How to Stake Hydra (HYDRA) - Tutorial

Everything you need to know about Staking HYDRA.

You can either stake on exchange pools (such as Kucoin) or set up your own node.

Supported operating systems are Windows, macOS and Linux. You can also use your Raspberry Pi or stake on a VPS.

Get ready to enjoy more than a 100% APY reward rate based off current parameters! Make sure to stay up to date with inflation and total staked amount as this can affect the reward rate.

What is HYDRA Staking?

HYDRA is a proof of stake blockchain network. Staking is a critical activity for the maintenance of the blockchain. The more nodes are online, the better it is for the health of the chain, as it increases redundancy and at the same time strengthens the protective shield against attacks.

Some advantages of Staking HYDRA Include:

Stake on Exchange Pools (such as Kucoin)

If you are not a Kucoin user you must register first here and after that, you can Stake HYDRA with their custodial earn service Pool-X.

Setup your own Node

For further resources on setting up your own node please visit this documentation portal.

Prerequisites

For starters, you need to own HYDRA. You can buy these from KuCoin or other supported exchanges.

Next, you should make sure to download and become familiar with the Hydra Wallet.

Lastly, you’ll want to be aware of all the risks associated with staking HYDRA.

How to Stake HYDRA

Step 1

First, get the Hydra Wallet by downloading it here.

Always check for the latest version.

Step 2

Encrypting the wallet

Let's encrypt our wallet and set a password for it. It is important to set a very secure password and store it somewhere extremely safe such as writing it down on a piece of paper and placed in a secure location.

Begin by starting up the HYDRA wallet from the start menu shortcut. Click on ‘Settings’ at the top, and then select ‘Encrypt wallet’.

Enter your password twice to confirm it, making sure it is the difficult password to guess and you have a way to remember it, then click ‘OK’.

You will be prompted to make sure you have noted your passphrase and to verify that you wish to encrypt. Click yes when you are ready to proceed.

The software will take a few moments to encrypt the wallet and it will then alert you that in order to complete the process it must close the application. Click ‘OK’ to close and complete the process.

We will now reopen the HYDRA wallet software to start up the wallet in encrypted mode. From now on your password will be required for performing wallet functions such as enabling staking, sending out funds, or importing/exporting private keys.

Step 3

Importing the private key

Once we have re-initialized the HYDRA wallet we can import our private key(s) — This is the key that you may have created previously using the Web wallet method If you wish to start fresh instead and use one of the addresses automatically generated by default in the HYDRA wallet you can skip to Step 4.

Navigate to ‘Help’ above and click ‘Information window’.Ensure in the new window that opens that ‘Console’ above is selected.

From here we will be importing our private key. Firstly we’ll need to unlock the wallet by entering our passphrase. The command to unlock the wallet from the console for a duration of three minutes is:

walletpassphrase “yourpassphrase” 180

You should see a response that displays ‘null’ which indicates that your password has been accepted. You now have three minutes to import your private key before it locks again. If you wish to extend the time that the wallet is unlocked you can increment the time in seconds by setting 180 to a higher number.

The command to import your private key is:

importprivkey “yourprivatekey”

After entering your key and pressing enter, The wallet will rescan. You can confirm that your key has been successfully imported with another ‘null’ message. You may now close this console window.

Step 4

Confirm your address

Navigate to the ‘Recieve’ tab above and click ‘CHANGE DEFAULT ADDRESS’ to confirm that your new imported address is displayed. It should match the address that you have created if you imported it from the Webwallet. You can select your address and then click the button that says ‘Choose’.

Step 5

Backing up our wallet

We will now backup our encrypted wallet. Click ‘File’ above and then ‘Backup wallet’:

You can now save the wallet.dat

Be sure to store your wallet in a secure location such as an encrypted usb flash drive.

Step 6

Adding Funds

If you have not added funds to your wallet you can now add them safely by sending HYDRA coins and LOC tokens to the address belonging to the private key. This will be the address that you will use when withdrawing funds from the exchange when receiving funds from anywhere else. This can also be the address that you can use to register for airdrops.

Step 7

Enable Staking

The final step after adding HYDRA to our wallet is to navigate to the ‘Stake’ tab and ensure the switch is to the right side to enable staking.

We will need to activate staking and enter our password each time we start the software. To ensure full staking rewards please make sure that the wallet is online and running — otherwise, you could miss out on staking rewards. Once staking is working and you have mature coins, the lightning in the ‘shield’ icon will turn white. You can hover your mouse over the ‘shield’ to see your Network weight and time expected to earn rewards.

