Staking Flow
Celestia staking follows the Cosmos SDK model, so the mechanics are the same as Cosmos Hub: you delegate TIA to a validator, rewards accrue separately from your balance, and exiting goes through a ~21-day unbonding period.
Staking user journey
A high-level view of what happens to your TIA and the wait times involved. Each box is a state of your funds; the arrows are the actions (and the time) that move between them.
Staking parameters
Key parameters for planning a Celestia integration:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Staking type | Native (Cosmos family) |
| Networks | Mainnet, Testnet |
| API minimum | None |
| Stake activation | Immediate (next block) |
| Unbonding / lock when exiting | ~21-day unbonding |
| Rewards model | Manual claim (claim-rewards); delegate and undelegate also auto-withdraw pending rewards |
Stake (delegation)
Staking on Celestia involves delegating TIA, the native token of the Celestia network, to a validator. Validators participate in consensus and governance. By staking your TIA, you help secure the network and earn rewards.
- Delegate Tokens: Use the delegate function to allocate a specific amount of TIA to the chosen validator.
- Transaction Confirmation: Once submitted, the transaction will be validated and included in a block. You are now officially staking and will begin to accumulate rewards based on the validator's performance.
On Celestia, any staking-module action that changes a delegation also withdraws that validator's accrued rewards to your wallet. Delegating (like undelegating) automatically sends any pending rewards to your liquid balance in the same transaction. Use claim-rewards when you only want to withdraw rewards without changing your stake.
Unstake (Undelegation)
Unstaking in the Cosmos ecosystem is called undelegation. It is the process of withdrawing staked tokens from a validator, which is subject to an unbonding period.
- Initiate Undelegation: Use the undelegate function to start the process of withdrawing your staked TIA from the validator.
- Unbonding Period: Undelegated tokens are locked for a 21-day unbonding period, during which they do not earn rewards and cannot be transferred.
- Completion: After the unbonding period, tokens are automatically released and can be freely transferred or restaked.
Claiming Rewards
Rewards accrue automatically but stay separate from your wallet balance until they are withdrawn. Any staking-module action that changes a delegation (delegate or undelegate) auto-withdraws that validator's pending rewards to your wallet; you can also claim them explicitly at any time without changing your stake.
- Check Accumulated Rewards: Verify your accumulated rewards through the balances endpoint or just check an explorer.
- Claim Rewards: Use the
claim-rewardsaction to transfer your accumulated staking rewards into your wallet. - Reinvestment or Transfer: After claiming, rewards can be reinvested by staking them with a validator or used for other transactions.