Coinbase has announced details of the latest expansion of its staking offerings.

Here is how Coinbase describes Solana:

“Solana is a decentralized computing platform that uses SOL to pay for transactions. Solana aims to improve blockchain scalability by using a combination of proof of stake consensus and so-called proof of history. As a result, Solana claims to be able to support 50,000 transactions per second without sacrificing decentralization, and is one of the largest proof of stake blockchains by market cap.

“Solana aims to enable smart contracts to allow developers to build a wide range of decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, new crypto tokens, games, and more. When users stake their crypto, they make the underlying blockchain of that asset more secure and more efficient. And in exchange, they are rewarded with additional assets from the network, which are paid out as rewards.“

According to the blog post Coinbase published on June 29, “while it has been possible for individuals to stake Solana on their own, or through a delegated staking service, the process can be confusing and complicated.” With this launch, Coinbase says that it is “offering an easy, secure way for any retail user to actively participate in the Solana network and earn rewards.”

Here is some information about $SOL staking — which will be “progressively rolled out to all eligible customers” — on Coinbase:

  • “tart earning automatically. Once you buy Solana, you automatically start earning rewards via staking. The current estimated annual return for Solana staking on Coinbase is ~3.85% APY. You’ll receive rewards in your account every 3–4 days”
  • “You will always maintain control. Your Solana always stays in your account; you just earn rewards while keeping your crypto safely on Coinbase. You can opt out any time you want”
  • “Earn on as much as you want. Start earning with as little as $1″

Three things are worth noting:

“The rewards rate is based on the estimated protocol rate, which is subject to change. Customers will be able to see the latest applicable rates directly within their accounts. No lock up periods imposed by Coinbase. You may request your staked assets be traded or transferred at any time, and Coinbase will use commercially reasonable efforts to execute, subject to protocol requirements. Users can opt out at any time.“

On Episode 60 of Season 4 of “The Scoop” podcast — which was recorded live at The Block headquarters in New York — journalist Frank Chaparro spoke with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana Labs.

According to a report by The Block published on Friday (July 1), Yakovenko had this to say about Solana Labs’ upcoming Android-powered phone (“Saga”), which is expected to be released in early 2023:

“The theory is that crypto users might be crazy enough to switch from iOS to Android because of crypto. It might be so important to have that experience, that they’re willing to change their habits… You need Google and Apple to do it, but they’re not going to do it until there is proven demand that people need it — and so somebody has to kind of make that leap.“

Image Credit

Featured Image by “Larisa-K” via Pixabay.com