Which delegated stacking pool suits you best?

6 major delegated stacking pools explained. Find out “the one” that serves your needs.

If you’re only eligible to stack under 90,000 STX, the only option for you is to join in a delegated stacking pool. It allows you to start earning Bitcoin with fewer amounts of tokens required to lock. Now there are many options of wallets that offer delegated stacking out there with varied minimum requirements, fees and promise of APY. Which one suits you best? Well, I have curated a list of existing delegated stacking pools with a summary of essential things you should know before committing. I hope it helps!

OKCoin: Low STX amount with higher APY

OKCoin is a custodial wallet that also integrates a delegated stacking pool. What actually is a custodial wallet? It is a wallet in which you don’t have full control over your funds and private keys. These privileges are held by a third party (OKCoin in this case). However, with their small amount of minimum tokens required (50 STX), it is a great benefit for small investors to enjoy the estimated reward from 10% up to 14%, and no fee is applied to join the pool or when you receive the payout in Bitcoin. The lock periods offered are 1 and 12 cycles. One feature that I found quite compelling here is that you get to see the estimation of reward in each cycle even before you confirmed the contract form.

Xverse Wallet: Stacking pool at your fingertips

Using Xverse wallet as a delegated stacking pool can come in handy. It’s an app that you can bring whenever you have your phone with you. This pool is non-custodial, which means the tokens don’t leave your wallet when you stack and you have full control over your funds. The minimum token required in the pool is 500 STX with an estimated annual yield of 11%. Here you can choose in between two cycles of locking period (14 days or a month). After the lock period is over, you will get a reward in the form of BTC and a pool fee is applied upon payout.

Friedger’s Pool: The largest and trusted pool among stackers

Friedger has been contributing to Stacks since 2018 by developing Stacks apps, mining STX and deploying first-user contracts on mainnet. Creating a pool is part of his mission to support the vision for a user-owned internet. His pool is non-custodial with a minimum lock of 40 STX. There is no pool fee or reward fee charged. Friedger’s Pool also offers different hodl periods: 1, 3, 6, 15 and indefinite using different pool addresses (see below). If you choose the latter, the pool will re-stack your tokens without any action done on your side. This, however, can be revoked in your Stacks wallet if you desire to un-stack. Once the chosen cycle has ended, a payout will be received in STX within two days after the last reward was received. The value of BTC/STX on your payout is determined using the CoinGecko rate.

Locking for 1 cycle:

SP1K1A1PMGW2ZJCNF46NWZWHG8TS1D23EGH1KNK60

Locking for 3 cycles:

SP3K3ZEQVE1E914TFPFMT3A7M53MNMWZCFVQCQB0H

Locking for 6 cycles:

SP6K6QNYFYF57K814W4SHNGG23XNYYE1B8NV0G1Y

Locking for 9 cycles, until cycle #15:

SP700C57YJFD5RGHK0GN46478WBAM2KG3A4MN2QJ

Plan Better: This pool is growing larger!

Plan Better is a non-custodial wallet that allows you to join stacking with a minimum amount of 200 STX. They have 4 lock period options that you can choose from (1, 3, 6, and 12 cycles). The token that you’ll be using must be available, which means, it’s not locked by another pool due to any investment. Once the lock period ends, a reward paid in BTC will be distributed to the Bitcoin address computed from your Stacks address. This reward can be accessed as long as you have the private key to your Stacks wallet. A 5% fee will be applied upon the payout.

Pool address: SP3TDKYYRTYFE32N19484838WEJ25GX40Z24GECPZ

Neptune Wallet: Claim your rewards up-front

This delegated stacking pool is also non-custodial and can be attractive for small investors. They only require as small as 1 STX with no reward fees applied when you receive the reward. However, before confirming the contract, there will be a pool fee of about 0.000216 STX. At the time of writing, Neptune wallet only supports 9 cycles of locking periods. One focal point that I found here is that, once your tokens are locked, you have the option to claim your rewards up-front. This feature is offered in a new tab called “Claim Instant Rewards”. Another option is to wait for your reward to be sent 24 hours before the end of the cycle.

Pool address: SPGXKM11TG8GX814V460KDP9ZS5G0SYBWMZJG5AS

Staked: Play big, earn bigger

Another platform for big investors to stack in a non-custodial wallet is Staked. Due to network economics, this wallet requires you to stack with a minimum amount of 10,000 STX with a 10% fee on top of it. After stacking is delegated successfully, you can lock it from 1 cycle (14 days) up to a maximum of 12 cycles (6 months). The estimated yield is approx. 9.7% and earnings are obtained in BTC using the current rate. It can also happen that the reward is retained until they exceed the associated transfer fee.

Pool address: SP27ZT4JVW342YH03AMHFMBBAM89AAA9GV4DPAHX4

From all the research and weighing all the pros and cons for each pool, I am inclined to using Friedger’s pool as my choice. What I think is more important than getting a high APY is the level of trust when I delegate my tokens. I am not saying that other pools are not trustworthy, it is nonetheless my personal preference to stay in a community where people behind it are the contributor to the mission itself. Apart from that, I don’t mind receiving STX rewards because it means I can keep locking (without converting) and build the value of STX in the ecosystem. While for some of you, probably Bitcoin would be a more attractive reward instead. Besides that, what I find interesting is also the various cycles I could participate in, giving me more options.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, the information provided in this article cannot be used as financial or investment advice.