There is an unbonding period on Polkadot and Kusama, which serves as a security measure to ensure that validators and nominators are accountable for their previous participation in the security of the network. In this article we will define the duration of the unbonding period in Polkadot and Kusama, and describe when and how fast-unstaking can be used.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Unbonding Period


The unbonding period is 28 days on Polkadot and 7 days on Kusama. You can learn how to unbond your funds in this article.


DOT or KSM that are bonded (and generally locked or reserved) cannot be sent from one account to another. In other words, you can only transfer funds that shows up as "transferable" in your account.


Fast Unstake


Fast Unstake is the option to bypass the unbonding period that has been implemented first on Kusama and now on Polkadot. It allows accounts that have not actively backed any validator in the previous bonding duration to instantly unbond their staked funds.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

If you were unaware of the minimum amount of tokens to nominate and bonded your funds by mistake, you might think that you are unable to unbond. However, perhaps you are eligible to fast-unstake your funds. Keep reading to learn the requirements and how to fast-unstake.


More specifically, to be eligible for Fast Unstake, an account must meet the following conditions:

  • The stash account should not have been exposed to any active validator for the last 28 eras (28 days on Polkadot or 7 days on Kusama). In other words, it must not have actively supported any validators during that time.
  • The stash account must not have any unbonding or redeemable funds.


If these conditions are met, the nominator can register itself to Fast Unstake through the Staking Dashboard or by running the extrinsic 'fastUnstake.registerFastUnstake' from the controller account or staking proxy. 


⛔️ READ THIS FIRST!

This action requires a deposit of 1 DOT or 0.033 KSM to be reserved in the stash account. If it turns out that the above conditions aren't met after all, this deposit will be slashed!

So, make sure you are eligible for Fast Unstake before requesting one. The Staking Dashboard automatically checks your account for eligibility to prevent accidental slashes.


Fast Unstake on the Staking Dashboard


If the account has not been exposed for 28 eras, the staking dashboard will show the "Fast Unstake" button on the Nominate tab.


After clicking the button, the rest of the conditions (i.e., required deposit and no unbonding or redeemable funds) are checked. If they are met, you can click "Register," and your account will be added to the queue:


The process can take about 3 minutes or more, and the funds should appear as transferable afterward:


Fast Unstake on Polkadot-JS UI


Using the Polkadot-JS UI, the extrinsic must be run from the Extrinsic tab. Remember that no conditions are automatically checked beforehand, so be sure your account meets them.


After submitting and signing the extrinsic, the system will check up to one past era (up to 28) per block. If the conditions are met, the unexposed bonded funds should appear as transferrable in the stash account in about 3 minutes or more.