Casper: Staking & Delegating CSPR
By: Clayton Menzel
Tags: Casper, Casperlabs, Proof Of Stake, Figment, Blockchain

Ready to Stake?

The initial delegations will be hardcoded into the Casper genesis block, so whether you have received tokens through BitGo or the token sale on CoinList. If you’ve chosen a validator beforehand, you’ll start receiving rewards on day one. The rewards received at genesis will not be able to be withdrawn after 90 days. Unbonding from the network will take 7 days, after which your tokens will be free to move.

If you are staking with BitGo and looking for a staking interface: hang tight. They will be building a staking interface but don’t have an estimated timeline. We’ll provide more information as it is built and as tokens become available for claiming rewards and unbonding.

Since there will not be much liquidity at genesis, we don’t expect a staking interface to be built until the end of April or May. But we can look forward to having an updated block explorer up and running by the end of March. This will replace the current block explorer, Clarity.

The only way to get tokens at the moment is through the CoinList token sale. This means that if you are not using either institutional custodian services, BitGo or Coinlist, the only other way to delegate on Casper is through a command-line interface (CLI). If you are new to using a hardware wallet or are curious about self-custody, we have guides for Ledger and SafePal Wallets. Casper will have support for Ledger wallets by the time trading starts in May of 2021. Delegating using a CLI on Casper does require a decent amount of technical knowledge, so follow Casper Lab’s instructions closely.

Token Supply and Lockups

All tokens acquired via VFTA have a required a 90 day lockup period and a 90 day unlock period. Not all of your tokens will unlock on day 90 — they will event unlock over 13 weeks.

Here is an example for 100,000 tokens unlocking over 90 days:

Delegators who selected Option 1 or Option 2 through CoinList will receive an 8% annual rewards rate for the first year. This only applies to those who received their tokens through CoinList. If you’ve received tokens through a private sale, this APY might be different.

Part of the reason that Casper has long lock-up periods is to have dedicated, long-term investment in the network over time. Option 3 is the only tokens that will be liquid for the first few months to help validators spin up nodes and participate in consensus.

If you’ve purchased tokens, the exact details are as follows:

There will be 10 billion CSPR at the time of genesis; 16% of that is dedicated to the CoinList public offering. Roughly 29% of tokens have gone to validators in private sales, and 14% is reserved for the Casper Association.

Calculating Rewards for Stakers

We can make a solid estimate of the rewards rate by dividing the percent staked by the inflation rate.

Inflation is 8% at genesis. Based on inflation, we can calculate rewards based on the percentage of the network staked. The following are three estimations of what rewards we could expect when the network is 70%, 80%, and 90% staked.

If you would like to stake with BitGo and us or need help staking with CLI, we’re happy to help out.

Reach out: support@figment.io

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I explore the network and create a Casper wallet?

Casper is counting on the community to help build a website and wallet accessible to all.

Explorer: Clarity

What is the name of the asset being staked?

Caspers’ native token, CSPR, is used to pay computation fees and reward validators.

When are staking rewards enabled? When are transfers enabled?

Staking rewards will be enabled at launch. Depending on how you purchased tokens, either through the token sale on CoinList or the private sale details, transfers will be allowed as your tokens unlock. The first transfers will be enabled in early May.

Why stake CSPR?

Good question!

Initially, the CSPR is being staked to earn new issuance (“inflationary”) subsidies. That means that the CSPR supply will increase and stakers will capture the newly issued CSPR. Generally, you will earn around 10–20% annually on your staked CSPR, but that can change. Since staking rewards are tied to inflation,read about how inflation and rewards are related here.

Stakers will also capture fees from network transactions, so as Casper transaction volume increases, CSPR stakers will earn more than new issuance subsidies.

The CSPR also gives stakers the right to vote on policy decisions for how the Casper will operate and distribute treasury funds.

How long does it take to stake & unstake CSPR?

7 days. During this time, delegators will not receive rewards.

Do I maintain custody of my CSPR tokens? Who or what controls my staked CSPR token?

Figment has partnerships with a number of top-in-class custodians: support@figment.io.

The Casper protocol takes control of your CSPR tokens while you are staking. If you unbond your tokens, this process will take one day before the protocol returns your tokens to you.

Can my staked CSPR be slashed (seized or destroyed)?

Casper does not slash for downtime. They have introduced a penalty for double-signing, the validator will be kicked out of the active set for ~90 days. During that time, a validator’s stake will be unbondable and untransferable.

Is staking income liquid or automatically staked?

Rewards will be automatically staked.

Can I lose potential staking rewards?

Outside of slashing, if a node is offline for an entire era, the node will be removed from the validator set and will not earn rewards.

What is the rate of new issuance (aka “annual inflation”) for CSPR? How does the token supply change?

The new issuance (“inflation”) rate is around 8% of the total supply.

How are decisions about Casper made and executed?

Casper has proposed a governance model that includes Constituency Groups making governance decisions on behalf of their representatives.

In some protocols, simply holding the token is necessary for voting for on-chain governance. But Casper wants to allow core developers, open-source contributors, open-source dApp devs, commercial licensees to participate in governance alongside validators and delegators.

Where can I learn more about Casper?