Crypto Staking is a process by which a cryptocurrency holder can earn rewards on their tokens by locking them up to support the blockchain network’s functioning.
Cryptocurrencies once staked become part of the consensus mechanism that is called Proof of Stake.
In this article, we will look into details about how staking works, what its purpose is, and the list of top crypto staking platforms that give high returns.
What is Crypto Staking
Crypto staking is the process by which a user gives up their control over the cryptocurrencies that they hold in order to earn rewards.
The crypto staking mechanism can be compared to the process of depositing money in a fixed deposit account to earn interest. The key difference here is that you are volunteering to give your tokens into the system instead of money.
The Crypto Staking mechanism helps the user generate passive income while contributing to the working of the blockchain network.
In the next section, we will look at some of the best platforms to stake your tokens through.
Which are the best platforms to stake cryptocurrencies?
In this section, we will take a look at the charges and the features that each cryptocurrency platform offers to its customers and do a comparative analysis between each of these platforms to find the one that is the most suitable for staking cryptocurrencies.
Given below is a list of top crypto staking platforms with their basic transaction charges and options that they give to their users.
OKX
This popular cryptocurrency exchange platform supports over 250+ cryptocurrencies and offers its users the ability to participate in network validation without having to deal with the complexities of running their node.
The platform provides dedicated ETH 2.0 staking services along with Proof of reserves and issues Additional rewards through Airdrops
Here is an overview of the fees and payment options that it accepts along with their respective Annual Percentage Yield.
| Deposit method and fees | Only with cryptocurrencies |
| Fees | No fee |
| Withdrawal Fees | Varies depending on the crypto token |
| Trading Fees | 0.08% Maker fee 0.1% Taker fee |
| APY | 4% – 20% |
Binance
The Binance website lets you buy, sell, and trade with over 500 cryptocurrencies. The Binance website provides its users with educational resources that will help them carry out their trading activities.
Looking at some of the benefits offered by the website we can see that the Binance platform offers a much higher APR than other platforms.
The table below shows the details regarding the methods of payment and the fee structure of the Binance platform.
| Deposit method and fees | Wire transfers, Debit cards, Credit cards, Apple Pay, Cryptocurrencies |
| Fees | Bank transfer: No fees Wire transfer: No fees Debit card: 3.75% charge Apple Pay: 3.75% fee Cryptocurrency: No fees |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 0-0.30% Maker fees0-0.45% Taker fees |
| APY | 1.2% |
Bybit
Bybit specializes in perpetual contract trading for major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Ripple.
It has a well-designed interface and well-set-up trading features
It gives the user access to a lot of Advanced Tools and options to leverage trading.
The platform accepts a number of different methods of payment including Debit cards, Credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.
According to their website, the charges levied on withdrawal and processing of transactions change with the order and nature of the transaction.
KuCoin
Kucoin was established in 2017 with the aim of providing inclusive finance through offerings for diverse trading pairs and stake services.
Kucoin lets its users stake coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Kucoin shares (KCS) to earn yields.
Kucoin offers the following payment structure in its platform
| Deposit method and fees | Accepts Visa and MasterCard, Paypal, and Bank transfers |
| Fees | Bank transfer: No fees Visa: 3.8% MasterCard: 3.8% Cryptocurrency: No fees |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 0.1% Maker 0.1% Taker |
| APY | 10% |
CoinBase
Coinbase was established in 2012. Its highlighting feature is that it lets the user buy cryptocurrencies through fiat currency.
It is also a publicly traded company that stores its US dollar balances in FDIC-insured banks which provides an additional layer of protection against vulnerabilities.
The charges related to Coinbase platforms are given below.
| Deposit method and fees | Accepts Debit Card, Credit card, Wire transfer, Apple Pay, Paypal, Google Pay |
| Fees | May vary with payment method |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 0.4% Maker Fee 0.6% Taker Fee |
| APY | 5.75% |
Crypto.com
Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is an all-encompassing cryptocurrency staking broker.
For many of the well-known cryptocurrencies, the site offers excellent annual percentage rates, making it one of the best locations to stake cryptocurrency.
The rewards are distributed to users in their crypto-staking wallets and are received in the format of staked currency.
The Crypto.com site offers the following payment options and charges the fees as shown below
| Deposit method and fees | Credit Card, Debit card, Cryptocurrency, Bank transfer |
| Fees | Bank transfer: No fees Debit card: No fees Credit card: No fees Cryptocurrency: No fees |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 0% to 0.075% maker-taker fees |
| APY | 8% |
Kraken
Kraken is considered one of the top three most liquid exchanges alongside Binance and Coinbase’s centralized staking platforms.
Kraken emphasizes on-chain staking while utilizing the point of stake to generate its yield.
The deposit methods, fees, and Annual payment yield of Kraken are as follows
| Deposit method and fees | Bank transfer, Crypto, Visa and MasterCard, ACH online banking |
| Fees | Bank transfer: No fees Visa: 3.75% MasterCard: 3.75% ACH: 0.50% + 0.9% to 1.5% Cryptocurrency: No fees |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 0.1% to 0.16% Maker 0.2% to 0.26% Taker |
| APY | 3% – 20% |
Gemini
Gemini is another one of the popular crypto-staking platforms that emphasize security and regulators’ compliance. It offers support for staking for tokens like Polygon (MATIC) and Ethereum (ETH) to help generate passive income opportunities for their users.
The Gemini platform has the following payment and fee structure
| Deposit method and fees | Crypto, Debit card, ACH, Paypal, Wire transfer |
| Fees | Wire transfer: No fees Debit card: 3.49% ACH: no fee Cryptocurrency: No fees PayPal: 2.50% |
| Withdrawal Fees | Fees may vary |
| Trading Fees | 1.49% for trades over $200 |
| APY | 4.25% |
Nexo
Focusing on the stability and user-friendliness offered to the user the Nexo platform prompts its users to hold NEXO tokens to increase their yields.
The platform is quite versatile catering to both beginners and Advanced users.
The fees and methods of deposit for the website are as follows
| Deposit method and fees | Crypto, Credit card, Debit card |
| Fees | No fee |
| Withdrawal Fees | None |
| Trading Fees | None |
| APY | 4% – 12% |
Aave
Aave works as a Decentralized Financial (DeFi) protocol which lets its users stake AAVE tokens and its supported assets like ETH and DAI.
The platform lets the users withdraw their yields anytime but one thing to keep in mind is the existence of a 10-day cooldown period before staking and a two-day window that follows afterward.
The below table shows an overview of the different charges and payment methods that exist in the platform.
| Deposit method and fees | Only Cryptocurrencies |
| Fees | No fees |
| Withdrawal Fees | No fees |
| Trading Fees | 0.09% |
| APY | 12.22% |
Now let us look at what we can gather from studying the information that has been given about various exchanges.
Also, Read: Is Re-Staking The Key To Increasing Crypto Earnings?
Final Thoughts
Looking at the various options available to choose from when it comes to cryptocurrency staking we can find that different websites cater to the different needs of the customers.
We cannot thus say that there is a perfect cryptocurrency exchange platform that will be able to cater to every demand of the user but what we can still see is that a potential customer can choose from the list of exchanges given above according to the balance they want to bring between lowered charges and higher functionalities and features.
