Follow this blog for step-by-step instructions on how to stake your LINK in the recently launched Chainlink Staking v0.1.

Jump To:

• Staking Prerequisites
• How To Stake LINK (Individual wallet tutorial)
• How To Stake LINK (Multisig wallet tutorial)
• More Resources on Chainlink Staking

Why Stake LINK?

A core initiative of Chainlink Economics 2.0, Chainlink Staking enables LINK token holders and node operators to earn rewards for helping increase the cryptoeconomic security of oracle services. With the Chainlink Network already enabling more than $6.6 trillion dollars in transaction volume, it’s important for the security of the network to scale to match the increasing amount of value secured within Chainlink-powered applications. The launch of Staking v0.1 represents a key milestone in Chainlink’s new era of sustainable growth and security.

With Chainlink Staking v0.1 now open for General Access, community members can stake up to 7,000 LINK in the limited-size v0.1 Staking pool. General Access gives a broader scope of LINK token holders the chance to stake in v0.1, subject to the initially limited 25M LINK cap and other applicable participation requirements.

In the initial v0.1 pool, 22.5M LINK is allotted for Community Stakers on a first-come, first-served basis, while 2.5M LINK is allotted and reserved for Node Operator Stakers. Staked LINK and rewards will be locked until the release of Staking v0.2, which is planned for release in approximately 9-12 months. Note that Staking v0.1 consists of a non-custodial smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain, so Staked LINK in v0.1 cannot be moved by anyone but the staker themselves once unlocks are enabled.

Before participating in Chainlink Staking, it is important you as a staker understand and are comfortable with the staking pool parameters, such as the lock-up period, alerting, staking rewards, and other key mechanisms. Refer to this recent blog on the launch details of Staking v0.1 to learn more about its design.

Staking Prerequisites

In order to begin staking LINK, you must:

• Hold your LINK tokens on the Ethereum mainnet in a self-custodial Web3 wallet or hardware wallet supported by Web3 wallets.
• Have at least 1 LINK to stake.
• Have a sufficient amount of ETH to pay Ethereum transaction fees.

Self-Custody

Chainlink Staking v0.1 supports a wide range of popular Web3-enabled wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect-compatible wallets, and smart contract wallets such as Argent and Gnosis Safe (via WalletConnect). Hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger can be connected to Web3 wallets like MetaMask in order to access Web3 dApps. 

If you don’t have self-custody of your LINK tokens yet, check out the video below for a walkthrough of the process of self-custodying Ethereum-based tokens in a MetaMask, Trezor One, or Ledger Nano S wallet.

 

If you have—or plan to set up—a hardware wallet, the video tutorial below provides step-by-step instructions on how to connect it to MetaMask.

Minimum Requirement and Ethereum Gas Fees

To successfully participate in Staking v0.1, you must have at least 1 LINK in your self-custodial wallet. In order to stake, an on-chain transaction must be made on Ethereum mainnet, meaning you must have a sufficient amount of ETH to pay for transaction gas fees. 

Note that Ethereum transaction fees/gas prices can be unpredictable and volatile, determined by global network activity. ​​For an estimate of current gas fees, you can refer to the Etherscan Gas Tracker. Before broadcasting any transaction to the Ethereum Network, make sure to check the estimated transaction fee cost in your Web3 wallet to ensure that you’re comfortable with the amount. Note that if the transaction fee is too low, your transaction may be delayed for a period of time before getting confirmed on-chain. Your Web3 wallet will estimate the gas limit of the transaction, otherwise a default of 150K gas will be set.  

Additionally, because LINK is an ERC-677 token (ERC-20 compatible with additional functionality), only a single transaction is required to stake. Note that the official contract address for Staking v0.1 on the Ethereum mainnet is located at 0x3feB1e09b4bb0E7f0387CeE092a52e85797ab889.

To learn more about the Ethereum Network, refer to the Ethereum Foundation’s Learn Hub. Specific questions regarding your Web3 wallet should be directed to the official support channels of that wallet provider. 

How To Stake LINK

Note: these tutorials are based on the Goerli testnet and are for demonstration purposes only. While these tutorials accurately reflect the staking process on Ethereum mainnet, the specific staking parameters and gas fees in the video, GIF, and screenshots below may differ from the mainnet implementation of Chainlink Staking v0.1.

Video Tutorial

 

GIF Tutorial

Step-by-Step Written Tutorial (MetaMask)

For this tutorial, we will showcase how to stake LINK using a MetaMask wallet.

1. Go to the Chainlink Staking web page.

Make sure to verify that the URL in your browser is the correct official Chainlink Staking website. Bookmark it for future reference: https://staking.chain.link.

