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Staking Polkadot and Kusama with Ledger

Published · Updated

Alex Bondar

This guide will walk you through the process of creating an account in Polkadot using Ledger hardware wallet and staking using a proxy account. If you have more than 200,000 DOT contact us to find out about our special staking conditions.

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In a recent Polkadot update controllers’ accounts were depreciated in favour of proxy accounts. From now on it’s impossible to attach a controller account to a stash. The only remaining option is to directly connect a proxy account to the stash account, with the proxy granted limited rights.

To continue with Kusama switch the network and follow the same steps as for Polkadot.

Table of contents
I. Create Polkadot account with your Ledger
II. Bond the amount of DOT you wish to stake
III. Nominate validators

Create a Polkadot account with your Ledger

Download Ledger Live on your device and connect your hardware wallet. Make sure that Ledger firmware is up to date. Install the Polkadot/Kusama application.

  1. Go to PolkadotJS UI using Chrome and navigate to the Settings tab. In the dropdown menu related to hardware connections select Attach Ledger via WebUSB and press Save.

2. Go to the Accounts tab and press Add Ledger button to create an account

3. On your Ledger wallet, navigate to the Polkadot/Kusama app that you downloaded in Step 1 and select it by pressing two buttons on your Ledger. Go back to the screen on your device and click Save.

4. You will be asked to confirm the connection of your Ledger via web interface. Select it in a dialog window and press Connect.

  1. The account should appear on the screen. This account will play the role of your stash. If your stake is higher than 200k DOT - contact us to receive a special offer from P2P. To generate multiple addresses repeat steps 3,4 but every time choose a different address index in the drop-down menu of step 3.

We will continue with a single account but if there are multiple ones the following process should be repeated for each of them.

Left-click on the icon to copy the address and send DOT tokens to it.

Bond the amount of DOT you wish to stake

  1. Go to Network -> Staking and navigate to Account Actions by pressing the tab.

2. Bond the amount you wish to stake. Leave at least 2-3 DOT unbonded to cover future transaction fees. In the dropdown menu you can specify the desired way of receiving rewards. There are several options available: Staked (auto compound rewards); Stash (send rewards to the stash account); Controller (send rewards to the controller account); Account (send rewards to any 3rd party account).

We make payouts every day or three so you won’t need to pay a tx fee by yourself.

3. Press Sign and Submit, then confirm the transaction on your Ledger device

If the hardware wallet becomes disconnected, re-enter the Polkadot application and continue making actions on the PolkadotJS screen. You will be asked to connect Ledger via web interface as in step 5, after that continue with the step where the connection was lost.

4. After successful bonding your stash appears in the Account Actions tab. We recommend assigning a proxy account. It is a separate account that you should fund with 2-3 DOT and connect with your primary one to perform staking related operations on behalf of your stash, like triggering payout or nominating a validator. A staking proxy has no access to the funds on the stash account.

Nominate validators

  1. Press Nominate button

2. In the opened window select up to 16 validators you wish to stake with. If you would like to nominate P2P.org go to https://p2p.org/polkadot and select validators from there. We update the list on a regular basis.

3. Chosen validators will appear in the right column. Press Nominate.

4. You may perform staking actions from both stash and proxy accounts. We recommend to use your proxy account for staking actions.

5. In the top right corner you should see that transaction is confirmed. Your screen should be updated and current nominations should appear in the Account Actions tab. From here you will be able to manage your staking in future.

Staking will begin from the next era or two (24 - 48 hours). You will be able to track nominations from Staking -> Account Actions. At least one nomination should become active thus your stake is working in full and generating rewards.

Ledger guides

  1. Ledger’s guide on staking Polkadot (DOT) thought Ledger Live
  2. Ledger’s guide on using Polkadot Staking dashboard
  3. Ledger’s guide on set up and use polkadot js to access your ledger Polkadot (DOT) accounts and guide Kusama (KSM) accounts
  4. Ledger’s guide on how to join a polkadot nomination pool
About P2P.org

P2P.org is a world-leading non-custodial staking provider securing more than $3 billion by over 10,000 delegators/nominators across 25+ high-class networks. We have been presented in all Polkadot testnets and have been actively participating on Kusama network since the beginning. P2P.org invested its own funds in Polkadot in 2017 and intends to support the network in the long term.

Do not hesitate to ask questions in our Telegram chat or contact Alex via [email protected]. We are always open to communication.

Web: https://p2p.org
Stake DOT with us: https://p2p.org/polkadot
Twitter: @p2pvalidator
Telegram: https://t.me/P2Pstaking

Alex Bondar

Research & Analytics at p2p.org.

Read all articles by Alex Bondar