The first staking dashboard developed by Polkadot was a challenge for less experienced users, but Polkadot has surprised us this year with the release of a new, more intuitive and user-friendly Staking Dashboard to ensure a better user experience. Let's take a look at the new interface!
Polkadot launches its new Staking Dashboard
When entering the new Staking Dashboard, the first view we find is the Overview, where you can see information about the amount of total nominators, active nominators, and the active era.
Total nominators: reflects the number of accounts that are staking on Polkadot, regardless of whether they are active or inactive.
Active nominators: refers to nominators who are active in the current session. Being an active nominator does not guarantee rewards. It may happen that nominated validators don't have empty slots, i.e. they have already reached the maximum number of nominators required. It is important to verify the current information of each validator before staking (nominating) with them.
Active era: One era is equivalent to 24 hours in Polkadot. At the end of each era, validators receive a DOT reward based on the number of era points they have accumulated in that era. This DOT reward is also distributed to the validator's nominators via a payout.
In this Overview page we can see our DOT balance, including our available DOT, our nominated DOT, or even our DOT in pools, as well as monitor our staking rewards.
Note: in order to stake DOT, you should reserve 1.5 DOT: 1 DOT will be used as a "existential deposit", and 0.5 DOT will be used for the tax fees. In other words, in addition to the amount of DOT you want to nominate, you will need to have an additional 1.5 DOT.
The Overview section also offers the possibility to observe real-time network statistics such as estimated APY, inflation, supply staked and ideal staked:
Estimated apy: This is an estimated annual return based on Polkadot's reward distribution model.
Inflation: as we know, DOT is inflationary, there is no maximum number of DOTs.
Supply staked: refers to the number of DOT tokens that are staked across the network. The percentage of staked DOTs is calculated in relation to the total number of circulating DOT tokens.
Ideal staked: refers to the ideal percentage of the number of circulating tokens that should be staked according to current network conditions.
Currently, a minimum of 10 DOT is required to nominate through native staking (this doesn't apply through nomination pools). However, the rewards system is dynamic and you will not always be eligible for rewards if you only contribute the minimum. The minimum DOT you must nominate to receive rewards will be set under the name "Minimum Active Bond" on the Polkadot Staking Dashboard. Luckily, thanks to the nomination pools, you can stake DOT without the minimum amount required and still be eligible for rewards.
How to stake Polkadot with its new Staking Dashboard?
First, head over to the Polkadot Staking Dashboard. To stake DOT, we must connect our Polkadot.js wallet and click on the "Nominate" tab, in the left side menu of the Staking Dashboard.
In this section where you can find traditional staking and nomination pools. To start nominating DOT, tap on Nominate and click on Start Nominating.
1. Choose a Controller account
In this section we will choose the "Wallet Controller", from which we will control our nomination. This wallet must have 1 DOT deposit to exist on-chain. Once you designate a Controller account, click on "Continue".
2. Choose your staking rewards destination
Now you have to choose the destination of the DOT you will earn from your staking rewards. You will have different options to choose from:
Autocompound: rewards can be automatically bonded on top of your current bond.
Send your rewards to your Stash account.
Send your rewards to your Controller account.
Send your rewards to your external account.
Choose any of the four options and click "Continue". If at any time you want to return to the previous option, click "Update".
3. Nominate DOT to one or more validators
Next, you will have to choose the validator(s) to whom you want to nominate your DOT. You can nominate up to a total of 16 validators. There are two ways to do it, you can choose them automatically through the "Most Profitable" option or you can manually add your favourite validators through the "From Favourites" option.
Select the validators by clicking on "Select". Once selected, click again on "Continue".
4. Bond DOT
Finally, you can nominate DOT. Remember, you need to have minimum 10 DOT to stake. You'll see the amount of DOT available and the maximum amount you can delegate.
Explore the sections of the new Polkadot Staking Dashboard
Payouts
In this section, you can monitor the payout history of your staking rewards. It is useful to keep track of the DOT rewards you have received since you started nominating.
It also shows the amount of DOT that has been paid out in the last era.
Validators
Here you can check the network validators, check how many of them are active validators and the current era.
Total validators: validators are in charge of keeping the Polkadot relay chain secure by producing and validating transaction blocks. Nominators can choose the validators of their choice according to their performance and established commissions.
Active validators: refers to nodes that have been chosen by the system to validate blocks in an era. At the end of an era, validators and their nominators get rewarded. Note that in each era a new set of validators is chosen, so the same validators will not always be active, that is why the staking system allows users to nominate up to 16 validators, so they will have more chances that another of their nominated validators will be chosen.
Era: as mentioned above, an era is equivalent to 24 hours, and at the end of the era the rewards are distributed among the validators and their nominators.
Community
In the Community section you can obtain information about the validator nodes that make up the Polkadot community. There is a link to each validator node and their social networks. This information makes it easier for nominators to choose their trusted validators.
Favourites
In Favourites, you will find the validators that you have selected as favourites. To do so, click on the star next to them in the "Validators" section.
Feedback
The Polkadot developers have left the door open for all parties involved in staking to give feedback on the performance of the Polkadot Staking Dashboard. Anyone wishing to give their feedback or make a request can enter a title, details and upload an image and then proceed to create a post that will immediately become visible to the general public.
Final thoughts
Polkadot's new Staking Dashboard has far surpassed its predecessor, considerably improving the user experience by being more intuitive. In addition to having a very illustrative and complete UI/UX, users have all the necessary information that will allow them to nominate DOT safely and successfully. We love the new Polkadot's Staking Dashboard!