2. Click “Connect Wallet.”

Click the “Connect Wallet” button at the top right of the web page.

3. Choose your wallet.

Choose the Web3 wallet that holds your LINK tokens and ETH. In this example, we’ll be using MetaMask.

4. Choose your wallet account.

If you have only one account, click the only option. 

If you have more than one wallet connected to your MetaMask, click the wallet address that holds your LINK tokens. 

Then press “Next” in order to connect your wallet to the Chainlink Staking web page.

5. Press “Connect.”

After this step, you should be returned to the Chainlink Staking web page, with your wallet address in the top right corner.

6. Enter the amount of LINK you want to stake.

You cannot enter a value higher than the number of LINK tokens in your wallet, or more than the number listed next to “Available to stake.”

7. Press “Stake LINK.”

8. Press “Accept and continue.”

Please make sure to read the terms of service on this page before continuing further.

9. Approve the transaction.

Your Web3 wallet will then pop up, and you will be asked to confirm the transaction. Verify that you are okay with the estimated amount of ETH required to pay network transaction fees.  Press the “Confirm” button to broadcast the transaction to the Ethereum network. 

10. Wait for confirmation.

If you see this screen, your transaction has been successfully broadcast to the Ethereum network and is now pending confirmation. The amount of time it will take for your transaction to confirm will depend on network activity and gas prices. Refer to your wallet provider’s official support if you need to resubmit the transaction with a higher gas price.

11. And you’re done!

If you see a page similar to the screenshot below, congratulations! You have successfully staked your LINK in Staking v0.1. To see your transaction on Etherscan, click the link below “View your transaction here.”

To confirm your staking balance, press “Close” to navigate back to the web page and check the number corresponding to “Currently staked.”

To check your rewards, press the “Rewards” tab. The “Staking rewards” section will update to correspond to the amount of LINK rewards you earn over time for helping secure the Chainlink Network.

How To Stake LINK Using a Safe Multisig Wallet

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to set up a Safe (previously known as Gnosis Safe) multisig wallet and use it to stake LINK.

Note: this tutorial is based on the Goerli testnet and is for demonstration purposes only. While this tutorial accurately reflects the staking process on Ethereum mainnet, the specific staking parameters, gas fees, and Staking pool balances in the screenshots below may differ from the mainnet implementation of Chainlink Staking v0.1.

How To Set Up and Fund a Safe Multisig Wallet

If you’ve already set up a Safe multisig wallet, skip ahead to step 6. 

If you’ve already set up and funded a Safe multisig wallet, start on step 12. 

1. Go to the Safe application.

Make sure to verify that the URL in your browser is the correct official Safe application website. Bookmark it for future reference: https://app.safe.global/welcome.

Verify that you’re connected to the Ethereum network. To choose the network, press the drop-down icon to the right of “Connect wallet”. 

Then press the “Connect wallet” button at the top right corner of the screen to connect your wallet.

Note: Do not connect to Goerli testnet like in the screenshot below. This is only for demonstration purposes.

Press the “Connect” button.

2. Choose your wallet.

This tutorial uses a MetaMask wallet.

After this step, your wallet should be connected. 

3. Click “Create new Safe”.

Press the “Create new Safe” button on the left-hand side of the web page.

Enter the name of the Safe in the text box, then click next.

4. Set up your multisig wallet.

Enter the name of multisig wallet owners and the wallet addresses that will be used for multisig transaction confirmations.

Click the “Add new owner” button and add as many owners as necessary for your purposes. 

Then, input the desired confirmation threshold. To better understand this step, see the following example screenshot.

For best practices, check out Gnosis’ Safe best practices.

In this example, there are three owners of the multisig wallet. The threshold is two out of three owners, which means that any transaction from the multisig wallet will require at least two of the three owners to confirm the transaction.

Once you are satisfied with your multisig setup, click “Next”.

5. Review your multisig wallet details again.

Make sure that the wallet addresses have been correctly inputted and verify that the wallet will be created on the Ethereum network. 

Then click “Next”—your wallet plugin should pop up. 

There are two confirmations needed to execute the transaction. Press the “Confirm” button to move to the next confirmation.

Press the “Confirm” button again.

You’ve successfully created a Safe multisig wallet! Press the “Start using Safe” button to head back to the home page.

6. Copy the Safe wallet address.

To stake LINK, your new Safe wallet will need to hold your desired LINK staking amount. Send the tokens to the Safe wallet by using the wallet address highlighted below.

Note: To stake your LINK, the address that executes multisig transactions will need to have ETH to cover network fees. The Safe wallet does not need any ETH.

The following steps will use the MetaMask browser wallet. If you’re using another wallet, the steps should be similar. 

