AKASH: Staking and Delegating AKT

The Akash Network is a a secure, transparent, and decentralized cloud computing marketplace that connects those who need computing resources (tenants) with computing capacity to lease (providers). Skip ahead to our Akash staking guide.

AKASH Primer

The foundational design objective of the Akash Network is to maintain a low barrier to entry for providers while at the same time ensuring that clients can trust the resources that the platform offers them. The system requires a publicly-verifiable record of transactions within the network to achieve this. To that end, the Akash Network is implemented using blockchain technologies to reach consensus on a distributed database’s integrity.

Why Stake with Figment?

EXPERIENCED & TRUSTED

• Figment is a venture funded, registered Canadian company based in Toronto. Canada offers stability, rule of law, and clear crypto regulation.
• Servicing the world’s largest AKT holders.
• 30+ years of experience successfully scaling internet infrastructure companies.

FEATURES & BENEFITS

• 5% commission rate to our AKT delegators.
• Figment Prime & discounts available for large AKT holders. Contact us for more information.
• Active participant in the AKASH ecosystem.

SECURITY & SAFETY

• The world’s most advanced physical IDC + multi-cloud staking infrastructure.
• You maintain the custody of your AKT at all times.
• Third-party custody solutions are available through our institutional partners. Contact us for more information.

COMPLIANCE

• Protected via industry-leading Staking & Delegation agreement.

Akash Token

Akash’s token, AKT, is primarily used for three things: staking, lease settlement, and acting as a unit of measure for pricing all the currencies supported by the marketplace. Akash referred to this as Resolve, Reward, and Reserve.

Akash is a Proof-of-stake network where proposals are weighted by the proposer’s voting power (Resolve). Voting power is made of the tokens that they staked and the tokes bonded to them from delegators.

Stakers are rewarded proportional to the number of tokens they’ve staked, the lockup time’s length, and the overall number of tokens staked in the system (Reward). Akash has two block explorers, Aneka and Big Dipper.

AKASH supported Wallets

Akash supports two staking wallets Cosmostation and Keplr. In this walkthrough, we’ll be using Keplr.

Alternatively, you can delegate to us directly using Akash command-line interface (CLI).

Figment’s Akash validator address: akashvaloper1mp0t9f4lpgu2tqa2maxk3vp8kugn8meyua86fh

AKT is on several exchangesfor buying and trading AKT; you can find their full list here on their website here.

Ready to Stake?

If you don’t already, install the Keplr wallet extension onto your browser. After installation, once you click on the K in your extension bar, it will open a page that looks like the one above. Follow the steps to make a new wallet or reactivate one that you already have.

To deposit or Send AKT, hit the dropout button at the top of the wallet and select Akash.

Hit the deposit button, and the wallet will pull up an account for you to send AKT to stake.

Head to wallet.keplr.app and navigate down the side to Akash’s drop-down and click “Stake.”

Find us in the list of Validators, set your amount, and click delegate. Double-check the details and submit. You can check your delegations on the dashboard.

That’s it! You have successfully delegated your AKT tokens.

Calculate Rewards for Stakers

Let’s go through some scenarios to calculate rewards if you delegated 1,000 AKT, with a 5% commission rate. This is subject to change depending on inflation, and rewards are reported in Akash tokens (AKT).

The compound reward numbers are estimates based on if an AKT delegator claimed an redelegated on a weekly basis. For more scenarios, head over to this site for up-to-date statistics.

Frequently Asked Questions

When are staking rewards enabled? When are transfers enabled?

Both are enabled.

What is the name of the asset being staked?

Akash’s native token, AKT, is used to stake and to participate in on-chain governance.

Which type(s) and what rate of rewards can I expect?

~56% yearly in AKT tokens.

Do I maintain custody of my AKT tokens? Who or what controls my staked AKT token?

You can self-custody your Akash AKT tokens, ideally using a Ledger hardware wallet.

We recommend using the Keplr web wallet.

The Akash protocol takes control of your AKT tokens while you are staking. If you unbond your tokens, this process will take 21 days before the protocol returns your tokens to you. While your AKTs are staked, you may participate in on-chain governance by voting on different proposals.

How long does it take to unstake?

21 days

From the moment you initiate the unbonding process, it takes 21 days to unstake. During this time, you will not earn rewards. When the process is complete, you can transfer/trade your AKT tokens.

Can my staked AKT be slashed (seized or destroyed)?

0.01% slash for ~16.5 hours downtime; 5% slash for equivocation.

Yes, a portion of your staked AKT can be destroyed. There are two ways this can happen:

• If you delegate to a validator that is offline for over 16.5 hours (assuming 6.25s blocktimes), you will lose 0.01% of the tokens you have delegated to that validator.
• If you delegate to a validator that signs the same block twice with the same key, you will lose 5% of the tokens you have delegated to that validator.

What is the rate of new issuance (aka “annual inflation”) for AKT? How does the token supply change?

Akash is reporting 49.9% inflation, but the average blocktime changes the effective new issuance.

As of Feb 10th, 2021, Akash is effectively issuing new tokens at an annual rate of ~50% of the total supply. 98% of the new issuance is distributed to stakers, and 2% is held in the community pool (which may be distributed arbitrarily via on-chain governance proposal).

Under 67% of the token supply is staked, so the reported inflation (aka new issuance rate) will increase to a maximum of 58%. If over 67% of the supply is staked, the inflation will begin to decrease before bottoming out at 46%.

The network is currently staked at 85.9%. The community passed a governance proposal implementing the first scheduled inflation rate from the original rate of ~52% to ~47%.

How are decisions about the Akash network made and executed?

On-chain governance via a token-weighted vote.

The Akash network uses on-chain governance that is nearly identical to that of the Cosmos Hub. Proposals are created to coordinate together with a signaling proposal, spend funds from the community pool, or change various network parameters (economic or otherwise).

1000 AKT must be deposited as a bond for an Akash proposal to be voted upon. Voting lasts for 14 days. 33.4% of staked AKT must participate for the proposal to be valid. A simple majority is then required for the proposal to pass, but 33.4% can veto the proposal.You can watch proposal activity here: https://akash.aneka.io/proposals.

Originally published at https://figment.io/