If you trade in, or pay attention to, smart money (Cryptocurrencies) then you've heard of PIVX, the fork of Dash that's been climbing the coin ladder recently and has broken into the top 20 coins. But what are they offering that has the market responding so positively? I took a dip into the slack and went through wallet set up + staking to see what it was all about. This is intended to be a newbie guide for those on Mac interested in staking their PIVX or anyone interested in why they might want to do that.
Since the price of PIVX is a hot topic, let's start off this morning by watching PIVX bouncing around .60 USD:
So What's The Big?
PIVX is the privacy-centric smart money that looks very much like Dash but with some very important differences. From the PIVX manifesto to the mechanisms they employ to mitigate masternode voting consolidation, they couldn't be more different than their cousin. But beyond these governance methodologies and ideological declarations, PIVX also offers Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in addition to Proof-of-work (PoW).
If you are unfamiliar with this term, Proof-of-stake is like mining with your coin balance. If you have 5000 PIVX and don't plan on using it or moving it around, you can set it up to Stake. If you keep your computer on and your wallet unlocked for Staking purposes you can receive PIVX rewards, currently approx 6.08 PIV when rewards are received.
Basically, it's a savings account that helps to keep the network secure and whose existence helps to balance the influence miners or stakers might achieve. PIVX employs a see-saw mechanism where when there are too many masternodes, block rewards are shifted in favor of Staking.
There are specific thresholds that activate the 'see-sawing' of rewards, but as this is a newbie guide to explain how and why to Stake your PIVX, we won't delve into the technical details. Suffice to say that when masternodes start to dominate the network they are disincentivized, just like the stakers are if there are many more stakers than MN's.
Staking Determines Frequency
So before you go running out to load up on all the PIVX you can get your virtual hands on, you should understand how it works. Once you have downloaded, set up, and encrypted your wallet you're just about ready to get stakin'. On Mac, I had to click on tool > open config menu which took me to an editor where I had to simply copy the following info and update the words in CAPS.
rpcuser=LONGRANDOMSTRING
rpcpassword=LONGRANDOMSTRING
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
staking=1
listen=1
server=1
daemon=1
logtimestamps=1
maxconnections=256
(Change the words in CAPS)
This was the only step that I had any trouble with, and I am still very much green when it comes to crypto. Once you've updated this and closed the editor, you will need to restart the wallet client. Once restarted, you'll have to wait until all updates are made and then unlock your wallet (for anonymization or staking only).
Now here is the part that took me forever to get... wait. It may take 5 minutes, 05 seconds like in the following tutorial by @cryptoiskey.
Don't go fiddling with network settings or panic or anything. Just relax, and maybe do a test run of sending some PIVX to the wallet (small amount) but don't rush and, eventually, you'll see that green arrow light up and you'll be staking!
So how much will get you now that you've joined in on the privacy party? Well, that depends. You can see in the following screenshot that the current reward for staking is 6.08, so if/when your staking wallet is selected, this is how much you will receive. But how often?
This is where the amount of PIVX in your wallet matters. The more you have, the more frequently your stake may be called and the more frequently you'll see block rewards for your hard work. So if you have 15k staking in a wallet, you'll see rewards more often than the person with 1,500 PIVX. This is by no means a clear answer, but it's hard to pin a clear answer down when there are so many factors that could affect selection.
Conclusion
Setting up my wallet and beginning to stake was much easier than I thought it'd be. I am running a Late 2012 Mac Mini with SSD and upgraded Ram and latest OSX. With what I've staked, I'll be lucky to see any action at all, but I'm curious so I will move forward and update everyone on any results.
If you are working on a mac and still cannot get your wallet staking, please visit the PIVX SLACK.
So if you are hovering close to the MN number of 10,000 PIVX you may want to bite the bullet and set one up. But if you aren't planning on sticking around long or are too lazy to hit up slack for set up help, then staking is a realistic option that still benefits you and the network.
And the people on the slack are definitely friendly types, with several Steemians among their ranks! @bitcoiner @cryptosi and some others that are escaping me at the moment. So basically, don't fear the Slack, there are steemians there :)
I am still learning a lot about PIVX, PART and Particl and more, so there's more to come! Follow along and/or leave a comment below.
I was just updated by some of the team in Slack with a great clarification. In order to stake, the PIVX in your wallet needs to meet a requirement for 101 confirmations. This would explain why I had so much trouble staking at first and would further explain why it suddenly started working this morning when I'd done nothing extra. Again, patience will be your friend. Thanks @ferps !
This is not intended to be investment advice. I am using my own PIVX to experiment with Staking, not encouraging anyone else to do anything else. Please be safe when investing.
@Prufarchy
Also worth noting, if you unlock your wallet before it's fully synced up (masternode lists, budgets, etc), then it won't start Staking. You have to unlock it for staking after it's fully synced (and after the 101 confirmations of your holdings). That really got me confused. I've only been messing with it for a couple days, but so far it's pretty fun. Here are my results so far:
I talked about PIVX in my latest post as well.
Thanks for linking your post, I had missed it and it was a good read.
I appreciate you pointing those notes out, it's always the little things that trip people up. The 101 confirmations is what threw me. I gave up and went to bed and it worked in the morning. if only life were that easy always.
