Crypto Staking Calculator

How staking rewards work

Staking locks up your coins to help secure a proof-of-stake network, and in return you earn rewards — quoted as an annual percentage yield (APY). Compounding (re-staking your rewards) grows the balance faster over time. The catch: rewards are paid in the network's token, so your real-world return still depends on the token's price, and high-APY chains often have high token inflation that quietly offsets the headline rate.

Typical 2026 staking yields

Rates as of June 2026 and vary by validator and method. Always confirm the current rate before staking.

A worked example: $5,000 staked for a year

Stake $5,000 of ETH at 3.5% APY and, with no compounding, you'd earn about $175 in ETH over the year. Turn on monthly compounding — re-staking each reward so it earns too — and the effective rate nudges up to roughly 3.56%, about $178. The compounding boost is modest at low APYs but grows meaningfully at higher rates: the same $5,000 at 14% ATOM compounds to about $749 versus $700 simple. The bigger swing, though, is price — if ETH falls 10% over that year, your $175 of rewards is worth less in dollars than the $500 you lost on the position. Staking yield and price risk always travel together.

Native staking vs. liquid staking vs. exchange staking

There are three common ways to stake, and they trade convenience for control. Native staking — running or delegating to a validator yourself — keeps your coins in your own custody and usually pays the full rate, but your funds can be locked during an unbonding period. Liquid staking (for example via Lido or Rocket Pool) gives you a tradeable token representing your staked coins, so you stay liquid and can use that token in DeFi — at the cost of a protocol fee and smart-contract risk. Exchange staking (Coinbase, Kraken, and others) is the easiest — one click, no setup — but you give up custody to the exchange and it skims a cut of the rewards, so your net APY is lower. Beginners often start on an exchange; the more you stake, the more the fee difference is worth doing it yourself.

What the headline APY doesn't tell you

A 14% advertised yield can be worth less than a 3.5% one. Three things eat into the number you actually keep: token inflation (high-APY chains often print new tokens fast, diluting the value of what you earn — "real yield" subtracts inflation from the headline rate), validator and platform commission (typically 5–10%, taken off the top), and lock-up and unbonding periods that can leave you unable to sell while the price drops. Before chasing the biggest number, check the network's real yield after inflation, the commission you'll pay, and how long your coins are frozen if you want out.

How to choose what to stake

The simplest rule: stake coins you'd hold anyway. Staking turns a passive holding into a yield-bearing one, but it doesn't fix a bad investment — if you wouldn't own the token without the rewards, the APY is luring you into price risk you don't want. For most people the order of priority is safety, then liquidity, then yield: an established proof-of-stake network like Ethereum or Cardano at a lower rate is usually a better starting point than a high-inflation chain promising double digits. And remember the rewards are taxable income in most places — here's how staking rewards are taxed.

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