Polkadot (DOT) staking can give you excellent returns on your idle spot holdings. Staking DOT on centralized exchanges (CEXs) is a reliable and safe way to earn more DOT tokens with little risk.
We took a glance at all the exchanges to find out which ones offer the best APY (yearly interest) for Polkadot staking. Here are our results!
| Exchange: | Flexible APY: |
|---|---|
| Binance | 1.04% |
| BingX | 3.00% |
| Bybit | 1.50% |
| KuCoin | 1.00% |
| Kraken | 7.00% |
| MEXC (1) | 2.00% |
| Bitget | 5.40% |
| XT | 2.00% |
| Gate | 0.88% |
| HTX | 2.50% |
| Pionex | 0.48% |
| Poloniex | 3.00% |
| OKX (2) | 16.07% |
| Coinbase (3) | 6.92% |
| Bitfinex | 6.50% |
| Bitrue | 7.30% |
- 30-day minimum staking duration on MEXC, with another 15 day redemption period.
- Redemption takes up to 28 days on OKX.
- Up to 14-days redemption period on Coinbase.
APYs in the table above are for flexible staking. Flexible staking means you can withdraw or use your DOT coins (including accumulated interest) at any time without penalties or fees, unless indicated otherwise.
Is staking DOT worth it?
If you are not actively trading your DOT tokens and simply want to hold them on an exchange for a longer term, it’s hard to come up with a reason not to take advantage of staking.
Even if you do want an opportunity to sell your tokens at any time, most of the above exchanges offer flexible staking without lockup periods. This means you can trade, sell or withdraw your DOT at any time without incurring any penalties or additional fees. You get to keep the interest accumulated while staking.
APY varies wildly between all these exchanges. Some offer as little as 1% or lower, but ones offering 5-7% yields are certainly worth considering. At 5% APY (annual percentage yield), staking DOT worth $1,000 would give you an extra $50 worth of tokens after 12 months.
DOT staking earnings calculator
We built this convenient calculator to help you estimate potential earnings. Punch in your USD-equivalent and expected yearly yield to get an idea of how much you can earn.
The tool uses USD instead of DOT. As much as we tried, we simply couldn’t build one that accurately predicted future DOT price after a month, much less a year. Staking yields on CEXs will be in DOT, and if you expect Polkadot valued higher after a year, your USD value will also increase accordingly.
On-chain vs. CEX staking
At the time of writing this, staking Polkadot on decentralized protocols has an average APY of 11.91%. This is higher than CEXs currently offer. But, staking on-chain has its own drawbacks: shady dApps, rug pulls, scams, compromised wallets and many other risks can be scary for inexperienced investors.
Staking on CEXs is typically far safer and has practically no risk.
A few things to remember:
- Savings, staking or earn programs may not be available in all countries or territories, even if an exchange is servicing your area. US and Canada are often excluded from staking, but check each exchange to ensure this is the case.
- Alternatively, you can use exchanges without KYC to bypass regional restrictions.
- APY varies frequently by small percentages, you should verify current rates with on each exchange. We excluded temporary promotional rates, new user bonus yields, or other temporarily available rates. Yields displayed in the table are average and available to all customers,
DOT staking on exchanges is popular and has decent interest rates. For investors who want to earn free DOT tokens with little risk, participating in staking or savings programs can be a profitable venture.
