The Best Proof-of-Stake Crypto to Stake in 2022

Cryptocurrency investors may consider staking their crypto holdings to earn rewards. Cryptocurrency staking works similar to bank deposits whereby a depositor earns interest on the cryptocurrency staked by locking it for a fixed period. Staking is an alternative to crypto mining which is another method of validating transactions on a blockchain and earning rewards for doing so. However, the barrier to entry for cryptocurrency staking is comparatively low as validators need not invest in special equipment and power to earn the rewards. There are two ways of becoming a validator for Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies. You can either run a validotor’s node, which is a more extensive process requiring DevOps knowledge. Or, you can nominate/delegate your tokens to a validator through an exchange or validators’ platform. Most people choose the latter option as it is simpler and hardware-efficient.

In this guide, C-trade will take you through the best crypto staking coins of 2022. Get insights on where and how to stake the best staking coins to begin your journey.

Cardano

Cadano blockchain is considered as one of the Ethereum killers that solves the existing issues of the Ethereum blockchain, like scalability, transaction speed, and high transaction fees (gas). Many blockchain projects are built on Cardano and the adoption of Cardano among DeFi/Web3 projects will increase in the future, a phenomenon that will translate into the growing value of ADA, the native token of Cardano in 2022 and beyond. Cardano Africa is one of the most magnanimous deals in the blockchain industry currently, a promise to create digital financial identities for millions of people in the African continent. All of this makes ADA one of the best crypto staking coins of 2022.

You can stake ADA by running a Cardano staking pool. However, the process is complicated requiring Linux proficiency and specific hardware requirements. Not to mention the amount of ADA a pool needs to amass to receive any reward is pretty high. Therefore, for most people, running a Cardano node is unreasonable or unattainable. The good news is, you can still stake ADA through one of the many popular exchanges and generate interest on your deposits. It’s a low-risk venture as the coins never leave your wallet until you unstake your ADA holdings.

Some popular exchanges that offer Cardano staking are Binance, Kraken, Crypto.com and KuCoin. If you are wary about keeping your stakes on an Exchange hot wallet, you can stake ADA from a dedicated wallet like Yoroi or Daedalus.

Solana

Considered a fourth-generation blockchain, Solana claims to have solved the blockchain trilemma. It has developed a fast and scalable network with the highest throughput (units of information a system can process in a given amount of time) without compromising on security or decentralization. The gas fees in Solana are low thus explaining its mass adoption among blockchain-oriented projects. No wonder, the native currency of Solana, SOL, is one of the best crypto staking coins to consider for staking in 2022.  Staking SOL forms the bedrock of validating transactions on the blockchain. According to reports, there are currently 608 validators and 47 decentralized applications built on Solana. Running a Solana validator is again not something everyone can do. Therefore, the best way to go about it is staking SOL using a hardware wallet like Ledger, which also supports other crypto staking coins. You can also choose a dedicated validator to delegate your stakes. Some of the best validators for staking SOL are:

Chorus.one

Joogh

Solana Compass

StakeCraft

Polkadot

Interoperability is one of the limiting factors of blockchain technology at the moment and this is what Polkadot intends upon solving. ​Polkadot (DOT) is developing a technology that will make it possible for multiple blockchains to interact and share assets and data. In short, Polkadot is a groundbreaking blockchain project and by that virtue its native token DOT is bound to grow in value. This is why we think DOT is also one of the best crypto coins to stake right now.

The Polkadot network is secured by a number of validators that form a pool with nominators staking their DOT holdings and nominating a validator (a nominator can back up to 16 validators) to verify transactions. StakeFish and Purestake are dedicated Polkadot validators, for example. You can also stake DOT through Ledger. Likewise, you can check the staking information for Polkadot on the popular cryptocurrency exchanges out there.

Polygon

Polygon is a name everyone is aware of. It's the Layer 2 solution for Ethereum that almost all of the DeFi/Web3 protocols out there use. It goes with saying that Polygon’s MATIC is and will remain for a long time to come, an important crypto asset. So you may consider staking this coin. Some of the cryptocurrency exchanges where you can stake MATIC are Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, FTX, Gemini, and Huobi. You can also stake MATIC through validators such as Cryptonomicon, VK Labs, Mind Heart Soul, Coinstash and Matrix Stake. MATIC staking can be done directly through the Polygon dashboard by connecting Web3 wallets such as Coinbase wallet, Trust wallet or Metamask.

Avalanche

Avalanche works in ways similar to other blockchain networks like  Polkadot  and Cosmos but with a higher throughput. Plus the Avalanche can support millions of validators which is one of the reasons we wanted to add Avalanche to our list of the best crypto coins to stake in 2022. You can either become an AVAX validator or a delegator and stake your holdings. Find out more about staking Avalanche here.

The Pros and Cons of Staking Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency staking is one of the best ways to get interest on your crypto deposits. Therefore, many investors who have a significant amount of crypto holdings prefer staking However, it is not for everyone since a lot of you may not be comfortable with locking up your crypto assets. Also, most of the time the staking protocol would not allow you to stake beneath a predetermined threshold. The staking amount required to generate the rewards might be significant for a lot of people. We all know crypto assets are super volatile. Therefore, there’s always a risk of the rewards offsetting the initial investment due to devaluation.

Besides staking, there are other affordable ways to generate profit after buying a crypto asset. This includes crypto spot trading where the basic idea is to buy a crypto asset when the price is low and sell it when the price is high. Crypto derivatives is another instrument that provides you the opportunity to bet on the rising price of a crypto asset without buying the real asset. Crypto derivatives are the only trading instruments that can generate a profit when a crypto asset’s price is plummeting. This is possible because with crypto derivatives you enter into a ‘contract’ with another party to buy or sell a crypto asset at a said price and ‘not the asset itself. So, it also works as a hedging instrument for crypto asset holders.

C-trade is a cryptocurrency exchange that supports both spot and crypto derivatives trading. One of the best features of this platform are its super-fast transaction speed and the 125x leverage on Bitcoin perpetual contracts. Join the platform to get attractive bonuses and rewards.

Disclaimer: The content in this article comprises personal opinions and should not be construed as containing personal and/or other investment advice and/or an offer of and/or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments and/or a guarantee and/or prediction of future performance. C-Trade, its affiliates, agents, directors, officers, or employees do not guarantee the accuracy, validity, timeliness or completeness of any information or data made available and assume no liability as to any loss arising from any investment based on the same.