Are You Ready to Stake Crypto?
How to Double Your Money
by
SmartNodes — A Validator on the Cosmos Ecosystem
Americans and Other Speakers of English
Crypto investors in Asia and Europe have long enjoyed a leg up over Americans and perhaps other speakers of English. Asian investors have had an array of centralized exchanges providing easy access to some of the more exotic (and profitable) cryptocurrency. Americans who wanted to buy Akash ($AKT) or $ATOM, for example, had to learn the intricacies of exchanges like Bithumb and Ascendex. And then, if they wanted to “stake” those coins, they faced the mysteries of wallets like Keplr and Cosmostation.
It was — and still is for newcomers — a daunting and often frightening experience.
We’d Like to Make it Easy for You
At SmartNodes we understand the difficulties faced by those who want to seek out the massive profits available on decentralized exchanges through the two processes known as “staking” and “liquidity pooling.”
Let’s Start with Some Basics
If you’re interested in buying Bitcoin and Ethereum, proceed to Crypto.com, Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, or some other “centralized” exchange. Set up an account. Go through the KYC process (Know Your Client), upload a picture of your driver’s license, provide your Social Security Number (for Americans), and figure out how to link your bank account so that you can provide money to your account for your trades.
We hope you do have an account with one of these centralized exchanges, for they will provide you with the ability to buy some coins and move them to a decentralized exchange — where you can earn annual returns greater than 100%.
Accounts at centralized crypto exchanges resemble traditional brokerage accounts like Fidelity or Schwab. Traditional stock accounts are provided by companies. They have employees. They have officers and boards of directors.
Decentralized exchanges often have no employees at all. Sure, real people created them. But the exchanges have no human market makers. Instead, the entire operation is one gigantic string of computer code. They’re called AMM’s, which stands for Automated Market Makers. All trades are made automatically through algorithms that search markets for the most accurate price for trades on the exchange.
Cosmos
The decentralized exchange we’ll examine here (OsmosisZone) deals in coins launched on the Cosmos Ecosystem. Most people refer to OsmosisZone as just “Osmosis.” We’ll do the same.
You definitely want to learn about Cosmos. We think the most exciting, innovative, and profitable projects will launch on Cosmos in 2022 and beyond. We suggest these sources:
- What is the Cosmos Blockchain? (Get up to speed on Cosmos, Tendermint, and the ATOM token)
- Cosmos (ATOM): Why It’s a Crypto Gamechanger?
- What’s Coming to Cosmos in 2022?
- CryptoNews.com: Cosmos — What Is Atom?
Briefly, Cosmos is perhaps unique among all cryptocurrency systems. Everyone knows of Bitcoin, which mainly involves just Bitcoin. Everyone knows of Ethereum, which has spawned a vast array of projects “built on” Ethereum. These projects have great flexibility, but they are constrained by the underlying Ethereum protocol.
Cosmos differs significantly from Ethereum. Cosmos provides a “hub” that blockchains can attach to. Cosmos even provides SDK, a toolkit helping developers create their own blockchains. So a project “built on” Cosmos is its own blockchain; it is not beholden to underlying Cosmos code; it can devise its own rules.
So Cosmos is not a “layer 1” to support a bunch of “layer 2’s.” Cosmos is a “layer 1” facilitating the development of other “layer 1’s.” Cosmos provides the ability of these other blockchains to be created (through SDK) … and … perhaps most importantly of all … Cosmos provides the ability of these new blockchains to “talk” to one another … and that “talking” includes the transfer of data … and that data can be coins.
This talking … this transfer of data … this transfer of crypto coins … is all made possible through the revolutionary IBC — Inter Blockchain Communication. You’ll hear a lot about IBC in the coming days, weeks, months, years, and decades.
So what is Cosmos? It’s the “Internet of Blockchains.”
Say Hello to ATOM … And Be Prepared to Buy It
Just as Ethereum has the crypto coin ETH — which is used to pay fees for transactions occurring on the Ethereum Blockchain — Cosmos has its own coin of the realm called “$ATOM.” It differs from ETH in that it is not used for the payment of fees. But it does perform a crucial function: through the “staking” of $ATOM, the blockchains on Cosmos gain all-important network security.
Below you will learn about Osmosis, the decentralized exchange where you can buy Cosmos coins like $OSMO, $AKT, $JUNO, $BTSG, and many others, which you can then stake for rewards typically higher than 50% and sometimes higher than 100%.
Until very recently, it was extremely hard to move “money” to Osmosis. Instead you had to buy Cosmos coins and move them to Osmosis. And, as pointed out above, for Westerners it was very hard to buy these coins.
All of that changed just recently. Coinbase — perhaps the most popular crypto exchange for Americans — and Crypto.com (the up-and-coming exchange that paid $700 million for naming rights of the L.A. Lakers arena) … both listed $ATOM!
Suddenly it became very easy for Americans and other Westerners to enter the amazing world of Osmosis. They simply had to buy $ATOM and then send it to a wallet that connects to Osmosis.
So let’s learn about this new dEX (decentralized exchange) called Osmosis and then set about learning to use it to buy and sell Cosmos coins.
