Staking and mining
Last reviewed November 1, 2026
Blockchains pay the participants who secure them. Under proof of work that means miners; under proof of stake it means validators and the people who delegate coins to them.
These rewards look like interest but they are not bank interest. They come from newly issued coins and fees. If rewards grow the supply faster than demand grows, each coin is worth proportionally less.
Before you choose a service, find out who holds your coins, how long they are locked, and what happens if the validator makes a mistake.
How staking works
Running your own Ethereum validator takes 32 ETH and a machine that is always online. Most people delegate to an exchange or a staking pool instead. The yield varies with network activity and how much is staked in total.
Liquid staking
Services such as Lido give you a receipt token, like stETH, for staked ETH that you can trade or use in DeFi. Convenient, but the risks stack: the protocol, the receipt token, and whatever app you use it in.
Slashing and withdrawal times
If a validator misbehaves, the network can take part of its stake. That's called slashing. Unstaking also takes days to weeks depending on the chain. Staking through an exchange adds the risk of the exchange itself.
Mining today
Bitcoin mining is an industrial business run on specialised machines (ASICs) where power is cheap. At household electricity prices the bill usually beats the reward. Cloud mining contracts promising fixed daily returns are among the most common crypto frauds.