Good luck! If you wish you can view instructions HERE for adding the LOC Token contract address in order to see your Token balances. Remember to create a backup after importing Token contracts in order to see them after a restore.

Conclusion

Staking HYDRA natively requires a few extra steps that might not be as easy for certain users to grasp. The great thing about Hydra is the team has partnered with KuCoin to make staking easy for all users. One of the best parts of Staking HYDRA is that there is added security when encrypting the desktop wallet. Some drawbacks are that users may find native staking a bit too complex for their entry point. The team has designed staking incentives to benefit the stakers which can be a good thing for the community, avoiding dumps. Keep up to date with the Hydra block rewards as APY is affected by this and total supply staked, follow along in the Staking Rewards Hydra Calculator page to estimate your staking rewards!

• Hydra
• Airdrop
• Stacking
• Kucoin

How to Get the Hydra Airdrop and Start Staking for 100% + APY

The team behind LockTrip recently launched the Hydra blockchain, along with an amazing airdrop opportunity for holders of LOC (the LockTrip token). In order to receive the full airdrop over 50 weeks, there are certain requirements. Make sure you read the instructions carefully (detailed requirement info here).

Before you begin

I strongly recommend signing up for LockTrip. LockTrip is a travel marketplace offering up to 60% savings off hotel accommodation, created by the makers of the HYDRA chain. By signing up and booking hotels there, you are supporting the Hydra Chain and LockTrip, since 3% of every booking’s value is used to buy and burn the LOC token, and every transaction uses HYDRA! You can also become an affiliate and earn a lifetime 3% commission for all of your referrals’ bookings!

Step 1 — Get some LOC

If you already have some LOC on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC20 LOC), you need to swap it before continuing. Follow these instructions to perform the swap. You can track the progress of your swap here. Once you have completed the swap, go to Step 3.

If you already have some HYDRA (HRC) LOC that you bought recently, you don’t need to perform the swap. If it’s in your own wallet, go to Step 3. If it’s on an exchange, go to Step 2.

If you don’t yet have any LOC, head to Kucoin to get some! It’s also available on Hitbtc or bitcoin.com. All LOC on exchanges is HYDRA (HRC) LOC, so can be withdrawn directly to your HYDRA wallet (Step 2).

Step 2 — Get a HYDRA Wallet

You cannot participate in the HYDRA airdrop with your LOC on an exchange. You must withdraw it to your own HYDRA wallet (send your LOC to your HYDRA receive address). There are two options for storing your LOC in a HYDRA wallet: the web wallet or the installable wallet. The main difference between the two is the installable wallet can be used to stake your HYDRA once received. The web wallet cannot be used for staking.

Step 3 — Complete KYC

The law under which LockTrip operates requires that you complete KYC in order to receive the HYDRA airdrop. Unfortunately there are some countries (including the USA) which are prohibited. You can complete KYC here. You will need to enter your HYDRA wallet address that contains your LOC from Step 1 / 2. Note that driver’s licenses are not a valid form of ID. You will need a passport or national ID card. You can check the progress of your KYC here, under “KYC Status”.

Once you have completed steps 1~3, all you have to do is wait for your HYDRA to arrive!

PLEASE NOTE: Now that the airdrop has begun, any new LOC additions and new KYC submissions will enter a four-week “cool down” period. You will begin receiving the HYDRA airdrop after the cool-down period (for those new LOC).

Step 4 — Stake Your HYDRA (Optional)

Staking is not required to receive the airdrop, however, it’s a great way to further capitalize on it. Using a raspberry pi is a great way to do this, and it’s actually much simpler than setting up AWS. In order to stake, you must install the staking wallet on your computer or on a hosted server, such as AWS. If you are staking on your own computer, it must be left on 24/7.

It’s also possible to stake on Kucoin’s pool-x staking pool. A regular payout is guaranteed, however, the APY is lower than staking yourself. In addition, if you send more than a certain % of your airdropped HYDRA to pool-x to stake, you will disqualify yourself from the remaining HYDRA airdrops. The amount of HYDRA you must keep in your wallet each week is shown in the distribution sheet‘s 5th column (“Week xx Minimum HYDRA Balance”).

