Tezos refers to its staking process as "baking," and validators on the network are called "bakers."

Tezos supports two participation options: delegation and staking.

• Delegation allows you to assign your wallet to a baker without locking your funds.
• Staking involves locking a fixed amount of XTZ, offering higher rewards but also introducing risks such as slashing.

There is no minimum amount required for delegation or staking. However, both have a 5-6 days activation period before rewards begin to accrue. Staked funds have an unbonding period of approximately 4 days before they can be claimed again.

Reward distribution

There is no limit to the number of bakers (staking nodes) in the Tezos network. As a result, staking rewards vary depending on overall network participation. After the 5-6 days activation period, rewards are calculated and distributed approximately every three days.

• Rewards are sent to the same wallet used for delegation or staking.
• They are automatically added to the wallet’s balance and increase the delegated amount.

Staking XTZ in Fireblocks

Before setting up staking, create a dedicated vault account and name it “XTZ Staking.”

• Delegating: The entire balance of the XTZ wallet is delegated. You can transfer funds to or from the wallet at any time.
• Staking: After delegating a wallet, you can stake a fixed amount of XTZ with the same baker.

Rewards are sent to the delegated/staked wallet and are automatically added to its balance. 

Unstaking delay: If you staked XTZ, you must wait approximately 4 days after unstaking before the funds are made available. After this period, call finalizeUnstake() to make the balance liquid again.

Staking and unstaking XTZ

You can use the Fireblocks Tezos Staking SDK to delegate, stake, unstake, and undelegate XTZ. Install the SDK and use the following commands based on your operation:

Delegate

Assign a baker to manage staking for your wallet.

setDelegate(fireblocks, url, destination, vaultAccountId, reveal, testnet);

• reveal must be true if this is the wallet’s first on-chain transaction.
• destination is the baker’s address (tz1...).
• testnet is true if using Ghostnet or another test network.

Stake

Lock a specific amount of XTZ with a previously delegated baker.

setStake(fireblocks, url, vaultAccountId, stakeAmount, testnet, delegateHash);

• stakeAmount is in Tezos (e.g., "5" = 5 XTZ).
• delegateHash is optional and helps sync with the blockchain if you just called setDelegate().

Unstake

Unlock a portion of your previously staked XTZ.

setUnstake(fireblocks, url, vaultAccountId, unstakeAmount, testnet, stakeHash);

Undelegate

Remove the current baker from the wallet.

setDelegate(fireblocks, url, null, vaultAccountId, false, testnet, unstakeHash);

Finalize Unstake

Make previously unstaked funds available after the unbonding period.

Example

Use the following script to perform all staking operations in sequence:

import fs from "fs";
import path from "path";
import { FireblocksSDK } from "fireblocks-sdk";
import { setDelegate, setStake, setUnstake, finalizeUnstake } from "./src/xtz-staker";

require("dotenv").config();

const apiSecret = fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, process.env.FB_API_SECRET_FILE_PATH), "utf8");
const apiKey = process.env.FB_API_KEY || "";
const fireblocks = new FireblocksSDK(apiSecret, apiKey);

const url = process.env.TEZOS_RPC_URL || "https://rpc.ghostnet.teztnets.com";
const destination = process.env.TEZOS_BAKER_ADDRESS;
const vaultAccountId = process.env.FB_VAULT_ID;
const reveal = process.env.REVEAL_ADDRESS === "true";
const testnet = url.includes("ghostnet");
const stakeAmount = process.env.STAKE_AMOUNT || "0";

async function main() {
const delegateHash = await setDelegate(fireblocks, url, destination, vaultAccountId, reveal, testnet);
const stakeHash = await setStake(fireblocks, url, vaultAccountId, stakeAmount, testnet, delegateHash);
const unstakeHash = await setUnstake(fireblocks, url, vaultAccountId, stakeAmount, testnet, stakeHash);
await setDelegate(fireblocks, url, null, vaultAccountId, false, testnet, unstakeHash);
await finalizeUnstake(fireblocks, url, vaultAccountId, testnet);
}

main().then(() => {
console.log("Tezos staking flow completed.");
}).catch(console.error);

Script parameters

Tezos references

• Tezos Staking 
• Open Tezos: Baking
• Rio Upgrade