598a' received by node.

Un-staking

The process of removing staked tokens for a validator account is called un-staking.

The un-staking process works analog to the Staking process: You send a Stake transaction to perform an un-stake. The only difference is, that you define a negative amount of tokens in the Stake transaction, instead of a positive amount.

It is possible to perform stakes and un-stakes for validators in a single Stake transaction (maximum 20 stakes or un-stakes per transaction).

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core transaction:create pos stake 100000000 --pretty --json --params='{"stakes":[{"validatorAddress":"lske5sqed53fdcs4m9et28f2k7u9fk6hno9bauday","amount":-5000000000}]}'
./bin/run transaction:create pos stake 100000000 --pretty --json --params='{"stakes":[{"validatorAddress":"lske5sqed53fdcs4m9et28f2k7u9fk6hno9bauday","amount":-5000000000}]}'

Next, send the transaction as described in Send the Stake transaction.

Please beware that the un-staked tokens will be in a locked state and such tokens won’t be freely usable directly even after they are un-staked.

Please read the next section Unlocking tokens after un-stake for more information.

Unlocking tokens after un-stake

In case you un-staked tokens from one or multiple validators and wish to be able to freely use the tokens for other purposes than staking, it is required to unlock the tokens.

The Unlock transaction will unlock all tokens which are pending, i.e. currently locked in the account, without being used for staking.

Checking for pending tokens ready to be unlocked

If you wish to check the amount of tokens that are ready to be unlocked in an account, query the pos_getPendingUnlocks RPC endpoint:

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core endpoint:invoke pos_getPendingUnlocks '{ "address":"lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3"}' --pretty
./bin/run endpoint:invoke pos_getPendingUnlocks '{ "address":"lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3"}' --pretty

This will return the total amount of pending tokens:

{
  "pendingUnlocks": [
    {
      "validatorAddress": "lskqaxxmj78frvgpjgwvf4yqjjkcrr9yhn2sxxwm3",
      "amount": "1000000000",
      "unstakeHeight": 348,
      "unlockable": false,
      "expectedUnlockableHeight": 26348
    }
  ]
}

  • validatorAddress: The address of the validator from whom the tokens got unstaked.

  • amount: Number of unstaked tokens.

  • unstakeHeight: Height of block at which the unstake happened.

  • unlockable: true if tokens can be unlocked, false if not.

  • expectedUnlockableHeight: Lowest block height in the network for a successful Unlock transaction.

Create the Unlock transaction

To send an Unlock transaction, wait until the unlockable block height is reached in the network. If you send the transaction too early, the token unlock will fail.

To verify, if tokens are ready to be unlocked, check the unlockable property in the pending token status.

Create an Unlock transaction with the following command:

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core transaction:create pos unlock 100000000 --pretty --json
./bin/run transaction:create pos unlock 100000000 --pretty --json

Next, you will be prompted for the passphrase of your account.

? Please enter passphrase:  [hidden]
? Please re-enter passphrase:  [hidden]

The CLI will return the transaction already in hex format, ready to be posted to a node.

Send the Unlock transaction

Next, post the transaction to the node, e.g. by using the node CLI as explained below:

  • Lisk Core

  • Sidechain node

lisk-core transaction:send 0805100018032080d6c28c042a20bad983c72bed43fd274f852658c298b74c71ab6fc50508879fef309e3836384b32080a066d796e616d653a4045afdd04d0c0bc6e548c0915d5fabef1311b1b75b1eb919a43b88dab539e7b6a99b9075f5d6382ec3bbebfca3301651a15d8af3f999d5b6fa7873b3969cd3d0c

Use the transaction:send command to send the transaction to your node.

./bin/run transaction:send 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

If the sending process was successful, it will return the following message, including the respective transaction ID.

Transaction with id: '1809da284fe26dba90d34dc3aab837a32d3c291a4ca78a9bfa263f927c69598a' received by node.

The tokens will be unlocked again, once the transaction is included in a block.