What Is OsmosisZone?
As we pointd out above, most people refer to OsmosisZone as just “Osmosis.” This decentralized exchange launched in the summer of 2021. Already it has more than $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) in a series of liquidity pools. (On Jan. 7, 2022, the exact value was $1,212,727,907.)
If an entity is going to provide a means (an exchange) for people to buy and sell crypto coins, what must that exchange have to make trading even possible?
One word answer: liquidity.
If it offers people the chance to buy and sell $AKT (the coin for the Akash Network), it must have a supply of $AKT that buyers can draw from and sellers can add to.
So how can this exchange get liquidity? It simply offers those who already hold the coins a significant amount of money to add their coins (lock them up) to a liquidity pool.
Where Does This Money Come From?
Who is paying these significant amounts of money to holders of coins to get them to toss their coins into a liquidity pool?
The answer is this: Nobody is paying the liquidity poolers. The reward token itself is “inflating” according to a schedule found (and publicly disclosed) in the project’s White Paper. The tokens earned by those who provide liquidity or to those who provide security by staking are very similar to U.S. dollars “printed” by the Federal Reserve.
When the Fed creates money, it typically goes into the hands of the wealthy. Why is that? Well, if Bob sells a U.S. Bond for $1,000 to Sally, Bob’s checking account goes down by $1,000. Sally’s goes up by $1,000. There’s no net effect on the money supply. Bob and Sally are bond holders — they typically have lots of money.
But if the Fed is the buyer of the bond, Bob’s checking account goes up by $1,000. And NO ONE’s checking account goes DOWN by $1,000. The net effect on the money supply? It goes up by $1,000. This money is printed out of thin air. It falls from the sky.
The same happens when the owner of a coin puts it in a liquidity pool and receives a reward or when the owner of a coin stakes that coin and receives a reward. No one’s account goes down by the amount of the reward payment. But the account of the pooler or staker most certainly goes up.
This money falls from the sky. No one is “paying” it. But it is real money. And it is falling from the sky. And smart people like you are standing there … ready to catch it … ready to add to your personal wealth in a most significant way.
Osmosis Liquidity Pools
Osmosis started out offering around 10 pools. Each pool pairs two coins. Pool #1, for example, pairs $ATOM with $OSMO (you’ll fall in love with $OSMO — that’s the coin you get as your “reward” for staking $OSMO or for adding your coins to a pool). Pool #1 currently has a locked value of $442 million.
Pool #9, to look at another example, pairs $CRO (the coin for the Crypto.com centralized exchange) with $OSMO; the locked value is just under $25 million. Why, you might ask, is $CRO (the coin of a centralized exchange) part of a liquidity pool on Osmosis (a de-centralized exchange)? Because Crypto.com is built on Cosmos! So is $BNB, the Binance coin (which is the third largest coin in existence, behind #2 Ethereum, and #1 Bitcoin).
So Osmosis is a decentralized exchange using IBC to enable the coins of the Cosmos ecosystem to transfer back and forth.
Osmosis is also an Automatic Market Maker. Computer code ascertains the most accurate price and enables you to swap one coin for any other handled by Osmosis.
Fees for Buying and Selling Coins on Osmosis
Right now — in the early stages of Osmosis— what’s the fee charged for swapping coins? ZERO. That’s right. Zero, zip, nada.
Compare that with the fees charged on UniSwap or MetaMask, both using the Ethereum blockchain for transactions. Fees there often exceed $100 for crypto trades.
How to Get Money into Your Osmosis Account
You cannot put “money” in Osmosis. There’s no way to link Osmosis to your bank account. If you want to buy coins in Osmosis, you must first put at least one other coin in Osmosis. As noted above, that used to be rather hard (Who in their right mind wants to use the Bithumb Exchange, for heaven’s sake).
But now it’s easy. Set up a Coinbase or Crypto.com account. Link it to your bank account. Deposit some dollars.
And then buy some $ATOM. You’re now just a few steps away from your first purchase on Osmosis.
The Keplr Wallet — Moving Coins In and Out of Osmosis
You can’t directly put coins into Osmosis. You have to use a Wallet. The most popular is the Keplr Wallet. Although it does have a mobile app version, we at SmartNodes urge you to use the PC version of Keplr.
It’s easy to get. If you don’t already use Chrome as a browser, install it now. Why? Because the Keplr Wallet is simply a Chrome “Extension.”
So are you ready to begin the journey? It’s really very easy, once you get the hang of it. And we’ll help you along the way … step by step.
How to Buy Crypto Using Osmosis
In the following instructions, we’ve provided screen shots that will show you the precise computer screens you will encounter in setting up a Keplr Wallet and in actually purchasing coins on Osmosis.
How to Set up a Keplr Wallet
It’s time to set up your Keplr Wallet.
Open your Chrome browser. If you don’t have Chrome, type “install Chrome” in your current browser and click Download Now, as shown below.
The Keplr Wallet is a Chrome “Extension.” It acts like an app that sits on the back of Chrome.
To get it (it’s free), just type “extensions” in the URL window.
Hit Enter and the following screen appears.
