Polkawallet offers two types of staking: native staking on the relay chain and staking on Acala (for DOT) and Karura (for KSM). 


In this article, we describe how to manage your existing stake on the Relay Chain. If you are not already staking, please read this article on how to stake first.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

If you have any questions about staking in Polkawallet or run into any issues and require further assistance, feel free to ask our AI chatbot or contact us.

Alternatively, you can also search Polkawallet's documentation or contact their team directly through email, and receive specialized assistance from the team that developed the wallet.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

What to know before starting

  • Nominating currently requires a minimum of 250 DOT staked funds on Polkadot (0.1 KSM on Kusama). Please ensure you are above that minimum, or you won't be able to nominate.

‼️ IMPORTANT

Not all nominators with over 250 DOT will get staking rewards. The minimum amount needed to earn rewards is dynamic and can be found on the Targets page on Polkadot-JS UI. Please refer to this referendum for details.
  • If you are staking above the dynamic minimum amount and still aren't receiving rewards, it's possible that your account needs to be re-adjusted by calling an extrinsic. This is due to the new bags-list feature. You can find instructions on how to fix this here.
  • If you don't have enough DOT to earn rewards, consider joining a nomination pool instead of staking solo. Please note, though, that Polkwallet does not support nomination pools at this point.

Staking overview page

Once you are staking, you can manage your stake and view its status on the staking page. Follow these steps to access it.


1. First, select the account you are staking with. In this example, we are staking on Kusama, but the same instructions apply to Polkadot too.


2. Then tap on "Metahub". Tap the right arrow at the top to browse the features and select "Staking". Then tap on "Enter".



ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

The feature "KSM Staking" or "DOT Staking" is the non-native method to stake on Karura or Acala respectively, which is not described in this article.


3. In the staking overview page you can manage your stake and see information about it and your rewards.



a. At the top, you can see how much you've bonded and any pending staking rewards.


b. If you tap the down arrow you can see more details about your stake.



c. In the "Overview" page you can see the network's staking metrics and information, as well as the active and waiting validators.


d. By tapping "Adjust Bonded" you can bond more funds, unbond, or redeem (withdraw) any unbonded funds. 


e. In the "Reward Method" page you can change the destination of your staking rewards.


f. In the "Reward Detail" page you can see the history of your rewards.



g. In the "Payout" page, you can see and manually claim any pending rewards.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

Rewards are almost always paid out by validators as a service to their nominators, so it's very unlikely that you'll ever need to claim your own rewards.


h. In the "Account" page you can change your controller account.


‼️ IMPORTANT

Controller accounts are being deprecated in favour of proxies. You can no longer change your account except to the stash account, if it's not already set to that. As a result this page has limited usefulness.


j. The "Stop All" button will chill your account, i.e. stop nominating but keep your funds bonded.


k. Under "Nominations", you can see the validators you are currently nominating and their status:

  • Active: The validator is in the active set and is the one you are actively supporting with your stake in this era.
  • Inactive: The validator is in the active set, but you are not supporting it with your stake in this era.
  • Waiting: The validator is not in the active set in this era.


Tapping on a validator will show more details about it.


l. Tapping on the "hand" button will allow you to change your nominated validators.

How to adjust your stake

In this section, we describe how to bond more to increase your stake, unbond some or all of your funds, and redeem (withdraw) any unbonded funds.


First, navigate to the staking overview page, as described in the previous section. Then tap on "Adjust Bonded". A selection menu will open up.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

After taking an action on this page, you may need to exit to the main wallet page and re-enter the staking overview page for the update to show up.


How to bond more funds

1. If you wish to bond more funds to increase your stake, in the selection menu, tap "Bond More".



2. In the next screen, all you need to do is enter the amount you wish to add to your existing bond and tap "Submit". "Balance" shows you the available balance that you can bond.



3. In the final screen, review the details of the transaction and tap "Submit". That's it! Your increased bond will be taken into account in the next era.


How to unbond some of your funds

1. If you wish to unbond some of your staked funds, in the selection menu, tap "Unbond".



2. In the next screen, all you need to do is enter the amount you wish to unbond and tap "Submit". "Balance" shows you the amount currently bonded.



