How to stake PCX - Polkadot Parachain ChainX earning 46% APR

Decentralized Finance
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#1

edit: up to date information available at ExxiBox.com

Introduction

As electricity prices where I live are about $0.27/kwh, which is not profitable on any level, I had to look towards other options. One of them is collocating a Bitmain K5 in China (yes, not my best investment but hey, it’s profitable). The only other currently is staking, of which I chose to start with the ChainX project.

Below I will briefly explain what ChainX is, why I chose to invest in it, what its rewards are and why I spent weeks of time learning about its node system, linux servers, python and node.js.

What is ChainX?

I highly advise you to read the whitepaper to fully understand, but I’ll try to give a small summary below.

ChainX is a community-driven project built on the next-generation blockchain framework substrate, the largest Layer-2 network of Bitcoin using the Light-client protocol with smart contract support, will evolve into the Polkadot network as a secondary relay chain in the future.

Its economic system is similar to bitcoin, where it’s total amount will be capped at 21 million and it’s reward halved every 2 years. Mining is done by Asset (BTC ETH FIL etc.*) and PCX staking.

ChainX adopted the light client inter-chain technology. Asset crossing chains is a process in which a user locks the asset in the original chain, maps asset onto the target chain where withdrawal is available, and finally unlocks the asset in the original chain.

Assets do not disappear in the original chain, but instead are transferred to the decentralized trust of Light Node Protocol, or to a centralized trust managed by an individual or individuals.

*:Currently only BTC is mapped, Filecoin is currently being worked on.

Why stake PCX?

I won’t bore you further with why it’s going to moon or why I think the project is amazing. Instead, I’m going to give you some numbers:

At the time of writing: 1 BTC = $10.000 | 1 PCX = $1,00 | 10000 PCX earns 15 PCX p/day | 1 X-BTC earns 0.640 PCX p/day | 1 L-BTC earns 0.081 PCX p/day

These ratios apply to any amount of assets, i.e. 100 PCX earns 0.15 PCX /day.

To make things easy we need to calculate an APR for each. We’re going to assume you restake your gained PCX daily. For easy comparison we use an amount of 10000 PCX, which roughly equals $10k.

  • 1 X-BTC nets you 317.45 PCX in a year = $412, meaning an APR of 4,12 %
  • 1 L-BTC nets you 40.17 PCX in a year = $52.23, meaning an APR of 0.52 %
  • 10k PCX nets you 7282 PCX in a year = $7282, meaning an APR of 72.82 %

These are rough estimates, but it gives a good comparison and gives us an estimation of its profitability. Subsequently, I chose to stake PCX over depositing or locking BTC.

How to stake

Staking PCX is done through a signer + DApp combo, which can be found here: https://dapps.chainx.org/
You can change the language in the bottom right.

1. Download the Signer

In the top right, download the signer and install it on your desktop.

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2. Make a Wallet

Open and click on New Account. Save your Mnemonic and choose a name and password.

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3. Sync the signer with the Dapps

Got back to https://dapps.chainx.org/ and sync your signer as show in the picture below.

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4. Vote on a Node

After depositing PCX from your exchange of choice navigate to “Staking” and find the node with the red panda called ExxiBox. Click on Vote and delegate your PCX (Leave about 0.01 PCX for transaction fees).
Use your signer to ‘sign’ the transaction with your password. There’s no difference in rewards between nodes and the PCX remains in your possession, but it does give me a little kickback if you decide to delegate your PCX to me.

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Note: Memo is a message you can add to the transaction, feel free to add anything or leave it blank.

5. Claim your interest

Your interest can be collected in the top right, using the ‘claim’ button. I suggest you claim and restake this daily for compound interest, but that’s completely up to you.

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That’s it, welcome to ChainX!

Alternatively there’s a desktop wallet you can use instead, though it’s no longer being developed. The team prefers the signer/dapp combo or the chrome extension.

Desktop wallet: https://github.com/chainx-org/chainx-wallet/releases

How to stake using MathWallet

For mobile users, MathWallet has ways of staking and claiming interest for you. The video below shows a short walkthrough of the wallet making, staking and claiming interest. Note that iphone users need the nightly build. I’m an android user myself so check with them in their Telegram group.

In words: After importing or creating your wallet, you go to the Dapps tab, Chainx Staking Tool, find ExxiBox and stake your PCX. From there you can also select the node and claim your interest.

How to mine with X-BTC and L-BTC

This is something more complicated and not as rewarding as staking PCX directly, as described above, but some people might prefer keeping their BTC instead of PCX. For them there are 2 options.

  • X-BTC : At the ratio of 1 X-BTC equals 400 PCX
  • L-BTC : At the ratio of 1 L-BTC equals 20 PCX

X-BTC is the on-chain equivalent of BTC. One deposits BTC to the chain using an OP_RETURN within the transaction. This requires a wallet with said functionality, such as MathWallet, Trezor or BitX. Mathwallet has created a dapp which makes the process easier and is therefore recommended.

L-BTC is ‘Locked BTC’ and is BTC you put into a wallet of your own that you link with your PCX wallet. Meaning, your BTC is in your control, whereas with X-BTC it is on the chain and needs to be ‘withdrawn’ (which can take up to 24h).

I will be adding a small tutorial on how to use Mathwallet for depositing and locking BTC at a later date.