Click Extensions beneath Chrome Web Store.
The following screen will open.
Type Keplr in the Search the Store window as shown below.
Press Enter and the following screen appears.
Click the White K in the Blue Square.
The following screen appears. Click the Blue Box Add to Chrome.
The following screen appears. Don’t worry about the “read and change all your data …”
We’re not sure why they scream “The sky is falling!”
Click Add Extension.
You have now added Keplr to Chrome. At the top of your screen, notice the Blue Square with the White K in it. Notice also the dark Puzzle Piece Icon next to the K.
Click the Puzzle Piece Icon and the following screen appears.
See the Pin icon next to Keplr? Click it. Now the Blue Square with the White K will always appear on your control bar. To open Keplr, you simply click the Blue Square with the White K.
Your control bar will look like this.
Click the White K in the Blue Square.
It’s now time to set up your Keplr Wallet.
Setting up Your Keplr Account
Now you can open your Keplr Wallet just by clicking the K.
Attention: The next steps are among the most important you will ever encounter as a Crypto Trader, Crypto Staker, and Crypto Pooler. Click the White K in the Blue Square.
The following screen appears.
Click Create New Account.
The next screen is THE most important in your crypto life!
Get a clean sheet of paper and ball-point pen.
We can’t stress enough how important the next step is.
Crucial Screen: Your Mnemonic Seed Phrase
The above screen gives you your mnemonic seed phrase. Here notice that “12 words” is highlighted and 12 words appear in the box.
We recommend that you select “24 words,” for that will give you extra protection.
So click “24 Words” now.
The screen below appears.
CAUTION: Never, Ever Share These 24 Words with Anyone
If somebody gets possession of these words, they can use them to STEAL all of the assets in your Keplr Wallet. You will NEVER be able to get those assets back. And the police won’t be able to help you.
Follow these steps (refer to the screen above):
1. Right now, use a separate sheet of paper and write down the 24 words.
(Note: We are, in fact, creating a wallet, and if we put assets in that wallet, someone will use these 24 words and steal the assets from us. We’ll put a few coins in this wallet to show you how to trade in Osmosis. But we won’t leave them there for very long.
2. Give the account a name: “John Doe” or any name you like.
3. Dream up and type your password in the New Password box. Use letters (upper- and lower-case) and numbers and symbols.
4. Retype the password in the Confirm Password box.
5. Hide your list of 24 words. Do not copy, paste, and email them to yourself. Do not take a picture of them and leave the pic on your iPhone. Do not keep a list of the words on your iPhone or computer.
If you’re in a public place, right now some foul creep is probably trying to hack your computer and copy your seed phrase.
If someone gets possession of your 24 words, say bye-bye to your crypto assets. Not a pretty picture. Certainly one of the worst moments of your life. Got it?
5. Now it’s time to pass a test. Keplr wants to prove that you have indeed written down your 24 words.
6. Click the Blue Bar that says Next.
The following screen lists your 24 words, but not in the same order in which they appeared on the previous screen. On this screen you will click the words in the bottom list: follow the same order in which they originally appeared, that is, the same order on your handwritten list.
We’ll put in the first six words (dad, piece, cereal, goose, message, and wreck) to illustrate the process.
Study the following screen.
On the above screen, you will click the 24 words in the same order they appeared — that is, in the same order in which you wrote them down.
We’ve clicked the first six. As you click a word, it’ll disappear from the clickable list at the bottom and appear in the top list.
The screen below shows the list when only one word remains for you to click (danger).
You’ve clicked all the words. When you click the last one “danger,” you’ll then click the blue Register bar at the bottom of the screen.
You have now created your Keplr Wallet, and you’re ready to start earning some serious money.
On your control bar at the top of your Chrome screen, click the White K in the Blue Square.
Say Hello to Your Keplr Wallet
Your Keplr Wallet opens. It looks like this.
At the top you see “Cosmos,” which is the $ATOM coin.
At the bottom, you see “Stake,” which reveals the APR you can earn by staking $ATOM. Even though this APR (13.82%) is the smallest available, it’s a good idea to stake some $ATOM — that way you can qualify for future Airdrops.
At the top, above the John Doe account name, notice the drop-down arrow next to “Cosmos.”
The Coins of Cosmos
When you click the drop-down arrow, a listing of the coins of the Cosmos Ecosystem will appear.
Click Osmosis. You will want to own and stake $OSMO.
Check out the next screen.
Here you see the $OSMO coin. Notice at the bottom that you can earn nearly 100% for staking it.
As noted above, $OSMO is unique among all Cosmos coins. It’s the one you’ll receive as rewards for adding coins to Liquidity Pools. And … you MUST know this … $OSMO is the ONLY coin that resides both in your Keplr wallet AND in Osmosis. Any $OSMO you hold will appear not just in your Keplr Wallet but also in Osmosis. All other coins must be MOVED from your Keplr Wallet into Osmosis (deposit) or from Osmosis into your Keplr Wallet (withdraw).
Osmosis — A Strange but Exciting World
Now that you have installed your Keplr Wallet, it’s time to become familiar with OsmosisZone.