7. Open your wallet and press the “Send” button.

Note: Any address can send LINK to this address. It does not necessarily have to be the address used to create the Safe wallet.  

Then enter the wallet address. 

Refer back to step 6 if you’re unsure if you have the correct Safe wallet address. 

Enter the desired amount of LINK you want to transfer to the multisig wallet.

Press “Next”

Then confirm the transaction.

8. Wait for your transaction to execute.

After you confirm, the transaction will be pending. The time it takes for the transaction to execute varies depending on network activity. 

You’ll be able to see the pending transaction on the “Activity” tab of your wallet. 

9. Confirm transaction execution.

Check the “Activity” tab of your wallet—the “pending” from before will have changed to the date. 

You can also check the “Tokens” underneath your wallet address on the Safe home page. This should have updated from zero to one.

10. Verify your Safe wallet balances.

After sending LINK to your Safe wallet, you can verify the balance by pressing the “View assets” button highlighted below.

You’ve successfully funded your Safe multisig wallet!

11. Connect your safe to WalletConnect.

In order to interact with the Chainlink Staking v0.1 application, you need to connect your Safe wallet to WalletConnect. 

To do this, press the “Use WalletConnect” button.

A disclaimer page should be displayed at this step. Read the disclaimer and then press “Continue”.

An option may come up to manage the features that the Safe App can use. Choose your preferences and then click “Continue”.

You should now see the page below. Keep this page open in your browser. 

How To Stake LINK

12. Open up a new browser tab and go to the Chainlink Staking web page. 

Make sure to verify that the URL in your browser is the correct official Chainlink Staking website. Bookmark it for future reference: https://staking.chain.link.

Then press “Connect wallet”.

Choose WalletConnect.

Press “Copy to clipboard”.

13. Navigate back to the Safe page below. Do not exit the Chainlink Staking web page.

Paste the copied material in the text box.

You should now be connected to the Chainlink Staking App. Keep this application open to move forward with the staking process.

14. Go back to the Chainlink Staking web page.

Your wallet should now be connected. 

Enter the amount of LINK you want to stake, then press “Stake LINK”.

Make sure to read the terms and conditions, and then press “Accept and continue”.

You should now see the following popup. 

15. Go back to the Safe Application.

Press “Submit” to approve the transaction.

Press “Sign”.

You have successfully approved and signed this transaction. 

Once you have finished this step, other wallet addresses in the Safe multisig wallet must also approve and sign the transaction. Specifically, there must be a minimum threshold of signers to sign the transaction in order for the transaction to execute (Refer back to step 4). 

How to Sign a Multisig Transaction on Safe Wallet to Meet the Minimum Threshold

Below are instructions on how to approve and sign a transaction on the Safe app.

16. Connect your wallet to the Safe app.

Then click on the box underneath “Transaction queue”.

Then press “Confirm” to approve and sign the transaction. 

Press “Submit”

Note: If you are the threshold wallet address (i.e, the second wallet in a ⅔ multisig transaction or the fourth wallet in a 4/7 multi-sig transaction), there will be an estimated gas fee to execute as shown below. 

Press “Confirm” to execute the transaction.

Then wait for the transaction to execute. To confirm this step, go to “Transactions” on the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the website.

You should see “Success” next to the recent transaction using the LINK token.

Congratulations: You have successfully staked your LINK. 

To confirm this on the Staking app, navigate back to your Chainlink Staking tab. It should still look like the screenshot below.

IMPORTANT: This is a known UI bug on the Safe app that can occur when interacting with the Chainlink Staking v0.1 application. At this point, your LINK has already been staked.

17. Refresh the page.

Once you refresh the page, you should see that your LINK is now staked.

 

More Resources on Chainlink Staking

Chainlink Staking is part of a larger initiative called Chainlink Economics 2.0, aimed at bringing the Chainlink Network to a new era of sustainable growth, cryptoeconomic security, and deeper value capture.

To learn more about Chainlink Staking v0.1, dive into the following resources:

• Staking v0.1 Launch Details
• Check Your Early Access Eligibility
• Chainlink Staking Roadmap
• Chainlink Staking v0.1 – Direct Staking Guide

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Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and contains statements about the future, including anticipated programs, products and features, developments, and timelines for the rollout of these new products and features. These statements are only predictions and reflect current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events; they are based on assumptions and are subject to risk, uncertainties, and change at any time. The Staking Interface is provided “as is” without representations, guarantees, or warranties of any kind. There can be no guarantee that any of the contemplated programs, products or features will be implemented as specified or at all nor any assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in these statements, although we believe them to be based on reasonable assumptions. All statements are valid only as of the date first posted and we may not update this post in response.