Intro to staking

Staking was first introduced with Proof of Stake. Under the Proof of Stake mechanism, blockchains require validators to lock coins to determine who gets to propose and vote on blocks. Non-validators could also participate in this process by also locking coins. This is also known as delegating.

These locked coins are subject to slashing, a penalty given to any validators who acted maliciously, such as proposing two different blocks for the same block height. For conducting the important work of securing blockchains, users who stake can receive rewards from new coin issuance and fees collected from the network.