To enter Osmosis, just type Osmosis DOT Zone in your Chrome Browser.
Or you can just click the word Osmosis in this article!
There’s no “Dot Com” in this website’s URL. You type Osmosis.Zone … that’s it.
Let’s try it out now.
Type Osmosis DOT Zone, hit the Return key, and a new world opens up for you.
We will wager that you did not expect to see this Dude with his beakers and his chemicals … and … his cat! Well, we said it’d be a brand new world. It is.
And … it’s a profitable world indeed.
So click Enter The Lab.
After carefully reading the “risks,” click the box and then click Proceed.
Connecting Keplr to Osmosis
Here’s your first Osmosis screen. In the lower left (or at the bottom of the $ATOM box), you now click Connect Wallet. This will enable your Keplr Wallet to communicate (send and receive coins) with Osmosis.
In the next screen, Osmosis asks you to select which wallet you want to connect.
Here once again is that White K in the Blue Square.
Click it to connect your Keplr Wallet with Osmosis.
Your Keplr Wallet now asks you to approve this action.
This is a common occurrence when you trade crypto in Osmosis. Your Keplr Wallet will open up and ask you to Approve a particular action. Here Keplr wants to be sure you really do want to connect Keplr with Osmosis.
You do, so you click Approve.
In the next screen, in the lower left, you see that your John Doe Keplr account is now connected to Osmosis. Let’s look at just one feature of Osmosis before you learn how to put some “money” here so that you can buy coins.
Your Osmosis Assets
Notice the panel along the left: Trade, Pools, LBP, Assets, and so on. Right now, you should click Assets.
Here’s what you’ll see.
Here you see My Osmosis Assets. Right now, they equal … zip, zero, nada, nothing. The first four listed are (1) $OSMO (remember, if you had some $OSMO coins, they would appear here … and they would also appear in your Keplr Wallet), (2) ION, (3) Cosmos Hub — $ATOM, and
(4) Terra — LUNA ….
The list of Assets continues when you scroll down, as shown in the next screenshot.
As of this writing, Osmosis features 30 Cosmos coins. Many are going to the moon — as we crypto-type people are wont to say.
Putting “Money” in Osmosis
As you can see, right now your assets are zero. To buy some of these coins, to stake them for extremely high rewards, to pool them — for all those actions you need some “money” in Osmosis. But there’s no way to move actual fiat currency into Osmosis. You cannot connect it to your bank account.
But you can get the value of money into Osmosis. All you have to do is buy $ATOM. You can buy $ATOM on Coinbase, on Crypto.com, on Binance, indeed … on a whole bunch of exchanges.
Where Can You Buy ATOM?
How do you find out where any particular coin can be purchased?
Simple: go to Coingecko.com. Search for the coin in the Search Box, scroll down to Markets, click Markets, and there you’ll find a list of exchanges. We’ll provide a couple of screenshots to show the process.
Go to Coingecko.com.
The Home Page looks like this.
Right below the green Sign Up in the upper right we type $ATOM in the search box.
With $ATOM in the Search Box, we hit the Return key.
On the $ATOM page, scroll down to the green General box. Above it, a bit to the right, click Markets, right next to Overview.
You’ll then see a list of the exchanges where you can buy or sell $ATOM.
You can see that $ATOM is listed all over the place. Number 1 is Osmosis (that’s OsmosisZone). Number 5 is Binance. Number 6 is Coinbase. And Number 11 is Crypto.com.
Do You Have ATOM in Your Centralized Exchange Account?
If you do not have a crypto account at a centralized exchange like Coinbase or Crypto.com, you need to establish one NOW (for a Crypto.com account, go to an app store and download the Crypto.com app).
In these instructions, we assume that you’ve established an account at one of these exchanges. We assume that you know how to purchase $ATOM. And we assume that you have a supply of $ATOMs in your account. If those assumptions conflict with your reality, please adjust your reality: get an account, buy some ATOM, and return to these instructions.
Good. It’s now time to move those $ATOM coins from your exchange to your Keplr Wallet.
Your Keplr Deposit Address for ATOM
So let’s return to your Keplr Wallet and get the receiving (deposit) address for $ATOM.
Return to Chrome and click the White K in the Blue Square.
Your Keplr Wallet opens.
When Keplr opens, click the down arrow and select Cosmos.
You are now ready to copy your $ATOM address so that you can send $ATOM from your Coinbase or other centralized exchange to your Keplr Wallet.
When you click Cosmos, this screen will appear.
Right under the name of your account, click on the box with the funny letters and numbers.
This is your $ATOM deposit address. It looks like this:
cosmos138ndf0vrlua6sgcnsd4nd63xdpvlyvskjhr26e
You may share this address with anyone. The only thing they can do with it is send $ATOM to your account — a good thing. When you click on the address, it will be copied to your clipboard.
Moving ATOM from Centralized Exchange to Keplr
You now want to open your Coinbase Account or Crypto.com App (or other exchange where you purchased $ATOM).
Note: The following screenshots comes from an iPhone (we use iPhone apps to operate Coinbase or Crypto.com).