Also, there's no set word on how often you can get rewards based on your amount staked, but it looks like you got a few rewards pretty close together at 6k pivx. No bad at all !!
Yeah, I think I got lucky. So far, it seems to stake at night and not during the day for me. That may be because more people turn off their computers at night and there's less competition then? Not sure.
Thanks for the compliment on the post.
Today is my first day staking, so hoping I get lucky and get home to see a little xtra PIVX :)
Good luck! Even though it's only a few bucks, it does feel a bit like winning the lottery. Maybe that's why it's so appealing. We're all just dopamine junkies.
haha, maybe not the lottery but it sure does feel like being rewarded for helping a decentralized system. I don't get that kind of satisfaction when I stake my labor and receive a gov tax bill to boot haha
Sorry if i'm missing the obvious but what do I change the words in bold to..?
Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. Which words?
Not to worry I found where I was going wrong! Once you try to load up the wallet it comes up with an error message and it tells you what username and password to put in. Once you copy that you're good to go!
Do I have to have 5000 Pivx for the proof of stake service?
I thought you only needed 5k of Pivx only if you want to run a masternode?
No, I think you can stake whatever you want. I haven't owned PIVX for a while though. I ended up moving on to other things I was interested in. I know someone who had some trouble with their wallet and being on the wrong chain and the developers explanation of what happened spooked me a little.
Could you talk about minting Zerocoin?
great post, thanks for the great info
@someguy123 is now among the slack
That slack really blew up. When I got there it was well below 1000 and the place was buzzing. Now it's well over 1000 and shaking!
Very cool slack indeed
Gotta love the momentum!
Seriously! Also, you're a PIVX slack jedi master haha
lol The Force is strong I can feel it!
I think i will pull my old laptop out of retirement and attempt to give this a bash. More great stuff including the plea to stay safe. I shall take it to heart!! ;0)
Definitely document it and let us know it goes! best of luck :)
If i can get the laptop to cooperate i will!!
Great post man! I love how everyone in PIVX is putting in some effort, you guys are awesome!
I haven't even gotten to my 'budget proposals' posts yet haha
If PIVX would stop being so cool, I'd stop writing about it ;)
I am new to staking can someone help me, should the wallet stay connect, what happens if there is intermittent internet interruption?
To my understanding, the wallet needs to stay connected and unlocked to stake. Not sure about the intermittent internet though.
Thanks for the post, most wallets should only need staking=1 if that. In linux staking just worked without any additional configuration. Masternodes are a different story though
Yeah, I've heard the same around the slack, I guess results will vary :)
Yea man, so many steemians into PIVX💵🙌😯😁
I was pretty surprised as I kept seeing more and more of them in slack. They're also in Dash... basically, Steemians are all over the cryptoverse
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Just gotta build up a little stack and Ill be sure to start staking asap! I only have a handful of pivx atm
Once the coins are "Staked" are they locked for a fixed period of time? or can I move the coins to a different wallet i decide I don't want to stake any longer.
wonderful post
PIVX IS SUCH A GREAT COIN
Very good article. I just set up my wallet and it is already staking. But i was wondering, while i am new to PIVX and I have only a small amount, will i ever get a staking-reward or is it like mining bitcoin with an old laptop. How much PIVX do you need to get a reward like once a week or month or so?
Thanks, I'm glad the article was useful for you.
As far as the amount, I've only experimented with 3k - 10k pivx and what I found was that 3k pivx would get me a reward somewhere inside of three weeks. It gets gray between 4-6, but 7k seems to get rewarded anywhere from 1-2 weeks, and the higher you go after that towards 10k, it's a matter of days.
When you hit masternode, it's a payout each 1-1.5 days.
This is all dependent on the number of masternodes vs the number of staking wallets on the network at the time. More MN's means less frequency of reward for MN and increased frequency of reward for Staking.
Thanks for this! Finally, I understand what Staking is!
You say there is POW option but I haven't found any resources about mining PIVX.
Good post. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Be prepared for a fluctuating crypto market. We really need more insights in the market and previous investment results. An interesting website I found: https://www.coincheckup.com Complete Coin analysis about the team, product, communication transparency, advisors and investment statistics.
Upvoted and followed! I am currently working with the PieX community to grow our membership and we are a fork of PIVX!
Looking forward to more of your work! Steem on!
#steemit #cryptocurrency
Just wanted to share guys.. Earn POS Mining rewards while you trade at Btcpop.co!
This definitely has LISK beat all to hell when it comes to staking/mining/forging. It's 25 LISK to run a node that will likely never, ever generate a single LISK. And I'm running one because I believe in LISK. But with no rewards in the future, I can see shutting my LISK wallet down and staking something else. I love the community, but I also gotta eat.
If you are staking this coin you should do it through a pool. Receiving stakes by staking through your wallet takes way to long, with the pool you get multiple (small ones) a day. Because of this the total amount you will receive in a year is around 5 times as much. You also don't have to leave your computer running continuously. You can find more information about the POS staking pool here: https://stakeunited.com/pos
Hey Guys. I Found this guide for Top PIVX Staking. I think you should check it out.
http://topstaking.com/pivx/