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!