Using Crypto.com to Send $ATOM to Your Keplr Wallet
In Crypto.com, you select your Crypto Wallet and make sure the $ATOM you purchased is displayed.
On the right of the screen you’ll see a circle with left and right arrows. It’s called “Transfer.” (In Coinbase, it might be called “Withdraw” or “Send”).
When you click Transfer, two options at the bottom appear: Deposit (move coins into your account) and Withdraw (move coins out of your account). You click Withdraw.
Three more options appear. You select External Wallet. Then your Withdrawal Whitelist appears. In the upper right, you’ll see a + sign. Click it and Add to Whitelist appears. You select Wallet Address.
Then Select Cryptocurrency appears and you select Cosmos $ATOM.
Paste Your Keplr ATOM Address
Whitelist Details appears. Here you will add the Cosmos address that you copied from your Keplr Wallet. Paste it into the Cosmos Address box.
The Keplr Wallet does not require a Memo to accompany a deposit, so leave the Memo box blank. Then check the box named “No memo required for my wallet.”
Finally, give this address a name. Call it “My Keplr Wallet” or other suitable name.
Click Continue.
A box will pop up to make sure your wallet does NOT require a Memo. Your Keplr wallet does not require a Memo, so click “OK.”
The screen below asks you to enter your 6-digit Passcode.
The next screen then asks you to enter the 6-digit code generated by your authenticator app (Google Authenticator). Go to that app and click Crypto.com. Click the Code to copy it, as shown on the screen below.
Return to Crypto.com and paste the code, as shown on the screen below.
Click the Continue in the blue bar. Your Keplr $ATOM Address has been added to your Whitelist. It is now ready for your transfer.
How Many ATOMs Do You Want to Send?
Click the new wallet address you just added to your Whitelist. Then type in the number of $ATOMs you wish to send.
You bought 2.6 $ATOMs. So let’s send 2.5.
You enter 2.5 in the screen beldow.
You then click the blue Withdraw bar (above).
The Confirm screen appears below. So you click the blue Confirm box.
Your $ATOMs are now winging their way from your Crypto.com account to your Keplr Wallet, which, as you know, is connected to Osmosis (where huge profits await).
ATOM Arrives in Your Keplr Wallet
Returning to your Keplr Wallet, you can see that it still has a zero balance of $ATOMs.
But that is about to change. Sending crypto requires only a few minutes.
So if you’ll open your Keplr Wallet again, or refresh the screen, you’ll see that your 2.4 $ATOMs arrived — safe and sound.
You now have 2.4 $ATOMs in your Keplr Wallet.
Moving ATOM from Keplr to Osmosis
You can move your $ATOM coins from your Keplr Wallet into Osmosis. Remember: Only $OSMO resides both in your Keplr Wallet and in Osmosis at the same time. All other coins must be moved from Keplr to Osmosis (deposit) or from Osmosis to Keplr (withdraw).
Let’s see how you pull that off.
Return now to Osmosis. (Click the appropriate TAB in your Chrome Browser.) The screen below appears.
In the left panel, make sure that Assets is highlighted to a bright white. If it isn’t, click Assets.
The third coin down in the list is Cosmos Hub — $ATOM. Next you see your Zero balance. You then see Deposit > and Withdraw >.
Click Deposit on the Assets Screen
You want to deposit $ATOM into Osmosis from your Keplr Wallet.
Click Deposit and the following screen appears.
Here’s the Deposit Screen. It shows your Available Balance of 2.4 $ATOM. Whenever you move coins around through depositing or withdrawing or sending, it’s a good idea to leave a fraction to cover the very small fees that might apply.
So instead of depositing the MAX (2.4), you might decide to deposit just 2.35 $ATOM.
As shown above, you enter that amount in the box next to MAX. Then click Deposit.
Here comes your Keplr Wallet asking you for approval.
Notice that you’ll have to pay a fee … in $ATOM … so you can now see why we didn’t deposit the entire 2.4 $ATOMs.
When Keplr asks you to approve a fee, it always defaults to Average, which shows you how much will be charged — here 36 cents. If you changed the fee to High, it would cost you 57 cents.
At busy times of day — usually right after rewards are distributed (12:15 EST or 17:15 GMT) — it’s a good idea to pay the High fee. That way you’ll get faster service.
How to Set a Higher Gas for Even Faster Service
Now let’s pause and look at another feature of the above screen.
See the Set Gas right above Approve and right below High? If you increase the amount of Gas for the transaction, it will occur more quickly. Also, sometimes a transaction just doesn’t happen and is rejected. One way to deal with this problem is to increase the gas.
Let’s see how it works. When we click Set Gas, the screen below appears.
You can see that this transaction wants at least 500000 units of gas. To get faster service, let’s increase the Gas by changing the 5 to a 10, that is, we’re changing 500,000 units to 1,000,000 units.
Here we’ve changed the 500,000 to 1,000,000
Then we click Approve and the transaction will begin.
Several notices will flash on your screen.
After a few seconds, you’ll receive this message: “Transaction Successful” (upper right of screen below).
The transaction is successful, which you see on the next screen as your Assets value changes automatically from Zero to 2.35.
