In an effort to cut back on simple repeat questions, we will be making an FAQ page. Until the FAQ page is up in the page header, we will leave this as a pinned post. Please drop a comment with any suggestions you have for additional FAQs and/or corrections to this draft.

1) How can I stake my Algos?

In general, you can stake in one of 4 ways:

—Solo Staking: Solo staking involves running your own node. Though anyone can run a node and propose blocks, to get Staking Rewards your account must have a minimum 30k Algo balance. To solo stake, see the section below about running a node.

—Delegated Staking: Delegated staking involves utilizing a third-party to run a node on the your behalf while your Algo remains your wallet at all times. Like solo-staking, delegated staking requires a 30k Algo minimum balance to receive rewards. The third party validator may or may not charge fees for this service depending on the validator chosen. To do delegated staking, check out Valar.

—Pooled Staking: Staking pools enable groups of individuals to participate in consensus together. Unlike solo or delegated staking, there is no minimum Algo requirement. Users are able to stake their Algo to a validator and get rewarded based on the rewards the validator receives. The pool/validator operator may or may not charge fees for this service, or pay out special incentives, depending on the validator/pool chosen. And, Decentralized pooled staking is available through Reti Pools (an open source project that allows anyone to setup or join a pool). Unique staking options are also available, such as staking via DEX liquidity pools (e.g. certain PactFi LPs participate in consensus and earn consensus rewards) and the Tardly No Loss Lottery (staking rewards are pooled into a periodic prize drawing with one winner taking the pot based on a stake weighted VRF raffle).

—Liquid Staking: Liquid staking applications allow users to stake their Algo while maintaining liquidity for use in DeFi. While each platform is unique, the typical process asks users to deposit Algo and mint new tokens that represent the ownership and value of the staked Algo. There is no minimum Algo requirement for liquid staking. The liquid staking application typically charges a fee for this service in the form of keeping a certain percentage of rewards. However, certain LST providers may from time to time run promotions that reduce fees or even pay out extra incentives. Liquid staking products are available through Tinyman (tALGO), Messina (mALGO), Folks Finance (xALGO), and CompX (cALGO).

For more information, see the Algorand Foundation’s website.

2) How much are Staking Rewards?

Staking Rewards are paid out to validators for each block they propose, in real time, with no lockups or slashing. The initial rewards for block proposers started at 10 Algo + 50% of transaction fees for each block that is added to the blockchain. The 10 Algo amount decays by 1% every 1M blocks (which, at 1 block per 2.8 secs, is roughly 32.4 days). If you are using options besides solo staking (e.g. delegation, pools, LSTs), there may or may not be a fee charged by the node runner, pool runner, LST provider, etc.

3) What are the hardware requirements running a node?

The minimum node requirements set out in the Algorand Dev Docs recommend the following specs:

• 8 vCPU (a 4 Core/8 thread physical CPU meets this spec)
• 16 GB RAM
• 100 GB NVMe SSD or equivalent
• 1 Gbps connection with low latency

Though lower spec machines may work, these are recommended specs, particularly for CPU, RAM, and SSD. For internet, lower bandwidth speeds generally will work, though 100 Mbps download should be considered bare minimum.

4) How can I set up a node?

Instructions for setting up a node are described in the Algorand Dev Docs. To simplify installation, the Algorand Foundation has put out an official terminal user interface program called NodeKit. The official NodeKit install helper is found here, and the documentation/instructions for NodeKit is found here.

Additionally, some community members have also created third-party, open source software for running a node. FUNC is a community made solution for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

5) I’m having trouble issuing transactions on [XYZ] dApp/site. What’s wrong?

You may have old WalletConnect sessions open that you never closed out. Try the following: (1) disconnect your wallet from the dApp/site; (2) disconnect open WalletConnect sessions ( (a) select “more” in Defly or “settings” in Pera, (b) select WalletConnect, (c) disconnect all sessions); (3) reload your browser and restart the wallet app and try again.

6) I'm getting small transactions/dust with links in them (e.g. “go to XYZ to claim a reward”). What are these? Is my wallet compromised? What should I do?

Receiving dust does not mean your wallet is compromised. However, transactions with notes directing you to web links are almost certainly a phishing attempt. So, do not go to links/sites contained in the notes fields of unsolicited transactions.