Prime

Stake assets on Coinbase Prime

Before taking action

Staking functionality varies by protocol and by the validator type used. Review the staking asset guides provided in this article: Introduction to staking on Coinbase Prime before you initiate staking.

You must have one of the following roles to complete the steps outlined in this article: Administrator, Initiator, Authorized Signatory, or Full Trader.

Expand each section below to learn how to add new funds to a staked wallet, change staking amounts, change staking validators, stake assets, unstake assets, and how to view staked assets and rewards. You can stakes additional assets outside of Coinbase Prime using Coinbase Developer Platform services, but this article is only applicable to the assets listed above when staking on Coinbase Prime.

You can add new principal funds to an existing staked wallet for some eligible assets on Coinbase Prime. The way in which you can stake your new principal funds to an existing staked wallet varies by asset. Review the definitions and table below to determine if you can add new principal funds to a staked wallet and how to stake those funds.

  • Net new principal: the ability to add net new principal funds to a staked wallet

    • Yes: You can add new principal funds to a staked wallet

    • No: You can’t add new principal funds to a staked wallet

  • Staking action: how your net new principal funds can be staked

    • Automatic: Net new principal funds added to a staked wallet are automatically staked

    • Manual: Net new principal funds added to a staked wallet must be manually restaked

    • Move or unstake: Net new principal funds added to a staked wallet can’t be staked unless you unstake the staked balance and then restake the new balance. You won’t generate rewards when you unstake assets due to the unbonding period. You can create a new wallet to stake new funds instead of adding them to an existing staked wallet to continue generating rewards.

Review the asset specific articles below for more detail on which assets support adding new funds to a staked wallets.

You can only change staking amounts for Polkadot (DOT). This action isn’t available for other assets.

You can change the staking amounts to unbond part of the currently bonded balance for some supported assets on Coinbase Prime.

To change a staked amount:

  1. Sign in to Coinbase Prime.

  2. From the portfolio tab, search for the asset.

  3. Click the asset to open the asset page.

  4. Under Vault Balance, click the … ellipses icon next to the wallet you’d like to use.

  5. Select Change Stake.

  6. After reviewing the information in the pop-up window, click Continue.

  7. Select or enter the validator address.

  8. Enter the number of tokens you’d like to change.

  9. Click Preview.

  10. Click Initiate Staking.

  11. Verify your identity with YubiKey.

  12. This action requires additional consensus approvals before your request is processed.

You can delegate to different validators on Coinbase Prime without unbonding and restaking your assets. For example, if you initially delegate to a Coinbase Custody or Coinbase Developer Platform public validator and then decide you want to stake to a Coinbase Developer Platform dedicated validator.

The following supported assets allow you to change validators without unbonding and staking your assets: Cosmos and Polkadot.

To change validators:

  1. Sign in to Coinbase Prime.

  2. From the portfolio tab, search for the asset.

  3. Click the asset to open the asset page.

  4. Under Vault Balance, click the … ellipses icon far next to the wallet you’d like to use.

  5. For Cosmos, select Change Validator. For Polkadot, select Change Stake.

  6. After reviewing the information in the pop-up window, click Continue.

  7. Select or enter the validator address.

  8. Enter the number of tokens you'd like to change.

    • You may not be able to change this number.

  9. Click Preview.

  10. Click Initiate Staking.

  11. Verify your identity with YubiKey.

  12. This action may require additional consensus approvals before your request is initiated.

To change the validator for Solana or Celo, you’ll need to unstake and then restake your assets. You can't change validators for Tezos or ETH.


To stake assets:

  1. Sign in to Coinbase Prime.

  2. From the portfolio tab, search for the asset.

  3. Click the asset to open the asset page. 

  4. Under Vault Balance, click the … ellipses icon next to the wallet you’d like to use.

    • You must have a vault wallet (cold wallet) set up and deposit funds prior to staking.

  5. Select Stake.

  6. After reviewing the information in the pop-up window, click Continue.

    • You may be required to sign a staking addendum.

  7. Choose a recommended validator or enter a validator address.

  8. Enter the amount of tokens you’d like to stake. 

    • Some assets require a minimum or maximum value set by the network. Additionally, some allow you to stake partial amounts of a wallet, while others require you to use the entire amount in a wallet.

  9. Click Preview.

  10. Click Initiate Staking.

You can remove your staked balance from earning rewards on Coinbase Prime. See the asset specific articles below for unstaking availability.

To unstake an asset:

  1. Sign in to Coinbase Prime.

  2. From the portfolio tab, search for the asset.

  3. Click the asset to open the asset page.

  4. Under Vault Balance, click the … ellipses icon next to the wallet you’d like to use.

  5. Select Unstake.

  6. After reviewing the information in the pop-up window, click Unstake.

  7. Verify your identity with YubiKey.

  8. This action requires additional consensus approvals.

  9. After consensus is reached, each asset is subject to an unbonding period. You can withdraw the asset after it’s unbonded.

    • Unbonded assets need to be included in a batch before they can be withdrawn. This means you’ll have to wait until the unbonding transaction is included in one of our batch times. Batch times are as follows:

      • US clients: Monday - Friday, 12:00 am, 4:00 am, 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 8:00 pm PST, and Saturday-Sunday, 2:00 pm PST

      • Non-US clients: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm GMT, and Saturday-Sunday, 4:00 pm GMT

After your assets are staked: 

  • The banner at the top of the staking page reflects the total amount of staked assets..  

  • Under Wallets, you’ll see a STAKED flag next to the wallets that are staked

  • The balance next to each wallet is a sum of the information below. Hover over the black information dot next to the balance to view:

    • Withdrawable funds that have been deposited into the wallet but haven't been restaked, they aren’t earning rewards

    • Stake funds that have been staked

    • Pending reward amounts that are attributed to staked amounts that haven't been distributed to the wallet

    • Unbonding funds that are in the process of being unbonded, they aren’t earning rewards and they’re not withdrawable 

  • For ETH, you may  see a lock icon next to the balance because your assets are locked in your staking wallet by the network  

  • Under the individual wallets for ATOM and ETH, you’ll see the pending rewards that will be added to your wallet once they’re available.