3. In the final screen, review the details of the transaction and tap "Submit". That's it! Your reduced bond will be taken into account in the next era, and your funds will be unbonded at the end of the unbonding period (28 days for Polkadot, 7 days for Kusama).


How to unbond all your funds

⚠️ ATTENTION

This same process applies if you wish to unbond enough funds to drop your bonded amount below the minimum required for nominating (250 DOT on Polkadot).

In this case, consider unbonding either a smaller amount or all your funds.


1. If you wish to unbond all your funds, first tap the "Stop All" button to stop nominating (chill your account) and submit the transaction on the next screen. You have now stopped nominating.



2. Next, from the staking overview page, tap "Adjust Bonded" and select "Unbond" from the menu that opens up.



3. In the next screen, enter the amount shown next to "Balance", which is your full bonded amount, and click "Submit".



4. In the final screen, review the details of the transaction and tap "Submit". That's it! Your funds will be unbonded at the end of the unbonding period (28 days on Polkadot and 7 days on Kusama).


How to redeem (withdraw) your unbonded funds

Once you start unbonding you need to wait for the unbonding period to end before your funds can become transferable. The unbonding period is 28 days on Polkadot and 7 days on Kusama.


You can check the status of your unbonding funds and how much time remains by tapping the down arrow to show the details of your stake.



Once the unbonding period has ended, the unbonded amount will appear as "Redeemable". 



To make these funds transferable, you need to redeem (withdraw) the unbonded amount.


1. Tap on "Adjust Bonded".


2. In the selection menu, tap on "Redeem Unbonded". This option will be unavailable if there are no redeemable funds.



3. In the next screen, you can verify the amount that will be redeemed (withdrawn), which is already pre-entered. Tap "Submit".


4. Finally, check the transaction details on the next screen and tap "Submit". That's it! Your unbonded funds are now transferable.

How to change your reward destination

At any point, you can change the destination of your staking rewards. To do so, follow these steps:


1. In the staking overview screen, tap "Reward Method".



2. In the next screen tap on "Reward" and select one of the available options.




  • Stash account (increase the amount at stake): This will automatically add any rewards to your existing stake, increasing it (compound).
  • Stash account (do not increase the amount at stake): This will send any rewards to your stash account as transferable balance.
  • Controller account (do not increase the amount at stake): This will send the rewards to your controller account as transferable balance. Since, for new stash accounts the controller is the same account as the stash, this option is equivalent to the previous one.
  • Specified payment account: With this option, you can specify any account to receive your staking rewards. Polkawallet will display a warning that the destination account must be active (not have a zero balance), otherwise your rewards may be lost.


3. Once you have made your selection, tap "Submit". In the next screen, review the details of the transaction and tap "Submit" again. That's it! Your next rewards will be sent to the selected destination.

How to change your nominations

You can change your nominations at any time, and any changes will take effect in the next era. It is recommended that you review your nominations from time to time and make any necessary adjustments.


ℹ️ INFO

If you are wondering how to choose your validators, we have written this article with some advice on what to consider.


To change your nominations, follow these steps:


1. From the staking overview screen, tap on the "hand" icon at the bottom right.



2. The following page will open up to select your validators.



You have several options on this page to sort or filter the displayed validators:


a. Tapping on that button allows you to sort the validators based on various criteria, like returns or how much stake they have behind them. The default sorting is based on returns percentage.


b. By tapping on these buttons, you can filter out validators with more than 20% commission (selected by default) and those who don't have an on-chain identity set (deselected by default).


c. With this search box, you can search for a specific validator based on their name in their on-chain identity or their address.


By tapping on a validator, you can see more details about it.



ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

Only active validators will show their active nominators on this page.


3. Select the validators you want to nominate by tapping on the small circle on the right. You can unselect any of your existing validators by tapping on the small circle again. 


Any validators you select will move to the top of the list regardless of the sorting option you've selected.



4. Once you're done with your selection, tap on "Nominate".


5. On the last screen, review the transaction's details and click "Submit".


That's it! Your new nominations will take effect in the next era. Until then, the status for all your validators will be "Waiting", but your previous nominations will still apply in the current era.