Quirks of staking AVAX
AVAX rewards work a little different from other PoS blockchains.
Validator period expiry: The validator nodes themselves also commit to validate for a certain period. When the validator -period expires, every delegator is automatically kicked off and paid their respective rewards. If you log into the wallet after your validator period expires, you'll see your funds 100% available again.
No unstaking: Avalanche has no concept of unstaking. Once staked, your AVAX will be locked for up for a maximum of 12 weeks, Omni will send you a push notification when your AVAX has been released.
Minimum delegation amount: To stake AVAX, a minimum of 25 AVAX is required.
Delegation time period: The minimum amount of time one can stake funds for delegation is 2 weeks and the maximum is 1 year. Omni creates a new validator every three months so you need to ensure you stake in the first two weeks of the validator being spun up, otherwise you’ll need to wait another two weeks for the next cycle to start. AVAX validators are also time limited so you can stake at maximum for the time period the validator is up. At the end of the period you AVAX will automatically be distributed.
Rewards claim: Avalanche staking is time-bound, you don't receive the reward every epoch or every block. Instead you commit to a certain period after which your AVAX + rewards will be distributed back to you. If you need the AVAX in the short term, make sure you do not choose too long a period here. If, on the other hand, you don't need these funds in the short term, then the longer you stake the better.