Step 5 — Sign up for LockTrip

While you’re here, I strongly recommend signing up for LockTrip! LockTrip is a travel marketplace offering up to 60% savings off hotel accommodation, created by the makers of the HYDRA chain. If you refer people to LockTrip, you will receive 3% of their future booking payments, forever!. LockTrip is also the first project to utilize the HYDRA blockchain.

www.locktrips.com

www.hydrachain.org

LockTrip to enable DGB as a direct payment and become Sponsoring Partner of the DigiByte Foundation!

Today we are excited to announce a major partnership with the DigiByte Foundation — an independent organization supporting DigiByte, one of the first public blockchains in the world, created back in 2013.

LockTrip.com Partners with the DigiByte Foundation

• As part of the partnership, DGB holders will soon be able to spend their coins on the LockTrip travel marketplace, accessing more than 2 million hotels and properties at up to a 60% discount
• DigiByte team members get the ability to make their travel bookings through a dedicated account on the LockTrip.com marketplace
• DigiByte community members will be offered a special discount code on their first booking, allowing them to achieve even higher savings
• LockTrip will set up a dedicated landing page to inform DGB holders on how to use their coins to unlock massive discounts compared to traditional booking sites

Additional events and synergies will be explored in the future.

Rudy Bouwman, Secretary & Vice Chairman of DigiByte Foundation comments on the partnership:

“We’re excited to join the mission of LockTrip to make travel more affordable and having the opportunity to pay with DGB. Moreover LockTrip will be supporting the foundation, by making donations available when bookings are made through the DigiByte project page on their marketplace.”

With this partnership, we are expanding the payment options of LockTrip.com and helping DGB holders bypass unnecessary travel expenses.

Nikola Alexandrov, CEO of LockTrip says:

“We are thrilled to welcome DigiByte to our growing family and see this partnership as a key move towards the expansion of LockTrip within the crypto space.”

About DigiByte

DigiByte is a rapidly growing open-source blockchain created in late 2013 and released in early 2014. After 7 years of forward-thinking development, DigiByte has become one of the safest, fastest, longest, and most decentralized UTXO blockchain in existence.

We welcome the DigiByte project and its team to our ecosystem and are excited to integrate DGB as a payment method into our marketplace.

The integration is scheduled for completion by May 25.

www.locktrips.com

Special 6% additional discount code for Digibyte community — 5YSAY

North Korean Hackers Successfully Phished Cyber Researchers Using a Fake Blog

A recent phishing campaign by North Korean nation-state hackers successfully duped a number of security professionals who were involved in vulnerability research and development, according to a new report from Google’s Threat Analysis Group.

The unnamed threat group used various social engineering tactics to pose as fellow “white hat” security specialists, ensnaring the unsuspecting experts by convincing them that they were looking to collaborate on research, the TAG report shows.

The biggest part of this ruse involved the creation of a fake research blog, replete with write-ups and analysis. The hackers even lured in unsuspecting “guest” security writers to contribute, in an apparent “attempt to build additional credibility.” They also posted YouTube videos via social media in which they deconstructed “fake exploits” that they had executed—another scheme to build trust.

A number of threat researchers spoke out on Twitter Monday night, claiming they had been targeted by the campaign.

The hackers loaded their blog with malware, in an attempt to compromise researchers who visited it. Clicking on a write-up hosted on the site delivered malware and created a backdoor that would “begin beaconing” (i.e., communicating) with the hacker group’s command and control server. Zero-day vulnerabilities were likely used in this campaign, as a majority of targeted individuals were running fully patched Chrome browser and Windows 10 versions, the report notes.

Other methods of malware deployment occurred through “collaboration” on research. The report states:

“After establishing initial communications, the actors would ask the targeted researcher if they wanted to collaborate on vulnerability research together, and then provide the researcher with a Visual Studio Project. Within the Visual Studio Project would be source code for exploiting the vulnerability, as well as an additional DLL that would be executed through Visual Studio Build Events. The DLL is custom malware that would immediately begin communicating with actor-controlled C2 domains.”

A variety of tools were used to aid in the threat group’s deception —including emails, fake Twitter and Telegram accounts, LinkedIn, Keybase, and others. In their report, TAG researchers listed the URLs for a number of now-defunct social media and Linkedin accounts that they say were used in the hack.

“We hope this post will remind those in the security research community that they are targets to government-backed attackers and should remain vigilant when engaging with individuals they have not previously interacted with,” TAG researchers wrote.

https://gizmodo.com