Your ATOM Has Become Money
You have now deposited 2.35 $ATOMs into Osmosis. You can now use those $ATOMs to swap for other coins. In other words, the $ATOMs act just like money.
When these screenshots were created toward the end of 2021, the price of $ATOM as shown on the Ascendex Exchange was $28.85. Thus, your 2.35 $ATOMs were worth $67.7975 … or … as rounded off in your Osmosis account … $67.8.
Well, well, well. You’ve made a brilliant investment. Overnight, the value of your $ATOM holdings grew from $67.8 to $73.9. Check it out:
Now you have even more money to spend.
Note: Brilliant indeed.
The screenshots above were taken in late December 2021. Now, as I type, on January 7, 2022, the price of $ATOM is $41.20. Your 2.35 $ATOM are now worth $96,82.
Your cost = $67.80.
$96.82 value minus $67.80 cost = $29.02 gain.
$29.02 gain divided by $67.80 cost = 42.80% return in just a few weeks.
Sweet.
How to Buy OSMO in Osmosis
It’s time to use your $ATOM coins to buy some other Cosmos coins, which you can now do inside Osmosis.
It’s always a good idea to have a supply of $OSMO. You will definitely want to Stake $OSMO (and receive a nearly 100% return), so let’s buy some and learn how to stake them.
Look at the left pane of Osmosis. Click Trade. The window below will appear.
The default trade window is always trading From $ATOM : To $OSMO. That’s the trade we want to make now.
Let’s use 1 of our $ATOMs to buy $OSMO.
In the From $ATOM pane we type “1”.
The screen then changes.
You can see that 1 $ATOM will buy 5.156888 $OSMOs. If you check prices on Coingecko.com, you’ll see that the values calculated by Osmosis are typically right on, never varying by more than a small fraction.
To purchase these 5.156888 $OSMOs, just click Swap in the blue bar in the screen above.
Your Keplr Wallet appears, asking you to Approve the transaction and to select a fee.
Just keep the selection at Average and click Approve.
The screen will flash some notifications, and you’ll ultimately see the screen below.
On the screen above, the top notification says “Transaction Successful.” That notice comes from Osmosis. The bottom notification says “Congratulations.” That notice comes from your Chrome Browser.
ATOM and OSMO Are Both “In the Zone”
In the left pane of your Osmosis screen, click Assets and you’ll see your $ATOM balance as 1.35 and your new $OSMO balance as 5.136636.
You might recall from above that your 1 $ATOM would be buying slightly more than your current OSMO balance. The difference is due to the .3% Swap Fee charged by Osmosis.
That fee cost you approximately 9 cents. Compare that to the fees charged on the Ethereum blockchain. Fees there often exceed $100.
Ready to Earn Some Ridiculously High Returns?
How to Stake OSMO with the SmartNodes Validator
Note: You’ll often encounter the words “delegate” and “stake.” They mean the same thing: You’re sending your coins to a Validator, who will hold them off the market. When you decide you want them back, you will “Un-delegate.” Then you’ll wait 14 days until the coins become “available.”
You want your $OSMOs to work for you. So you decide to Stake them. Recall that $OSMO always resides both in Osmosis and in your Keplr Wallet. It’s the only Osmosis coin that does that. All other coins must be moved either into Osmosis from Keplr (deposit) or out of Osmosis and into Keplr (withdraw).
So let’s check your $OSMO as shown in your Keplr Wallet.
Click the White K in the Blue Square in the upper right of your screen.
Your Keplr Wallet looks like this.
The last time you visited Keplr, you were dealing with Cosmos, e.g., $ATOM. Now you need to look at Osmosis, e.g., $OSMO.
Click the down arrow to the right of Cosmos and your Keplr Wallet looks like the screen below.
The drop-down list shows all the Cosmos coins. You want to work with $OSMO, so click Osmosis.
And now you see that your $OSMOs do indeed live simultaneously in Osmosis and in your Keplr Wallet.
Your $OSMOs now appear in your Keplr Wallet. When you see the word “Available,” that means your coins are not staked, are not pooled, and are available to you to sell or to send or … in your current situation … to stake.
Alert: Notice the APR under the word Stake and next to the Blue Box with the name Stake.
Looks like it’s time for a big pay off.
If you Stake your $OSMOs, you will earn “up to 107.68% per year.”
That APR will decline over time. Astute crypto investors will seek out the high returns, and when they’re no longer attractive, will look elsewhere.
This APR of 107% means if you stake 100 $OSMOs, then in one year, you will have 207 $OSMOs (your original 100 plus the 107 you will earn).
When You Click “Stake”
So click the Blue Box Stake.
Wow. What happened?
A whole new Chrome Browser TAB opened.
You can see its name: https://wallet.keplr.app/#/osmosis/stake.
This is your Keplr Wallet Dashboard. Take a few minutes to look it over.
In the middle of the screen you see a list of all the Cosmos Validators. They are listed in the order of their “voting power,” which corresponds to the number of $OSMOs staked with each Validator.
You can find all sorts of articles on “how to choose the right Validator for staking Cosmos coins.” All of them will urge you to select several Validators and specifically to select some of the smaller ones — as a way of decentralizing the voting power.
