FAQ

  • A Cardano (ADA) stake pool is a node or server on the Cardano network that acts on behalf of stakeholders. It is usually set up and run by an individual or entity with the requisite resources, technical skills, and time.
    To set up their own nodes, those without said necessary technical capacity may choose to delegate their stake to a stake pool. In return, these delegators receive a share of the reward it earns.
  • Pledging is the act of stake pool operators having their own ADA as part of the pool’s stake. The higher the amount of ADA pledged, the more rewards the pool will receive.
    During pool registration, stake pool operators may opt to pledge some or all of their stake to make their pool more attractive.
    The amount of pledge in a pool is shown as part of its statistics in the Daedalus and Yoroi wallet. You can also find the data on third-party sites like Adapool.org or pooltools.io.
    Best ADA Pool has a massive amount of ADA pledged across all pools. We operate some of the highest-pledged stake pools on the market. Check out our pool list for more info.
  • A slot leader is a node or stake pool selected to compile, verify, and record a block of transactions on the Cardano shared ledger.

    The slot leaders are picked and assigned to slots before an epoch begins. Each of them is expected to be online when their particular slot is reached.

    The more stake a pool controls, the greater the chance of it being elected as a slot leader to produce a new block.

    You may learn more about Cardano stake pool operation.

  • A block on the Cardano network is a group or bundle of transactions that a stake pool creates, verifies, and records on the shared ledger.
    At the beginning of each epoch, the Cardano protocol randomly picks slot leaders — pools assigned to create blocks. The protocol uses staked ADA as a form of “lottery numbers” to do this.
    When its slot comes, a selected slot leader collects initiated ADA payment and smart contract executions, compiling them into a block before adding them to the ledger.
    This process repeats itself after each epoch. Meanwhile, the slot leaders are incentivized through a reward in newly released ADA and regular transaction fees.
  • An epoch is a unit of time as marked by the Cardano protocol, and each of them lasts five days.

    Every epoch is then divided into 432,000 units known as slots, and each slot is 1 second.

    You can find the current epoch and slot on third-party sites like Adapool.org or pooltools.io.

  • Stake delegation is the process by which ADA holders delegate the stake associated with their ADA to a stake pool.
    It allows ADA holders that do not have the skills or desire to run a node to participate in the network to be rewarded in proportion to the amount of stake delegated.
  • Saturation is a term used to indicate that a particular stake pool has more stake delegated to it than is ideal for the network. Once a pool reaches the point of saturation, it will offer diminishing rewards.
  • Staking from Yoroi wallet:

    1. Download the Yoroi Light Wallet at yoroi-wallet.com.
    2. Choose your preferred browser option after clicking the download button.
    3. After adding it to your browser, launch the Yoroi wallet extension within the browser.
    4. Follow the instructions to connect/create/restore your Cardano wallet.
    5. Go to the “Delegation list” tab, and search for “1BEST” or “pool1vygvrczrlzapm25qf8w3cxz4gxv2azrp43xj6538tt225jjfcpw”.
    6. Select a 1BEST pool and click the “Delegate” button.

    * You may now go to the “Dashboard” tab to track your rewards.

    * Please wait 15-20 days for your first rewards to show up.

    Staking from Daedalus wallet:

    1. Download the Daedalus Wallet at yoroi-wallet.com.
    2. The first time you launch the wallet, you will need to wait for Daedalus to sync with the blockchain.
    3. After Daedalus has finished syncing, follow the instructions to connect/create/restore your wallet.
    4. Click the second button in the left panel and select the “Stake Pools” tab.
    5. Search for “1BEST” or “pool1vygvrczrlzapm25qf8w3cxz4gxv2azrp43xj6538tt225jjfcpw” and pick a 1BEST pool.
    6. Click the “Delegate to this pool” button.

    * You may now go to the “Rewards” tab to track your rewards.

    * Please wait 15-20 days for your first rewards to show up.

    Staking from AdaLite wallet::

    1. Go to adalite.io.
    2. Choose your preferred way to access your Cardano wallet.
    3. Now, choose a 1BEST pool from the pool list HERE.
    4. Click the “Copy” button to copy the pool ID.
    5. Go back to AdaLite webpage, and click the “Staking” tab.
    6. Paste in the pool ID and click the “Delegate” button.

    * Please wait 15-20 days for your first rewards to show up.

    Staking from mobile::

    1. Go and download the Yoroi mobile app for your device: Android | iOS.
    2. Launch the app and follow the instructions to connect/create/restore your Cardano wallet.
    3. Once set up, go to the “Dashboard” tab and click “Got to Staking Center”.
    4. Search for “1BEST” or “pool1vygvrczrlzapm25qf8w3cxz4gxv2azrp43xj6538tt225jjfcpw” and pick a 1BEST pool.
    5. Click the “Delegate” button.

    * You may now go to the “Dashboard” tab to track your rewards.

