For many traders and investors, staking is a way of earning rewards by simply holding Polkadot. Certain cryptocurrencies, including Polkadot, allows staking. This means that you can “stake” some of your Polkadot holdings and earn a reward over time in exchange for allowing the blockchain to put your Polkadot to work.

Cryptocurrencies that allow staking use a consensus mechanism called Proof of Stake, which is a method of verifying and securing transactions on the blockchain that leverages people who are literally already invested in the blockchain. The precise implementation varies, but at its core, users will put their crypto on the line, similar to a security deposit, for a chance to add a new block onto the blockchain. Typically, the chances of being chosen to validate the next block is proportionate to the amount staked and the amount of time a user’s held their asset. This way, the network rewards participants who are most invested. If the selected node successfully validates a block, then it is awarded the staking reward.

In other words, in exchange for delegating your Polkadot, you get rewarded with more Polkadot from the network. Staked tokens act as a guarantor of the legitimacy of new transactions. On the chance that fraudulent transactions are discovered, users will lose a part of their stake (i.e. their stake would get burned by the network) in a slashing event.