In crypto, staking is the process of using your tokens to determine who secures the network. In Lisk's Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), this means voting with your own tokens.

However, staking is more often used to refer to the incentive of earning rewards through this process.

On the Lisk network, there are two ways to earn additional LSK tokens through staking. Those are voting for delegates, and becoming a delegate yourself.

Voting

The most common method of staking LSK is by voting. This works by voting for delegates who offer to share their block rewards with those who vote for them.

It is important to note that voting rewards are not currently processed through the Lisk Protocol. This means that delegates are currently responsible for delivering the promised LSK tokens accurately. There are however plans to implement onchain voting rewards as part of the protocol at a later date.

For a detailed overview of how votes are calculated and how you can vote through Lisk Desktop, read the Lisk Voting Process guide.

Becoming a Delegate

101 active delegates and 2 stand-by delegates secure the Lisk network. For every forged block, the delegate who forged it earns 1 LSK token reward + transaction fees. To become a delegate, you must stake LSK tokens by voting for yourself.

You will first need to navigate to the profile of the delegate you wish to vote for. You can do this by utilizing the search bar to search for a delegate (name or address), or by going to the delegate page and clicking on your chosen delegate.

On the delegate profile page, click the "Add to votes" button.

Enter the amount of LSK you wish to vote with for this delegate, then click the "Confirm" button. This will add the vote to your voting queue.

NOTE: You may repeat these steps to add other votes to your voting queue before processing your vote transaction.

Verify your votes in your voting queue and confirm it. Your votes are sent to the network and will be processed shortly.

If you require additional assistance with voting, you can view the official Lisk Voting Process guide.

There are many potential factors in choosing which delegate(s) to vote for. These include, but are not limited to a delegate’s productivity, longevity, community involvement, and vote sharing percentage.

There are several places for you to find information on delegates to help you decide. For on-chain information, you could check a Lisk explorer, such as Liskscan or lisk.observer. For community involvement, or for the best chance to speak with delegates directly, go to lisk.chat.

There are also several community built tools that offer information for how to vote solely based on LSK rewards earned through voting. Keep in mind that these tools are not affiliated with the Lisk team. We are only providing these links for your information. As with any third-party tool or software, use them with caution:

• https://liskrewards.com/
• https://lisk.vote/
• https://liskvoting.com/

For more information on delegate selection, you can read our How to Find Lisk Delegates? blog post.

While staking is a great way to earn additional LSK tokens, the act of voting helps secure the Lisk network. The more LSK tokens used for voting, the more decentralized the network is. A true decentralized network is much harder to attack as the stake required to take over the network is not feasible to obtain.