How Cardano staking works

Cardano staking works by delegation: you submit one transaction containing a delegation certificate that points your stake key at a stake pool, and your ADA never leaves your wallet. The protocol then pays rewards every 5-day epoch, from new issuance and transaction fees, with the first payment about 15 to 20 days after you delegate. There is no lock-up and you can switch pools at any time.

What happens when you delegate ADA?

Your stake key gets a certificate naming a pool, and nothing else changes. Delegating the funds of one stake key takes a single transaction with a delegation certificate and costs only the usual transaction fees. Your ADA stays at your addresses, spendable, however it is delegated.

A Cardano wallet has two kinds of keys. Payment keys spend ADA. The stake key controls staking rights: which pool your stake supports and the withdrawal of rewards. The stake address, starting with stake1 on mainnet, is derived from the stake key and identifies your delegation and reward account. Because delegation only touches the stake key, staking on Cardano is non-custodial: there is no lock-up and you can switch pools whenever you like.

What does staking cost?

A 2 ADA deposit once, then only fees. The stake address deposit is paid when the stake address is first registered, not for each delegation, and it is returned in full when the stake address is deregistered. After registration, changing your delegation costs only transaction fees.

Where do Cardano staking rewards come from?

From the protocol, not from the pool operator. Each epoch, a fraction of the remaining ADA reserve is released into a reward pot and joins that epoch's transaction fees; a share goes to the treasury, and the rest is paid to pools and their delegators.

Rewards are generated automatically by the protocol; stake pool operators do not manage them. Each pool's portion depends on its stake and on the blocks it mints.

How is a pool's reward split?

In a fixed order: the pool's declared fixed cost goes to the operator first, then its declared margin, and the remainder is split in proportion to stake among all delegators, including the pool owners. The fixed cost cannot be lower than the protocol minimum, currently 170 ADA per epoch.

Two more parameters affect what a pool earns. Pledge is the ADA the operator commits to their own pool; through the a0 parameter (live value 0.3), pools with meaningful pledge earn slightly more than pools of the same size without it, and if the owners delegate less than the declared pledge, the pool's rewards for that epoch are zero. And small pools mint blocks less often, so their rewards vary more from epoch to epoch. Cardano stake pools explained works through a full split.

What is saturation?

Saturation is the stake level beyond which a pool's rewards stop growing. The k parameter sets the target number of saturated pools, and the saturation point is total stake divided by k. The live value of k is 500, which put the saturation point at roughly 77.9 million ADA in epoch 664. Past saturation, extra delegation does not increase the pool's rewards, so rewards per ADA fall for everyone in it.

When are rewards paid, and do they compound?

Rewards are paid per epoch, after a lag, and they compound automatically. Each epoch is 432,000 one-second slots, or 5 days. The protocol does not use live delegations: it uses a stake snapshot taken at an epoch boundary to elect block producers and pay rewards.

If you delegate in epoch N, your stake is counted in the snapshot at the start of N+1, becomes active in N+2, its rewards are calculated during N+3 and paid at the start of N+4. That puts first rewards about 15 to 20 days after you delegate, provided the pool mints blocks, and every epoch after that. Rewards accrue in your reward account and count toward your delegated stake without any action from you. The full timeline is in Cardano epochs and reward timing.

Why do I need a DRep to withdraw rewards?

Because of a governance rule. Since the Plomin hard fork, enacted on 29 January 2025, staking rewards can only be withdrawn once your stake key also has an active vote delegation: to a DRep, to abstain, or to no confidence. Rewards keep accumulating either way; the rule only gates withdrawal.

Which wallets can delegate?

Any wallet that supports staking, and nearly every Cardano "Connect Wallet" button speaks CIP-30. CIP-30 lets a website talk to a browser wallet to read addresses and request signatures without ever handling your keys; implementors include Eternl, Lace and Yoroi, and Cardano.org lists VESPR and Typhon among the wallets that work with it. A related standard, CIP-8, signs a message to prove you control an address without a transaction or fee.

How does this connect to Gatewayz?

Gatewayz builds on exactly this mechanism. You delegate to the Gatewayz pool like any other pool, link your stake address by signing a CIP-8 message, and receive an inference discount instead of ADA rewards. How it works and the ADA page explain the program, which is pre-launch.

Frequently asked questions

Is my ADA locked when I stake it?

No. Cardano staking has no lock-up. Delegation is a certificate on your stake key, your ADA stays in your wallet, and you can spend it or switch pools at any time.

How much does it cost to stake ADA?

Registering a stake address takes a one-time 2 ADA deposit, which is returned in full when you deregister. After that, delegating or changing pools costs only the normal transaction fee.

How long until I get my first Cardano staking reward?

About 15 to 20 days. A delegation made in epoch N is counted from the snapshot at the start of N+1, becomes active in N+2, and its rewards are paid at the start of N+4, provided the pool mints blocks.

Do Cardano staking rewards compound?

Yes. Rewards accrue in your reward account and automatically count toward your delegated stake, so they compound without any action from you.

Can my pool lose my ADA?

No. A pool never holds your ADA; delegation only assigns your stake. What a pool can do is earn less, for example by minting no blocks in an epoch, missing its pledge, or being over saturation.

Why can't I withdraw my staking rewards?

Since the Plomin hard fork in January 2025, withdrawals require your stake key to also delegate its vote to a DRep, abstain or no confidence. Set a vote delegation in your wallet and the rewards, which kept accumulating, can be withdrawn.

Sources

• Cardano.org Glossary: Delegation, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano Docs: Delegation, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Address Deposit, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano Docs: Cardano node (Slots and epochs), as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Snapshot, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano Docs: Pledging and rewards, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Minimum Pool Cost, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Pledge, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: k parameter, as of 2026-10-27
• Koios API: totals (epoch 664), as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Pool Saturation, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Monetary Expansion Rate, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: Treasury Cut, as of 2026-10-27
• CIP-0030: Cardano dApp-Wallet Web Bridge, as of 2026-10-27
• Cardano.org Glossary: CIP-30, as of 2026-10-27
• CIP-0008: Message Signing, as of 2026-10-27