BItCoin cannot be staked?

Or so it seems when I was looking deeper into the issue today and I could be wrong - DYOR.

Well, it is for one very simple reason and that is that it cannot realistically be staked because it uses Proof‑of‑Work, not Proof‑of‑Stake. At best what can be done is what some refer to as “soft staking” alternatives and thus you will find plenty of offers for BitCoin Staking. In reality, what this staking really means utilsing lending (such as the now defunct Celsius platform), earn programmes, or Wrapped‑BTC staking on PoS chains. Coinbase used to offer such rewards with there (now also defunct) Earn programme which was discontinued quite some time ago.

However, while I cannot attest to this personally as I don't use the platforms, it does appear that Kraken, Binance,ByBit and BiGet do offer rewards. Honestly, when my research threw these names up I had never heard of BiGet so DYOR - as always.

It is an important distinction that rather than staking, what is actually been done is yielding and this is achieved by platforms offering among other things BitCoin savings accounts, the aforementioned lending programmes, Wrapped BitCoin (WBTC) staking on Ethereum,dual‑investment products and BitCoin‑denominated rewards.

If you are looking to put your BitCoin to work then you should, as always, think safety first. Lean your preferences towards regulated exchanges with proof‑of‑reserves for security, avoid platforms promising unusually high APY, this was how Celsius was so seductive and it is a clear red flag indicator of a scam. Furthermore before going in to any such yielding programme ensure that you understand how lock‑up periods work and any liquidation risks they carry and especially concerning dual‑investment.

In the end given its overall upward trajectory (beware - remember my warning in my last post about BitCoin zeroing down or being worth $1m in a few years) the safest thing might well be to simply keep most of your BitCoin in cold storage and only allocate a portion to any kind of yielding programme.

For those of you are interested in my motive behind writing this article, it is because at what appears to be the right time during this cycle (BitCoin is currently relatively stable) I went big on BitCoin by moving all of my previously staking USDC there. Since then it has been up and down but not by much and that gives me confidence that I did that thing that I do so rarely - call it at the right time. However, with its relative stability I was looking at ways for it to sweat and earn a bit of a living rather than just sit there passively.

So there you ago...

As always stay safe and well my friends.