Selecting SmartNodes
We at SmartNodes like that advice, because we are one of the newcomers on the block.
Scroll down to what is now #76 and you’ll find SmartNodes. (This number is likely to decline [that is, our ranking will go up] as more and more stakers choose SmartNodes.)
And why will more and more stakers choose SmartNodes?
Here are the top 5 reasons:
- Active in the Community. SmartNodes is quite active in the Cosmos Community. For example, in the fall of 2021, a new Cosmos coin had some difficulty with its Airdrop. Many recipients expressed confusion.
SmartNodes — at its own expense — set up a Telegram Channel for special instructions. It also developed a SmartBot. An Airdrop recipient could simply click the Bot and get immediate access to the Airdropped coins destined for that particular recipient. Read about this event here. - SmartNodes Computer Setup. The SmartNodes computers have all the power needed to process thousands of transactions occurring on the various blockchains validated by SmartNodes.
- Slash and Double Sign Protection.
- SmartNodes Actively Votes on Proposals. Governance becomes hugely important in the Cosmos Ecosystem. As new blockchains come on board, invariably issues arise requiring the votes of both Validators and coin holders. The voting power of a Validator is determined by the number of coins staked with the particular Validator. SmartNodes takes this responsibility seriously and makes it a point to vote on every proposal.
- Financial Support. SmartNodes has given thousands of dollars to help people get started with their crypto investments.
Staking OSMO with SmartNodes
We’d love to Stake and Protect your $OSMO coins. So scroll down to find SmartNodes. The screen looks like this.
There’s SmartNodes Validator, at the top.
You’ve located SmartNodes . To the far right, you see Manage. Click it. The screen looks like this. A window pops open.
There you’ll see the SmartNodes Website address. Click here to visit us and you’ll feel even more confident in your decision to stake your $OSMO with us.
Now click Delegate and the window below pops up.
Here you’re advised that Staking will lock up your $OSMO coins for 14 days. That is, when you decide you’d like to sell them or send them to someone, you will return to your Keplr Dashboard and UN-Delegate your $OSMO. Then, 14 days later, they will become “Available” again.
Do not delegate the MAX. Always leave some $OSMO behind to handle any transaction fees in Osmosis. So here, you might delegate 5 of your 5.136636 $OSMO.
Insert the number you want to Delegate (it means the same as “Stake”) and click the Blue Box Delegate.
(Note: In fact, we will delegate the minimum, which is 1 $OSMO. Remember, we’ve revealed our Seed Phrase and when this is published some unscrupulous readers might try to take our assets. So we won’t leave much [if any] behind.)
As shown above, we’ve inserted 1, and then we click the Blue Box Delegate in the lower right part of the screen.
When we click Delegate, Keplr pops up and asks us to Approve the transaction.
Note: When we tried to stake our 1 $OSMO, we got a notice saying “Transaction Failed.” We couldn’t get that screen shot (it disappeared quickly), so we can’t show it to you here.
The same thing might happen to you. Don’t panic. When it happens (rarely), just change the fee to High and increase the gas significantly. Then it always works.
Check out the 1 Staked $OSMO. It now shows up on the Keplr Wallet.
When you stake $OSMO, you’re in for a treat. Now, every day at 12:15 EST or 5:15 GMT, you’ll be able to come to Osmosis for your daily rewards.
When the next reward time comes and goes, check your Keplr Wallet screen for $OSMO and you’ll find a blue “Claim” box. Click it, approve the fee, and your rewarded $OSMOs will be added to your Available total.
Note: Recall that the screenshots above were taken on December 27, 2021 (11 days ago). Just for fun, let’s look at John Doe’s Keplr Wallet on January 7, 2022. It looks like this:
Now Keplr has added at the bottom a blue box Claim. You can see that the 1 staked $OSMO has earned 0.030911 $OSMOs in 11 days.
Let’s calculate the per-day return: .030911 divided by 11 = .00281 $OSMO each day. Let’s figure the annual return. .00281 x 365 days = 1.02.
So 1 $OSMO is producing 1.02 $OSMOs per year … a return exceeding 100%. Notice, however, that the APR shown in the Keplr Wallet is “up to 95.01%.” The return has been dropping. Wise investors keep a watchful eye on this number. If it drops below 40% or so, it might be time to look elsewhere for insane crypto returns. Unstake your $OSMO, wait 14 days, find a higher-yielding coin, and make the swap.
How to Buy Akash in Osmosis
We have some $ATOMs left over, so let’s use them to buy and stake $AKT, the coin for the Akash Network.
Very briefly, the Akash Network is a Cloud Compute Marketplace. Those needing cloud computing power can use the Akash system to lease that computer power from those having excess computer power.
Akash describes the service like this:
“Akash Network is the world’s first decentralized peer-to-peer cloud computing marketplace. Up to 90% lower in cost, Akash Supercloud is a faster, better, and lower cost alternative to centralized cloud service providers.”
Those leasing computer power will pay for it with the $AKT token. You can learn a lot more about Akash by joining the $AKT Telegram Group. Click here to join.
