Delegate $ESP

If you don’t run an Espresso validator, you can still put your $ESP tokens to work by delegating them. Delegation means you temporarily assign your tokens to an Espresso validator, who stakes them on your behalf. In return, you earn staking rewards, minus the validator’s commission.

To delegate your tokens please visit: https://stake.espresso.network/

Connecting Your Wallet

• Click Connect Your Wallet.

• Once connected, you’ll see key account information, such as your available balance, your staked amount or your claimable rewards.

Choosing a Validator

Each validator sets a commission rate, which is deducted from your rewards in exchange for running the infrastructure that stakes your tokens. When selecting a validator, you can consider helpful data including: total stake, commission rate or missed slots.

NOTE: Only top 100 validators are eligible to receive rewards. If you delegate to a validator outside the top 100, you will not receive rewards till they enter the top 100.

Delegating Your Tokens

• Once you select a validator, click Delegate.

• Review key validator details (e.g., APY, commission), then choose the amount of $ESP you want to delegate.

• Approve the transaction.

• Confirm the delegation.

Manage Your Stakes

After your delegation transaction has been confirmed, you will start getting rewards. You can check your current stakes in the My Stakes section.

• Click Manage next to the validator you want to adjust.

• From here, you can delegate more or undelegate.

• When undelegating, you may choose to remove all your stake or only part of it.

• Note that it takes around 7 days to complete your undelegation, and you can only have one pending undelegation per validator at any given time.

Claiming Your Rewards

Once you've delegated, rewards accrue automatically every time the validators you've delegated to propose blocks (see Staking Rewards Calculation for the math). Your claimable rewards balance is visible on the dashboard after you connect your wallet, but rewards are not credited to your wallet automatically — you must claim them on Ethereum.

To claim:

• Open your dashboard and locate the claimable rewards balance.

• Initiate the claim from the dashboard and approve the resulting Ethereum transaction in your wallet.

The transaction calls the Reward Claim contract, which verifies a Merkle proof of your lifetime rewards against the on-chain Light Client and mints the difference between what you've earned and what you've already claimed.

A few things to keep in mind:

• The contract tracks lifetime rewards rather than per-claim amounts, so you can claim as often or as rarely as you like — there's no penalty for waiting and accumulating.

• Each claim is an on-chain Ethereum transaction, so gas costs apply. Less frequent claims can reduce overall gas spend.

• Rewards do not compound automatically. To compound, claim and then re-delegate the claimed tokens — see Do Rewards Compound?.

• For deployed Reward Claim contract addresses on each network, see Networks → Contracts.