How to Stake Polygon (MATIC) with MetaMask and Polygon Portal?

An in-depth guide on staking, unstaking, claiming, and re-staking your Polygon MATIC assets with MetaMask and Polygon Portal.

Polygon is a blockchain scalability platform that provides secure, scalable, and near-instant transactions via its Layer 2 commit chain and an adapted version of Plasma (the official bridge provided by the Polygon team to bridge MATIC tokens from Ethereum to the Polygon chain). Polygon is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and thus supports Solidity as a smart contract language.

To know more about Polygon institutional staking service offering please refer to our dedicated Polygon staking page.

How to stake Polygon tokens on Polygon Portal?

Please note: you will need to have a MetaMask Wallet with $MATIC and $ETH for fees to be able to delegate on the Polygon Network. Delegation and staking takes place on the Ethereum Mainnet network, so make sure you have those on the correct network. Next, go to: https://staking.polygon.technology/ 

The dashboard should look similar to the one below:

Select “Login” on the top-right menu to continue. The Polygon Portal (formerly Polygon Wallet)  will ask you to select the wallet you choose to connect. For this guide, we have used MetaMask. 

Select “MetaMask,” and the MetaMask extension will request a Sign-in. Read through the message and select “Sign” if you agree.

If you have the Metamask extension installed in your browser, you can choose Metamask directly, or you can use WalletConnect to connect your mobile wallet.

Please note: if you’re having trouble connecting or transacting with your MetaMask wallet on your browser, try to open the wallets in another browser such as Chrome, Brave, or Firefox instead.  

Once connected, your wallet should look like the dashboard below.

Please note: while bridges are available for transferring your assets from Ethereum to Polygon Matic, delegation occurs on the Ethereum network. 

Scroll down to select the validator of your choice and select “Delegate”.

The delegation menu will pop up, requesting you enter the amount of $MATIC you’d like to delegate. Next, select “Continue”. To confirm, you must sign the transaction in your MetaMask account and pay a transaction fee of $ETH.

Select “Confirm” to continue. You have now approved the delegation. Next, you must sign a second transaction to delegate your $MATIC assets to your selected validator. In the pop-up, select “Delegate”, and then select “Confirm” in the MetaMask extension.

You need to wait for the 12 checkpoints before the changes are visible in your Polygon wallet (2-12 hours, depending on the congestion of the Ethereum network). In between, make sure you visit Etherscan to check your transactions.

After successfully completing this process, you should see a similar image to the one above. Under the title “Your Delegations,” you can find the amount that you’ve staked with the validator. 

Congratulations! You have now staked your $MATIC.

Please remember that to unstake or redelegate, you’ll need to wait for 80 checkpoints (3-10 days on average, depending on the protocol rules and the congestion of the Ethereum network).

How to claim your rewards from staking Polygon?

Please note: the minimum for withdrawing rewards is 2 $MATIC. The same applies to reinvesting rewards as well. While you won’t be able to withdraw rewards, unstaking does remain available at any time.  

To claim your $MATIC rewards, go to: https://staking.polygon.technology/account

Your dashboard should look similar to the one below. Now, you will have the option to restake your reward or withdraw your reward.

To withdraw, select “Withdraw Reward.” A pop-up will ask you if you’re certain that you’d like to withdraw your $MATIC. Select “Withdraw to Wallet” to continue.

MetaMask will request you to confirm the transaction, and select “confirm”. Depending on the time of day and the fee you pay, the transaction can take up to a few seconds.

How to stake more MATIC tokens?

You can add more $MATIC to your stake at a validator where you’ve already delegated assets, at: https://staking.polygon.technology/account

Select the validator of your choice on your dashboard under “Your Delegations”

Next, select “Stake More.” Remember that your accumulated rewards with the validator will be immediately transferred to your account once you delegate more $MATIC tokens to the same validator. 

Select “Continue”.

From here, the process is identical to staking the first time. Fill in the amount you want to add to your stake with the validator (see image below) and select “Continue.”

Confirm the transaction via MetaMask (see NR. 2). 

Your delegation is now approved. To delegate, select “Delegate” and once again confirm the transaction via MetaMask. 

Please note that it will take 12 checkpoint periods to see the additional delegation in your dashboard (2-12 hours, depending on the congestion of the Ethereum network).

How to unstake your MATIC tokens?

If you wish to no longer stake your $MATIC, you can unstake your assets by selecting “unbond” under “My Delegations” in your account dashboard. 

There are a few things you may want to consider when unstaking your tokens.

First, you will automatically receive any rewards that you have accumulated with the validator thus far. 

Second, unstaking takes up to 80 checkpoints (around 3-10 days on average, depending on protocol rules and the congestion of the Ethereum network) during which your funds will be locked. This period applies to both initial delegation and redelegation. It does not apply to rewards that have not been redelegated.

Next, a pop-up will ask you how much of your total stake with the validator you want to unstake. You can choose to select a set percentage such as 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%. But you can also select a precise amount.

Once you’ve selected the amount, click on: “Confirm Unbond”. Your MetaMask wallet extension will open, requesting that you confirm the transaction. Select “Confirm” to finalize your unstaking.

If you are an institutional staker and you need customized assistance or general support, do not hesitate to contact us on our dedicated Polygon institutional staking page.

DISCLAIMER: This is not financial advice. Staking, delegation, and cryptocurrencies involve a high degree of risk, and there is always the possibility of loss, including the failure of all staked digital assets. Additionally, delegators are at risk of slashing in case of security or liveness faults on some protocols. We advise you to do your due diligence before choosing a validator.