How to: xSTEP

How to earn yield by staking STEP for xSTEP within the Dashboard

xSTEP is the staked form of STEP. It allows holders to earn yield on their STEP from revenue generated by the Step Finance protocol, while still having access to their tokens for use in other DeFi protocols. Users send STEP to the staking vault, and in return receive xSTEP.

In addition to the STEP sent by stakers, revenue generated by the Step Finance protocol is also added to the staking vault in the form of STEP tokens. The xSTEP token represents a proportional claim on the STEP tokens in the staking vault, and is therefore redeemable at a higher rate than 1:1 when unstaked.

Learn more about the mechanics of xSTEP here.

To stake STEP, you’ll need a Solana wallet with a minimum of .1 SOL to cover transaction fees on the network. We recommend the Phantom wallet, available as a browser extension or on mobile. 

Phantom wallet Step Dashboard
Step Dashboard with Phantom wallet browser extension

If you still need to buy STEP, the easiest and best value method is by using the Swap feature on the Step Dashboard. Locate it by clicking the Swap icon on the left side of the page.

(See: Swapping on Step)

Step Swap
Step Swap Page

Alternatively, you can buy STEP on a Centralized Exchange, such as Kraken and send it from the exchange to your Phantom wallet.

See the complete list of where to buy STEP in our docs

Once you have STEP in your wallet and are connected to the Step Dashboard, click the Step Staking tab on the left side of the dashboard to access the staking tool.

Staking on Step
Staking 10000 STEP using the Staking Tool

Input the amount of STEP tokens you want to stake and hit the Stake button.

This will prompt your wallet to display the transaction details, where you can approve the transaction. 

Staking STEP for xSTEP
Wallet transaction for staking STEP

Once the transaction is confirmed, you should now see the xSTEP in your wallet.

The amount of xSTEP you receive will differ from the STEP balance you sent to the vault, as xSTEP represents a share of the staking vault, not a 1:1 redemption for STEP. It’s worth noting that if you were to unstake your xSTEP immediately after staking, you would still end up with the initial amount of STEP tokens you had before the process.

Staked STEP in wallet
Staked STEP in wallet

To unstake your xSTEP back to STEP, click the Unstake tab at the top and complete the same transaction in reverse.

You will see that we receive the initial amount of STEP tokens back.

unstaking STEP
Unstaking Tab within the Staking Tool

If you hold xSTEP for any meaningful period of time, such as a few days, weeks or months, you will receive more STEP back than you originally staked as your share of rewards accrue from fees generated by the Step protocol.

xSTEP is similar to mSOL, in that it represents a user’s claim on staked tokens and token rewards, yet still has functionality for use within other DeFi apps in the Solana ecosystem. Simply holding xSTEP will earn rewards generated from Step Finance revenue and some users may choose to do nothing more with their staking tokens. However, other users may choose to implement their xSTEP into their DeFi strategies as a yield bearing asset than can be used as a form of collateral on other protocols.

In our next editions of guides, we will go into detail on some of the use cases for xSTEP within the Solana DeFi ecosystem, such as using xSTEP as collateral on a lending protocol like Solend.

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