    * Please wait 15-20 days for your first rewards to show up.

  • The most popular wallets you can use to stake ADA are Yoroi, Daedalus, COIN Wallet and AdaLite. These wallets are specifically designed for Cardano, including the ADA delegation feature. All of them are open source and compatible with Ledger and Trezor hardware wallets.

    Yoroi

    • Type: Light wallet
    • Hardware Wallet Support: Ledger Nano S/X, Trezor Model T
    • Available Platforms: Chromium Extension, Firefox Extension, Android, iOS
    • Website Link: https://yoroi-wallet.com

    Daedalus

    • Type: Full node wallet
    • Hardware Wallet Support: Ledger Nano S/X, Trezor Model T
    • Available Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
    • Website Link: https://daedaluswallet.io

    COIN Wallet

    • Type: Light wallet
    • Hardware Wallet Support: YubiKey
    • Available Platforms: Web
    • Website Link: https://coin.space

    AdaLite

    • Type: Light wallet
    • Hardware Wallet Support: Ledger Nano S/X, Trezor Model T
    • Available Platforms: Web
    • Website Link: https://adalite.io
  • The minimum requirement for staking is 10 ADA. Please note that an additional 2 ADA deposit and ~0.17 tx fee are also required when delegating for the first time.
  • No, the transition is seamless. When you switch or re-delegate to another stake pool, you will continue getting rewards from the old pool until the new pool takes over.
  • We started our first stake pool back in 2019, during the Cardano testnet. We officially launched the 1BEST pool for the public in March 2022.

    Driven by our desire to provide a profitable staking service for all Cardano delegators, our guiding principles are to ensure security and continuously optimize the performance of the stake pools. Learn more about us.

  • Our team is a small group of seasoned professionals with extensive expertise in Crypto, going back to 2013. We run many other popular Crypto sites, including Coin Wallet.

    We aim to establish ourselves as the trusted partner for those looking to participate in the Cardano ecosystem and contribute to its further development. Learn more about us.

  • The acronym ROS stands for Return On Stake. It’s the annualized returns a stakeholder makes by delegating their ADA to a stake pool.
    ROS can be affected by many different factors. For example, stake pool performance, active stake, saturation level, pledge amount, and fees.
    ROS is a critical measurement to consider when choosing a stake pool.
  • The overall annual return on ADA should be around 4.6% as per current protocol parameters. The amount of ADA you can earn is not fixed, it depends greatly on the following factors:

    • Amount of ADA staked
    • Performance of the stake pool
    • Percentage of fee the stake pool charges
  • You are free to withdraw your rewards whenever you want to. However, it’s not required to do so unless you wish to send your full balance to another wallet/exchange.
    All your rewards will be automatically distributed to your wallet and staked to the pool as part of your delegation, no further action is needed.
  • No, you don’t. After you have delegated your stake to a particular stake pool, the rewards you earn are automatically staked to the pool as part of your delegation.
    This is true for any new funds received from the wallet as well.
    Any balance change in the wallet will be automatically captured as part of the snapshot and incur updated rewards after 15-20 days
  • The fixed fee is an amount of ADA taken from the pool’s total rewards in an epoch. This is not a fee charged to each delegator.
    For example, suppose the BEST pool earned 10000 ADA in the past epoch. The protocol automatically deducts 340 ADA as a fixed fee from the 10000 ADA and sends it to our wallet. Therefore 10000-340=9660 ADA is left.
    Then a variable fee will be calculated and deducted based on the percentage set by the stake pool operator. In the case of the BEST pool, we charge 2.5%. Thus 9660 x 2.5%=241.5 ADA
    Delegators will be left with 9660-241.5=9418.5 ADA, distributed to each delegator in proportion to the amount of stake delegated.
    Both the fixed fee and the variable fee are only charged when the pool receives a reward. If the pool does not receive a reward in an epoch, the operator does not receive any fee.
  • A variable fee or margin is a percentage of the earned rewards that a pool operator keeps.
    For example, suppose the BEST pool earned 10000 ADA in the past epoch. The protocol automatically deducts 340 ADA as a fixed fee from the 10000 ADA and sends it to our wallet. Therefore 10000-340=9660 ADA is left.
    Then a variable fee will be calculated and deducted based on the percentage set by the stake pool operator. In the case of the BEST pool, we charge 2.5%. Thus 9660 x 2.5%=241.5 ADA.
    Delegators will be left with 9660-241.5=9418.5 ADA, distributed to each delegator in proportion to the amount of stake delegated.
    Both the fixed fee and the variable fee help the operator cater to the costs of managing nodes on the Cardano network. These include internet connection fees, power bills, and labor.
  • For any change in delegation, the rewards are reflected after 4 epoch transitions (15-20 days).
    For example, if you staked in epoch X, your first rewards will show up at the start of epoch X+4.
    After the initial wait time, you can expect to receive rewards at the end of every epoch (5 days).