Where & How To Stake NEAR

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The NEAR token operates on a Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol to validate transactions. Token holders can stake their crypto to obtain rewards up to 30% APY while contributing to the network's security. Holders of NEAR stake their tokens and therefore, validators contribute to the governance of the network and are rewarded with staking payments. Several platforms and crypto exchanges support the staking of NEAR as a delegator. NEAR can also be staked as a validator on the network, but this requires considerable capital and advanced technical expertise.

Based on our reviews and comparisons, these are the best places for staking NEAR to earn passive rewards:

1. Binance (best overall exchange for NEAR staking)
2. ByBit (best for active traders that want to stake NEAR)
3. KuCoin (good option for NEAR staking)
4. Huobi Global (best alternate exchange for staking)
5. Cuvar Wallet (best NEAR wallet for staking)
6. Sender Wallet (best wallet for ease of use)

Where You Can Stake NEAR Explained

1. Binance

Binance is one of the world's most well-known and reputable crypto exchanges. The robust and feature-laden platform provides over 30 million investors and traders with exceptional crypto products and services. NEAR became a staking option for Binance customers in October 2021. Currently, Binance offers locked staking for NEAR tokens, which will remain inaccessible for a long time. Staking durations and their corresponding Annual Percentage Yields (APYs) are listed below:

• 21 days (30.99% APY)
• 30 days (10.79% APY)
• 60 days (12.89% APY)
• 90 days (24.39% APY)
• 120 days (29.99% APY)

The staking payments for locked term durations range between 10.79% APY and 30.99% APY and are fairly reasonable compared to other platforms. Users should know that the on-chain staking rewards are adjusted daily. When the locked-in period ends, the user's NEAR tokens will be automatically transferred into the wallet. The principal balance of the NEAR tokens can be redeemed before the duration of the cessation; however, the staking rewards will be deducted.

Prospective traders who want to stake their NEAR tokens should note that the minimum amount that can be staked depends on the duration of staking. With the minimum limit ranging from 0.001 to 0.1 NEAR tokens, investors with small amounts of capital can take part in earning passive rewards.

Investors in the United States of America (USA) should note that staking NEAR tokens on Binance.US is not supported. As such, an alternative crypto exchange such as Huobi may be considered.

2. ByBit

ByBit has an Earn program enables individuals to stake their favorite digital currencies, such as NEAR. One of the top margin exchanges in the world for trading with leverage, investors now have the ability to earn rewards on NEAR deposits. The staking term is limited to flexible arrangements only, however, this is more than ideal for its customer base which mostly consists of frequent traders. Therefore, ByBit is a great place to stake NEAR to accrue staking benefits between trades.

The flexible staking payout for holding NEAR tokens within a ByBit wallet is 2.45% APY at the time of writing. While the reward rate is not as high as Binance, there is no requirement to lock in the funds. Users can deposit and withdraw their NEAR tokens anytime, including the staking rewards.

Joining the staking pool is limited, from 5 NEAR to a maximum of 5,000 NEAR tokens. The rewards are calculated daily and distributed to the staking wallet.

3. KuCoin

KuCoin is a highly popular crypto exchange that is present in more than 200 countries. Since its launch in 2017, the exchange has grown exponentially. It is often called the People's Exchange since it is trusted by a quarter of crypto holders worldwide.

KuCoin has a soft-staking feature, where users aren’t required to lock their crypto. However, the rewards there are lesser than those of fixed-duration staking programs. These programs come with a redemption period—the time between users stopping staking and gaining access to their crypto. Some coins don’t have this redemption period.

Users can stake their NEAR tokens on KuCoin and earn rewards with an estimated APY of 11.84% and 7.25% on terms of 14 and 7 days, respectively. A flexible wallet is available where a lower APY of 5.17% is offered in exchange for the option of redeeming NEAR tokens at any time.

4. Huobi Global

Huobi Global was founded in 2013 and has become one of the largest crypto exchanges by trading volume and user base. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed platform provides customers around the world with easy access to over 560 digital assets, a variety of trading markets, including spot, margin, and futures, and staking.

The estimated APY for staking NEAR tokens is 8.82%. If 100 NEAR tokens are delegated to staking pools, the passive rewards will be approximately 0.0241 NEAR daily. The APY rewards are not as lucrative as Binance's offering. Furthermore, a minimum of 1,300 NEAR tokens are required to get started, which is a significant amount of capital needed upfront.

At the time of writing, NEAR tokens will be locked for a period of 4 days and cannot be redeemed by the user for other purposes, such as trading or withdrawing them to an external wallet. The advantage, however, is that staking rewards are generated daily and distributed to the investor's wallet the following day. Another important aspect to consider with Huobi is that it links to the validator node, which most other exchanges don’t provide. This link can be inspected using Blockchain Explorer. This means the delegated tokens on the network will be completely transparent and lower the risk of scams.