To buy $AKT, open Osmosis on your Chrome Browser.
Here’s the screen:
You still have 1.35 $ATOMs remaining. Let’s use most of them to buy $AKT.
In the left panel, click Trade. This screen opens:
As noted earlier, the trade box always defaults to trade From $ATOM : To $OSMO. But here we want to trade From $ATOM : To $AKT.
Click the arrow next to $OSMO.
The screen looks like this:
You could scroll down in the bottom of the pane to search for your desired token. But $AKT already appears as third on the list.
So click $AKT. And we get this:
If we want to trade 1 of our remaining $ATOMs for $AKT, we’ll get 17.2577 $AKT (at the time of writing, $AKT traded for $1.75).
Click Swap and then click Approve when Keplr appears.
Then in Osmosis, click Assets and scroll down to $AKT. Your screen looks like this:
Now, if you check your Keplr Wallet and scroll down for Akash, you will not see your 17+ $AKT coins there. Why not? Because only $OSMO appears simultaneously in both Osmosis and in the Keplr Wallet.
To get $AKT to your Keplr Wallet (in order to Stake it), you must withdraw $AKT.
Next to Akash — $AKT, to the right, click Withdraw >. (If you get a Keplr message asking to be connected to the Akash channel, click Approve.)
Your screen looks like this:
We won’t withdraw all 17.205858. Let’s withdraw 17 and leave the rest (always leave some behind for fees, etc.).
Click Withdraw.
Note: We have found that Withdrawing from Osmosis often takes a long time. To speed things up, we always use the High fee and we increase gas significantly. In this instance, we changed gas from 1,350,000 to 3,350,000.
The transaction went through quickly. Our Keplr Wallet shows the result.
Our 17 $AKT have been moved out of Osmosis and into our Keplr Wallet.
Staking AKT with SmartNodes
We want to Stake in order to receive more than 46% APR.
Click Stake in the Blue Box.
Here’s the new TAB in the Chrome Browser. It’s our Keplr Dashboard again.
You’ll want to stake again with SmartNodes.
Why?
Because at SmartNodes we have worked very hard putting these instructions together for the Cosmos community. We do a lot of community-oriented activities, and we hope you’ll recognize that and Stake with us as your Validator.
Scroll down to find us … SmartNodes.
With Akash, we’re ranked number 69.
Next to our name, click Manage.
After clicking Manage, then click Delegate. Again, we’ll stake only 1 $AKT (because the world knows our seed phrase and someone, no doubt, will take our assets).
Insert 1 $AKT and click Delegate. Then Approve the transaction and return to your Keplr Wallet.
Now you can see that you’ve successfully staked 1 $AKT.
Claiming Your Staking Rewards
Now, at 12:15 EST or 5:15 GMT you will come to Osmosis to see your $OSMO rewards. Your Keplr Wallet will have a box saying “Claim Rewards.” Click it and the rewarded $OSMO will be added to your Available total.
Take a look at your Keplr Wallet when displaying the Osmosis coin ($OSMO) on the screen below.
Notice there is no Claim Blue Box (it will appear only after 12:15 EST or 5:15 GMT every day).
But look at your Keplr Wallet showing the Akash coin on the screen below:
Notice that you can Claim $AKT rewards at any time.
What Should You Do With Your Rewards?
You can get a huge APY by re-staking your rewards. Remember, claimed rewards are added to your Available total. And what can you do with Available tokens?
You can stake them. Do that and you’ll be earning interest on interest … that is, compound interest.
Your total number of $OSMO and $AKT will grow like crazy if you
re-stake your rewards.
If you have a significant amount invested, your rewards can pay you a large amount every day. If that’s your fortunate situation, then you should claim and restake rewards at least once EVERY DAY.
If you have only a small amount staked, then you should wait for at least 1/2 token in rewards before claiming and restaking.
Conclusion
We hope you have enjoyed, and will profit from, these instructions. The crypto world can be daunting if not downright frightening. You’ve probably been warned by family and friends that ….
“Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme!” (We never have figured out who plays the role of Mr. Ponzi. Satoshi Nakamoto?)
“It’ll collapse!” (Bitcoin is gaining 200% per year.)
“What do you mean you’re earning 46%? The risk must be huge! (No, staking rewards come from the inflation of a cryptocurrency. Just as the Fed prints money and it winds up in the hands of the big banks, many cryptocurrencies must inflate and the winners are those who agree to stake and secure the network.)
Yada, yada, yada.
Consider yourself one of the pioneers in this brave new world of cryptocurrency. We are early. The really big rewards have yet to be paid.
We’ll stand here. With you. Our hands outstretched.
After all, we took the risk. And now it’s time to be paid.
Best of luck. To you. And to us.
After all, we both deserve it.
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Copyright 2022, SmartNodes, London, UK.
SmartNodes grants permission to the Crypto community to reproduce and distribute all or part of this article. If you do so, please include this statement:
“Permission to copy granted by the Copyright Owner, the SmartNodes Validator, which seeks to increase people’s interest in the incredible investment opportunities found in the Cosmo Ecosystem. Visit our Website: www.SmartNodes.co.”
