In these days of crazy volatility, simply holding assets as a strategy is quite risky. So instead of panic dumping some Atom I received for doing a job, I decided to stake it.
I spend a lot of my time transacting on hive, and by transacting, I mean staking a variety of tokens on the Hive second layer. This makes it quite easy to stake on the Hive blockchain because I'm very familiar with it.
Staking Atom in Cosmos network was slightly different from how you'd do it on Hive top layer. For starters, you're using a completely different type of wallet and will be interacting with a completely different kind of network.
Cosmos network is unlike anything I've actually used in crypto space. It does have some similarities with Polka dot but I never actually got around to use Dot for anything, so i can't speak much about it.
One thing that I think is absolutely important to note about Cosmos network is that it is a network of multiple interconnected blockchains. At the time of writing, there are quite a number of chains residing on the network.
From my understanding, these aren't exactly sidechains like the way have in Hive second layer. Each chain in Cosmos seems to be independent of the other, with the only connection being the foundational technology in the Cosmos network that they all rely on.
Staking Atom for the first time?
Cosmos has been described as the plug and play route to creating your own blockchain using the fundamental tech behind Cosmos network. So, technically speaking, at the very top or proceedings, we have the Cosmos network and Atom presiding over a variety of independent chains.
Now Cosmos is a proof of stake network, so Delegating/voting for validator or witnesses, as we call them on hive, secures the chain and delagators earn reward for the trouble.
Just like Hive, staking Atom has a lock period but the duration varies Hive has a 13 week unlock period, while in Cosmos, it is 21 days and doesn't split the payment like we have on Hive.
If like me, you're looking to try out a new platform and find yourself buying Atom on an exchange, you will need to move it out and into a blockchain wallet. Here's how to go about it.
- Download wallet: You can easily download a keplr wallet extension. it is a small file that just attaches to your browser. There's also a keplr mobile application, if that's your speed.
- Open the wallet, select the network and then transfer your Atom.
- Within Keplr wallet, you will see "stake" button, select it and then pick one of the validators to delegate to.
observations & Thoughts
- I noticed that Binance, Kraken and at least one other central exchange was among the top validators.
- I didn't query the network but having so many exchanges involved in governance isn't healthy
- Without considering the risks, I delegated to Paradigm validator which offers 100% commission. I think it is out of place but since I'm experimenting with loose funds, I'm willing to gamble
- Overall, it was as easy as voting for a witness on Hive and if you've been considering it, you could check it out.