Comparison of Exchanges To Stake NEAR

EXCHANGE	CRYPTO ASSETS	TRADING FEES	RATING	PROMOTION	WEBSITE	REVIEW
Binance	385	0.1% (spot) and 0.02% / 0.04% (Futures)	Rating We provide an overall weighted average rating out of 5 stars. Our ratings are based on objective criteria like the ease of use, fees, deposit methods, customer support and availability. Our reviews are not influenced by 3rd parties. Click here for further information about our rating methodology and a full list of categories we review against. 4.8 / 5	Up to $100 welcome bonus	Visit Binance	Binance Review
ByBit	331 (608 trading pairs)	0% (spot), 0.06% / 0.01% (futures)	Rating We provide an overall weighted average rating out of 5 stars. Our ratings are based on objective criteria like the ease of use, fees, deposit methods, customer support and availability. Our reviews are not influenced by 3rd parties. Click here for further information about our rating methodology and a full list of categories we review against. 4.8 / 5	0% trading fees for 30 days (spot only)	Visit ByBit	ByBit Review
KuCoin	806	0.1%	Rating We provide an overall weighted average rating out of 5 stars. Our ratings are based on objective criteria like the ease of use, fees, deposit methods, customer support and availability. Our reviews are not influenced by 3rd parties. Click here for further information about our rating methodology and a full list of categories we review against. 4.6 / 5	Up to 500 USDT in bonuses	Visit KuCoin	KuCoin Review
Huobi	595	0.2%	Rating We provide an overall weighted average rating out of 5 stars. Our ratings are based on objective criteria like the ease of use, fees, deposit methods, customer support and availability. Our reviews are not influenced by 3rd parties. Click here for further information about our rating methodology and a full list of categories we review against. 4.2 / 5	None available at this time	Visit Huobi	Huobi Review

The Basics of the NEAR Protocol

The NEAR Protocol was established in 2017 to solve common problems that other smart contracts-supporting blockchains failed to address, including low transaction speeds, low throughput, and poor cross-compatibility. NEAR is the native token of the NEAR Protocol and is primarily used to incentivize nodes and power transactions on the platform.

The NEAR Protocol is a Proof of stake (PoS) blockchain meant to improve scalability and reduce costs. The blockchain utilizes a unique technology called ‘sharding' that essentially separates strings of data to speed up processing, with the consensus mechanism called ‘Doomslug.’

How Much Can You Earn Staking NEAR

The rewards on staking are represented in percentage terms by a term called Annual Percentage Yield, APY. This APY is dynamic and a calculated projection from the rewards historically received. Factors such as the method of staking and the platform used decide the rewards. The amount of staked tokens and the commission charged by the validators also plays an important role in deciding the APY.

While the APY for staking keeps changing, the average annualized staking benefit across most exchanges revolves around 6-8% APY for staking NEAR. This figure is an approximate average though, as Binance offers up to 23.76% of yield on its locked staking products at the time of writing and is a popular staking coin for this reason.

How to Stake NEAR

There are various ways to stake NEAR such as becoming a validator, using an exchange, or using a wallet. Among all of these, using a trustworthy crypto exchange is the easiest and most convenient way to stake NEAR or any crypto for that matter.

Here’s a step-by-step process on how to stake the token NEAR using the staking platform, Binance:

1. Choose a reliable exchange that supports the staking of NEAR such as Binance and create an account.
2. Either transfer NEAR tokens from an external wallet or purchase them using a fiat currency.
3. Go to Binance Staking and select NEAR.
4. Choose the staking duration between 21, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days.
5. Enter the amount of NEAR to stake.
6. Accept the terms and conditions, and click ‘Confirm'.

Staking NEAR Using A Wallet

Staking NEAR tokens using a supporting wallet is a viable option for those who want to mitigate some of the potential risks associated with staking. Whilst the wallet holder retains complete ownership of the NEAR tokens, the staking process is a little more complicated than using a crypto exchange that provides the staking infrastructure. This is primarily because the user is responsible for choosing a validator to delegate the NEAR token.

Here are a few aspects to assess when deciding on a validator:

• Self-Delegated Assets: Validators are rewarded for confirming blocks, but failing to do so or encountering malicious behavior gets them slashed. When a validator is slashed, they are blocked for a certain amount of time and do not receive any rewards. These rules differ from blockchain to blockchain, but the basic idea is still the same. Therefore, the more invested the NEAR validator is, the better it is.
• Commission: Validators charge the delegator pool fees for the rewards earned. This helps validators pay for the operation and maintenance costs.
• Participants: Generally, a staking pool with more participants is expected to be better and safer than the others. The only downside is that their rewards are relatively lesser than those of independent delegators.

The Crypto Wallets That Support NEAR Staking

1. Cuvar Wallet

Cuvar Wallet is a popular wallet for staking NEAR tokens. The wallet app can be downloaded to iOS and Android mobile devices. Seed recovery, biometric login, and a strong password are security measures that will need to be set up.

The minimum amount of tokens staked is 0.1 NEAR. Users can deposit NEAR or buy tokens using several fiat currencies, including AUD, GBP, CAD, and JPY. Users must browse and select a validator from the list to commence staking. In doing so, users can view validator transaction fees, which typically range between 1% and 10%. Once a validator is set, the number of NEAR tokens can be entered, and the delegation will be confirmed. Overall, Cuvar is a good NEAR wallet for staking.

2. Sender Wallet

Rather than downloading an app for a mobile device, the Sender wallet allows NEAR holders to stake their tokens using a Chrome extension. Once the extension is downloaded, an account can be made and funded with NEAR tokens. Similar to Cuvar, a validator will need to be selected to commence NEAR staking. The staking payouts for some validators are quite lucrative, and they can be as high as 20% APY. Enter the amount of NEAR to stake and confirm the transaction. The NEAR wallet is ideal for beginners who can also explore the wider ecosystem of the blockchain protocol.