These assets will both be added to your wallet and give you ‘mining power’. This allows you to get ~0.640 and ~0.081 PCX/day respectively for 1 X- and L-BTC. Simply put this means getting interest over your funds. The nitty gritty of ‘PCX mining’ is explained in the whitepaper linked at the end of this post.

Available Exchanges

Taken from CoinGecko there’s three exchanges that support PCX currently.

HotBit, BigOne and MXC (taken from https://www.coingecko.com/nl/coins/chainx#markets)

They are pretty much the same so pick the one you like most. The only difference is MXC has a much higher volume.

Additional Info

4 Likes
Most Profitable Staking/Interest
#2

FAQ

  • Is my PCX safe?
    Yes it is, staking PCX means that you delegate your voting power to a node. The PCX stays in your wallet, just locked up.

  • How do I redeem/unstake my PCX?
    You select the node and click ‘change’, then Redeem/Unstake/Decrease and fill in the amount. Upon confirmation, the PCX will be frozen for 3 days, after which you can unfreeze it using the button ‘unfreeze’

  • What is the Jackpot?
    Jackpot is a secret wallet, that no one has the private keys to, which holds the total interest of all nominators of a node. When a dividend cycle passes, all interest gained gets put there. When you claim, you claim your share of said jackpot.
    The jackpot is spread over all nominators according to vote age. With how vote age works, you’ll actually get a little bonus when you claim daily, and if you keep it in there for longer, other people will get a little of yours. Note however, that this amound is even smaller than the fees, so under 0.0001 PCX. Nothing to worry about.

#3

Also reserved for later purposes

#4

Thanks! I was a bit lost at the math part where you calculated the 72% pa, is that if you compound it daily, or stake it and leave it for a year?

#5

That is if you compound daily. For the X- and L-BTC calculation you’re supposed to leave it sitting, but stake the generated PCX daily

#6

good read looking into this now thanks

1 Like
#7

How is the APR so huge? What are the risks with this?

#8

Risks are the same with any other coin. Lack of interest, dev team failing, price plummeting.

APR is pretty high because it’s the early days. BTC had huge APR in its first 4 years too (same economic model). As the block reward gets halved every 2 years the APR will go down

#9

Thanks for the detailed how-to walk-through. Worked a charm; staked!

1 Like
#10

Because I can’t edit the original post (hopefully for now) I’ll add this piece here.

How to mine PCX with BTC

Get yourself a BTC wallet with OP_RETURN support. For example: Bitpie, MathWallet, BitPortal, Wookong, BitX, Trezor, Coinb.in.

Generate the OP_RETURN

Open your dapps.chainx.org and link your signer as shown in How to stake, then click on Deposit under X-BTC.

In the screen that pops up, add a referrer, select ExxiBox as shown and copy the OP_RETURN created. Copy the deposit address and send your BTC to this including the OP_RETURN.

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After the deposit is completed on the BTC Blockchain, the trustee node operators will complete the process by storing your BTC on a cold wallet and sending you your X-BTC.

On the mining tab in your dapps you can claim your mined PCX, then stake it on the staking tab.

That’s it, done!

#11

So I have been staking and claiming interest>>revoting on your node for a week or so now. As of the last couple of days I cannot claim interest or do anything… switch nomination… redeem nomination nothing at all. I always get this error message:

image

Can you help me out?

#12

@Exhibition I keep trying to claim interest and/or move my position and now I am getting a different error message. I am not sure what is wrong, or if there are any support/service resources available.

chainerror2

#13

Hiya, sorry for the belated reply. How much PCX do you have free? If it’s less than 0.01 free in your wallet, dm me your wallet address and I’ll send you some. You need to pay the claim fee with pcx that is not staked or otherwise locked.

The second picture makes me think the node/api you’re connected to is busy or not connected properly. In the bottom right, try to select a different node and/or API. If that doesn’t fix it. Close your browser and the signer, then try a different browser and link your signer again.

#14

Hey dude, thanks for the guide. Got it set up pretty good.

I do have 2 questions: can you automate this, and have your notice your interest going down after some time?

#15

Oh I didn’t think about that part I just figured I the fee came out of the interest I was claiming. Now that I look at the home page it says under .01 so that makes sense…duh

That would be awesome if you could send me a tiny bit. I will keep voting on your node for sure! My address is:
5TMNGnHwyNcF7Lat3YERffWo8qq6dFQiZx1FzjYQjEVzTCqM

You’re the man, thank you for your help!

#16

@Rowmaster ster Automation probably is possible, check their github, specifically the JS-SDK.
The reward will go down over time, as the block reward is shared among stakers and asset holders. As the total supply of PCX increases, so will the total staked amount, therefore slowly making your share of the total smaller. So yes, eventually this will water down, especially after 21st of may 2021 when it gets halved :smiley:

More on this in the whitepaper, linked in the OP.

@chierrie I’ve sent the PCX, try it :blush:

1 Like
#17

@Exhibition thank you so much - I was able to claim my interest!

I tried voting on your node again and now I am getting this error:

pcx

Any idea what this means?

#18

Yep, the total amount of PCX that can be nominated to a node is 10x it’s own nomination. So if you look at the node list, the amount of self-vote x 10 = the max total votes. I’ve added a little bit extra so you should be able to put that in. I’ll be increasing it slowly day by day. If you can’t at some point, just put it in Luckyve’s node. He’s another fella that’s integral to chainx’s community :blush:

#20

btw what is the Experiance account?

#21

It’s a demo account for everyone to have a look around. You can’t actually do anything with it.