Adding proof of stake coins to your portfolio can be a great way to generate passive income. This can be used to further your investments without any additional outside contributions once established. You can either use these stakes to build your pot of existing staking coins to grow your monthly dividends, or you can also diversify these stakes into other coins which you’re not capable of mining or staking yourself. However, not all of them are created equal! In this article, we’ll go over what the differences between POS and POW coins, and then we’ll touch on which coins offer attractive returns on the required investment.

What is a Proof Of Stake coin?

In cryptocurrency, generally, there are PoW (Proof of Work) and PoS (Proof of Stake) coins. PoW coins run their network by utilizing miners who offer their computer power to confirm transactions and to secure the network. Miners need to compete with each other for blocks, and the amount they earn is based on the power of their host machine that they use for mining.

In a PoS environment, the power of your machine doesn’t matter. As long as you have enough resources to run a lightweight desktop wallet you’ll still be able to mint new coins. Instead, the “hash power” of your mining depends upon other factors such as how many coins you have in your wallet, the length of time that those coins have been there, and the weight of everyone else who is currently staking. Holding more coins is typically the easiest way to generate more consistent stakes for a particular coin. How many coins you need depends heavily on the specific coin itself, and the competition from others.

Just a note, while there are exchanges that offer to “pool stake” your coins for you, these setups can be quite risky. Leaving your coins here could result in them being lost if an unsavory exchange decides to close up shop without notice since you do not own the private keys to these wallets. It’s best to keep your coins in wallets you personally own for safety.

What are the best coins for staking?

When choosing a POS coin in which to make your investment you should consider a few factors. First, while it may seem like a great idea to invest in a coin that has a very high return, you should also consider that this will greatly increase the circulating supply. If people are continually dumping these coins on to an exchange it can be hard for your stakes to retain value.

However, it’s equally undesirable to have too few of a coin that you can’t afford. If you can’t compete with others on the network in regards to weight it could be a very long time before you see any kind of return on your investment. Here are some coins that have attractive returns based on the investment you’d need to make in order to start staking. Fortunately, with the recent market dip, you have a good opportunity to acquire some great staking assets at low prices.

Note: Some of the coins listed below are not well known, please do your research before investing.

1. Ignition Coin

While it may not appear so at first, the required investment for staking this coin is actually quite low. You can begin staking with this asset with as little as 200 coins to begin earning daily or at least every other day stakes. However, 500 is likely a better number for regularity.

Recommended starting coins: 200-500

Initial investment: $650 – $1,650

Estimated income per month: Approximately $300 per month

All-time high coin price: $42.00

2. Syndicate

Syndicate offers a great opportunity for investors that don’t have a lot to spend. This asset tends to have reliable, daily stakes, and it typically carries an equally reliable price. This is one of those back from the dead type of projects that most won’t pay attention to, but if you put a little money here you could earn a nice income every month for your efforts.

Recommended starting coins: 2,500

Initial investment: $1,375.00

Estimated income per month in USD: $230/month

All-time high coin price: $1.19

3. VeChain

Not only does VeChain offer some attractive staking returns, but it also has an interesting product to back it up. Their platform is focused around using the blockchain as a verification mechanism to thwart the distribution of fraudulent goods. They offer a digital identification service for designer brands and other commonly misrepresented items. Their solution wants to revolutionize supply chains for many important industries.

Recommended starting coins: 2,000

Initial investment: $7,805.00

Estimated income per month in USD: $100/month

All-time high coin price: $9.45

4. Bridge Coin

This is the native currency of the decentralized trading platform Crypto-Bridge. If you’re interested in staking this asset, it operates a bit differently than others. You’ll actually need to hold your coins on their exchange, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. The platform itself is actually a wallet which you own the keys for, so it’s safer than a normal exchange. By holding your coins you’ll be able to earn a percentage of the fees they collect on the platform from traders. This number is said to be 50%, which means that as the platform grows so does your investment.

Recommended starting coins: 5,000

Initial investment: $8,250.00

Estimated income per month in USD: $62/month

All-time high coin price: $9.18

5. Deep Onion

Deep Onion is an underrated privacy coin. People will turn their nose up most likely when you mention the name of this coin, however, it is a reliable staker. While the project is relatively new, they’ve acquired an all-time high price of around $20, and the subsequent drop could make it easy for a new investor to acquire enough to stake. What’s more is that their many community events could even give you the opportunity to win or earn your investment at no cost to you.

If you’re a cryptocurrency newbie on a budget that’s certainly an attractive option. The staking return is not nearly as nice as with some of the other options on the list, unfortunately, but while the return is a little paltry now, a patient holder could see a sharp increase in the value of their monthly stakes if they wait for the coin’s price to appreciate.

Recommended starting coins: 200

Initial investment: $454.00

Estimated income per month in USD: $7/month

All-time high coin price: $20.00

Some more expensive options

Have a little more to spend? You’ll need to already have a good amount of liquid capital available in order to stake these coins, but if you have a significant nest egg you’re looking to put somewhere then these could be good options. Be prepared to spend in the five-figure range in order to actually generate any meaningful income here. While it is possible to stake with lower amounts it could take you a very, very long time to do so with these assets.

1. Diamond

This project doesn’t do much from a technical standpoint, but their price tends to stay relatively stable which makes the stakes valuable. They have a low circulating supply of around 2.7 million coins which helps keep the price up. Believe it or not, even with the high price tag this node is trading at a hefty discount from the all-time high price. You can also host a Diamond masternode.

Recommended starting coins: 10,000

Initial investment: $62,832

Estimated income per month: Approximately $1,750 per month

All-time high coin price: $31.00

2. Neo

Everyone’s favorite Chinese cryptocurrency can earn you some extra funds while you hold it. As a Neo holder, you can expect to earn somewhere around 5% of your investment per year in the form of “gas”, Neo’s other currency.

Interestingly, you don’t need to keep your machine running to earn this. As long as your coins are held in a wallet for which you own the private key you’ll be credited your gas earnings. It’s not the best return you could hope to have, but if you’ve been eyeing an investment in this project anyway or you just want somewhere safer to put your money this could be an attractive option.

Recommended starting coins: 10,000

Initial investment: $758,700.00

Estimated income per month: Approximately $2,432.00 per month

All-time high coin price: $162.00

The best investment is the one that meets your needs!

There are obviously many, many staking coins available. The best one for you will depend heavily on your budget and your risk tolerance. Fortunately, cryptocurrency offers investment opportunities for people of all income levels, so you should be able to find something that will fit into your portfolio.

Always do your own research before putting money into any investment, never invest more than you can afford to lose and make sure to diversify. Putting all your eggs in one basket is setting yourself up for disaster.

Note: This is not an investment advice, please do your own research before investing.