Staking is live on Calamari!

Start staking today and earn $KMA rewards

Staking is a core community element of Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), the consensus mechanism we have migrated to at Calamari. It requires our community of $KMA holders to stake their $KMA tokens to help select block producers for the Calamari blockchain. Staking not only earns you $KMA rewards on your idle $KMA, but also:

1. A higher-performance block = makes transaction fees cheaper.
2. More collators = higher censorship resistance = more decentralized $KMA blockchain.

DPoS Consensus and On-Chain Staking

Kusama, on which Calamari is built, runs Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS). This is the foundational staking layer of Kusama. Like all other Proof of Stake models, validators are used to validate the transactions sent on the blockchain. This is different from the Proof of Work model famously run on Bitcoin, which requires complex mathematical equations to be solved for block transactions to be “mined.” You can learn more about it here.

In DPoS, $KMA holders delegate to collators: delegating KMA to collators puts your trust in the collator to produce correct blocks. This all happens on-chain, which means even when you stake, your tokens never leave your control. You simply choose the Collator, delegate your tokens, and then wait to earn yield. This yield rate is variable and depends on the number of users that are delegating their tokens at any given time within the network. You can see yield rates right on the dapp.

Rewards

• On every produced block, ~114 $KMA are created (equivalent to 3% of total issuance per year).
• This reward is allocated for later payout in the following way.
• 10% of this reward goes to the collator that produced it to compensate for the collator’s running expenses.
• The remaining 90% is split proportionally to $KMA staked between everyone who delegated to this collator (this includes a collator’s self-bond).
• Two rounds later ( max. 12 hours ), the rewards accumulated in this way are paid out automatically, directly to the addresses of the collator and every delegator.

How do I start staking?

In short, staking is very simple:

1. If you haven’t already done so, download a signer extension and upload your $KMA wallet to the extension.
2. Go to the dapp, connect your wallet with the signer, and start staking!

Wallets

To interact with the staking dApp on Calamari, you need to have a self-custody wallet installed that is compatible with Kusama ecosystem parachains. Some wallets include Talisman or Polkadot JS.

Once you have it downloaded, follow the instructions to connect your KMA wallet (you’ll need your seed phrase).

Staking

Once you’re on http://app.manta.network/#/calamari/stake and have connected your KMA wallet, you’ll be able to choose which collator you’d like to stake to. Each one has an estimated APY yield and the name of the collator. To learn more about the various collators, you can head to https://stakekma.com/.

The “unstake” button lets you unbond your tokens: this makes them liquid and useable once again. You will stop earning rewards, and it takes 7 days to unbond.

How do I run a collator?

Running a collator requires more technical experience, but running one has its perks:

• 10% reward for each block a collator produces.
• Boosted APY compared to delegation through 10% commission on the delegator’s share of rewards.

The best way to get started is to review our docs to learn more and join the collator chat on discord.