"Staking" is the chain-neutral umbrella term used across the crypto industry for participating in a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. The mechanics vary by chain: some require locking funds for a fixed period, some can slash your stake for misbehaviour, some require you to run validator infrastructure yourself.
On Cardano, what people colloquially call "staking" is delegation: you assign the stake weight of your ada to a stake pool, which influences how often it produces blocks, but the ada itself stays in your wallet and can move at any time. There is no lock-up, no slashing, and no minimum amount.
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- DelegationThe process of assigning your stake to a stake pool without transferring your ada.View term
- Stake PoolA server node that participates in the Cardano network by validating transactions and producing blocks.View term
- RewardsAda earned by delegators and stake pool operators for participating in the network.View term
- Proof of StakeA consensus mechanism where validators are selected to create blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold and stake (commit) to the network.View term