Staking is the one way to earn on crypto that does not require you to predict anything. You are not trading, and you are not lending to a borrower who might default. You are locking coins to help secure a proof-of-stake blockchain, and the network pays you out of newly issued supply for doing it.
That is the honest version. The version in most marketing is a large percentage next to a coin logo, with no mention of who is paying it, what it costs you, or what happens if you need the coins back early. This guide covers those three things.
What staking actually is
A proof-of-stake network needs participants to put capital at risk in order to validate transactions. Validators lock coins as collateral; if they validate honestly they earn a share of newly issued coins, and if they misbehave part of their stake can be destroyed. That penalty is called slashing, and it is what makes the whole system work — the security comes from the fact that cheating costs money.
Delegating is how ordinary holders take part. You do not run a validator, you point your coins at someone who does, and you share in what they earn. The yield is not a company paying interest out of profits. It is the network paying for security, which is why staking yields on established chains tend to be modest and relatively stable rather than spectacular.
Exchange staking is a different product wearing the same name
When you stake through an exchange, the exchange runs the validators and you never touch the machinery. You deposit, you press a button, rewards appear in your account. The convenience is real and it is why most people stake this way.
What you give up is worth stating plainly. The coins are in the exchange's custody, not yours — the standard "not your keys, not your coins" caveat applies in full. The exchange keeps a share of the reward as its fee, so the rate you are shown is already net of that cut and lower than what the network actually pays. And the terms are set by the exchange, not the protocol: an exchange can change a rate, cap a product, or close it, none of which the underlying chain would have done.
Flexible or locked — the choice that sets your yield
Flexible products let you withdraw at any time and pay the lower rate. Locked products pay more and hold your coins for a fixed term, commonly anywhere from a week to several months. The gap between the two is the price the exchange puts on certainty.
The trap is not the lock itself, it is when the lock binds. Crypto falls fastest in exactly the weeks you would most want to sell, and a locked position cannot be sold — you watch it. A rate that looked generous in a calm month can be wiped out several times over by one move you could not exit. If you would be unable to leave a position alone through a 40% drawdown, the flexible rate is the one that actually applies to you.
What can go wrong
Four risks, in roughly the order they bite. The token price is the largest by far: a 10% yield on an asset that halves is a loss, and most staking losses are really price losses wearing a yield label. Lock-up is second, for the reason above. Third is the exchange itself — staked coins sit on the platform, and platform risk is not eliminated by the fact that the coins are earning.
Slashing is fourth and is the one people worry about most while it matters least here. On a major chain, with an exchange running professional validator infrastructure, slashing is rare. Worth understanding, not worth losing sleep over.
What is missing from that list is a guarantee. Staking rewards are variable by design — they move with how much total stake is on the network and with what the exchange decides to keep. Any figure you see is a snapshot, including the one on the exchange page you are about to open.
Where the six exchanges stand
All six exchanges we track run an earn product, and they are more alike than the marketing suggests: flexible and locked tiers, a menu of supported coins, a bonus rate for new accounts on some of them. OKX puts the most into this area — its Earn section under the Grow tab carries the widest menu of the six and is the reason to open OKX rather than a cheaper venue if idle assets are your main concern.
Rates change constantly and differ by coin, term and account tier, so we do not publish a table of them here — a number we quoted this month would be wrong next month, and you would find out after depositing. Open the earn page on the exchange itself and read the live rate before you commit. What is worth comparing in advance is the trading cost around it, because the coins you stake still have to be bought and eventually sold: MEXC charges 0% on spot, and Bybit, OKX, Bitget and Gate.io take 20% off their standard fee when you register through a referral link.
Is it worth doing?
For coins you already intend to hold through a cycle, yes, on flexible terms — you are being paid for a position you were holding anyway, and flexible staking barely constrains you. That is the whole case, and it is a decent one.
For anything else, be sceptical. Staking is not a reason to buy a coin you would not otherwise own, and a high advertised rate on an obscure token is usually compensation for risk rather than a gift. If the yield is the most interesting thing about an asset, the asset is the problem.