Best Staking Cryptos in 2023

What are some of the best staking cryptos out there? 
 
I will provide my list of preferred digital assets to earn passive income through staking (yes, there are other passive income methods in crypto too, but this is the most common). 
 
How to define “best” in this case? I will use the following criteria to work this out: 
 
— Convenience — How many non-custodial (cold) wallets (NCWs) and exchanges permit staking? I will prioritise hardware wallets throughout this and will touch on exchanges towards the end. 

— Staking yields — How generous (and sustainable) are the yields presented? Bear in mind that higher staking APYs contribute to greater inflation (unless a deflationary mechanism such as a coin burn is in place, e.g., BNB, ETH). 

— Market position — Are they in the top 20, 50, or ranked below 100? 

— Withdrawing (Unstaking) your funds — How long will it take to access your staked funds and the associated reward? 
 
Cardano (ADA) 
 
Staking on Cardano has been possible since the beginning of the Shelley era in July 2020. 
 
Some NC (i.e., self-custody) wallets supporting ADA staking include Yoroi, Daedalus and Adalite, with the two options being open-source. These offer the best compatibility with different hardware wallets, particularly Ledger and Trezor models (only the Trezor Model T, not One). 
 
If you don’t have a hardware wallet, you can create an alternate NCW for use on desktop or mobile. These allow you to do this, and additional choices such as Exodus, Atomic and Guarda are available too. 
 
It is common to see annual rewards of up to 5%. However, owing to the vast range of staking providers (see below), this can vary, especially with exchanges charging commissions for this service. 
 
Ethereum (ETH) 
 
The leading smart-contracts platform launched this service in late 2020, following Beacon Chain’s start, which marked its transition to PoS. 
 
Ledger permits ETH staking via Kiln and Lido, the latter being the most popular PoS pool in this ecosystem, covering roughly a quarter of the total ETH staked. To promote PoS decentralisation, I recommend using a pool outside the ten biggest ones, not just for ETH but with any crypto asset. 

BNB (BNB) 
 
Formerly known as Binance Coin, it is the native asset of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. 
 
To clarify, Binance’s centralised exchange (www.binance.com) and its decentralised equivalent (www.binance.org) are two different things for those who use NCWs. 
 
A popular choice for BNB holders is to use Trust Wallet, Binance’s official wallet, available across numerous platforms. It offers BNB staking rewards of up to 11%. 

Image by WindAwake on Shutterstock 

BNB holders also benefit from a quarterly coin burn (21 to date), automatically adjusted to remove x number of coins relative to the BNB prices and blocks produced by BNB Chain during this period. This will continue until only 100 million coins (down from 200M initially). So, this deflationary supply could be advantageous for long-term coin holders; more on this in a future piece. 
 
Polygon (MATIC) 
 
The leading layer 2 platform offers staking for Ledger holders using the Ethereum blockchain. Compatible Polygon wallets include Ledger Live (which allows MATIC staking), MEW and MyCrypto. 
 
This link provides a tutorial on how to stake MATIC using your Ledger device. Just so you know, all Ledger wallets support staking, including any entry-level options. 
 
To help you find a suitable validator, I recommend this website to help you compare performances among the various participants in real time. 
 
In terms of rewards, the official Polygon website lists a typical APR of 4.95%, with details for anyone wishing to run a node to become a validator. 
 
It is important to remember that Polygon (MATIC) staking occurs on the Ethereum network primarily for security purposes. I would advise you to read the Delegator FAQs on Polygon’s official website prior to commencing any staking. 
 
As per Trezor (Model T), the workaround here would be similar to Ethereum by using MetaMask. I am still trying to discover another third-party service that allows you to connect with Trezor, though I imagine there will be more options down the track. 
 
For those who don’t have a hardware wallet, it is generally best practice to use the official wallet featured by any given blockchain project. In this case, that would be the Polygon Wallet (which subsequently connects with MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet* and other providers. 

Polkadot (DOT) 
 
A leading interoperability platform founded by Dr Gavin Wood (also a co-founder of Ethereum), Polkadot is a popular staking crypto that has been sitting in the top 20 for the past few years, with an attractive yield of roughly 11% p.a. 

Avalanche (AVAX) 
 
The best NCW choice for staking AVAX would be to go through the dedicated Avalanche Wallet, which allows you to create your wallet or be accessed via a Ledger device. 

Algorand (ALGO) 
 
ALGO can be accessed through Ledger Live, MyAlgo Wallet and the Algorand (now Pera) Wallet. 
 

Wildcards: Solana (SOL) 
 
I can hear and see the disdain already by Solana fans that I am featuring this hear on my ‘wildcards’ list. 

Cosmos (ATOM) 
 
With over $2 billion of ATOM staked and an impressive estimated APY of ~22%, Cosmos has remained a popular choice for several years. 

Shiba Inu (SHIB) 
 
Worthy of a mention (at least a passing one) despite its meme-coin label. There is a lot of activity on this network and an enthusiastic community behind this. It will do well in any bull runs down the track, as a handful of meme coins often do.