In 2019, Mainnet Alpha & Beta served as the genesis of the IoTeX Network. This year in 2020, IoTeX will achieve full independence by launching Mainnet GA and migrating fully from IOTX-E (ERC20) to Native IOTX. As Binance, Kucoin, and other exchanges are officially swapping IOTX-E to IOTX, we are excited to introduce staking/voting using Native IOTX!

Staking of Native IOTX can be completed via ioPay, the official IoTeX wallet now available for both Desktop and Mobile (iOS, Android).

For official token swap guidance, see this blog. For questions on native staking, please contact an Admin in the official IoTeX Telegram Group.

Native Staking Instructions

1) Download ioPay for Desktop or Mobile

The official IoTeX wallet — ioPay — is now available for Desktop and Mobile (Apple Store, Google Play, APK). ioPay is used to facilitate Native IOTX activities (e.g., staking/voting, transaction signing, XRC20 token storage).

Note: users running macOS Catalina must download the .dmg version of ioPay

2) Login to ioPay

You must be logged in to ioPay from the address you wish to stake/vote from before proceeding to the next step. Create a new wallet or login to an existing wallet in ioPay:

• Create a new wallet: if you do not have a Native IOTX wallet, create one. When prompted, record the public key, private key, and mnemonic phrase. You may also choose to save your credentials as a keystore file.
• Login to existing wallet: if you already have a Native IOTX wallet, you may import it using your keystore file, private key, or mnemonic phrase.

3) Visit voting website (member.iotex.io) to stake/vote

For Desktop users, staking/voting is available directly on the voting website. Begin by clicking “My Votes”, select “IOTX”, and then click “New Vote”. Reminder: you must be logged in to the ioPay Desktop app!

For Mobile users, the voting website is integrated into ioPay — access it on the “Discover” tab. Choose the “IoTeX Staking” app, click “My Votes” and authorize ioPay to login via your wallet address. Finally, click “New Vote”.

4) Select Delegate and voting parameters

After clicking “New Vote” you can select your Delegate and voting parameters, which are summarized below:

• Amount: the # of tokens you wish to use to vote for the selected Delegate. Note: you may add tokens to an existing bucket after your initial vote.
• Stake Duration: the amount of time you wish to stake your tokens (value between 0 and 1050 days, in multiples of 7). The longer you stake, the more bonus votes (and rewards) you get! Bonus votes will reduce every day and eventually converge to zero when your stake duration expires.
• Auto-stake: if you turn auto-stake on, your bonus votes will be retained indefinitely until you turn off auto-stake. If auto-stake is turned off, your bonus votes will reduce every day and eventually converge to zero, after which you may unstake your tokens.

You may change the Delegate you vote for at any time. You can increase the amount of tokens and stake duration at any time (note: cannot be decreased). You may turn auto-stake on/off at any time.

IMPORTANT: you will NOT be able to un-stake your tokens until your stake duration expires. The un-staking process lasts 3 days, after which you may withdraw your tokens to your wallet. If you want to be able to un-stake your tokens at any time, select a 0 day stake duration.

5) Sign transaction via ioPay

After picking your Delegate and selecting your voting parameters, click “Proceed to Vote” and confirm the staking/voting transaction.

For Desktop users, confirm the transaction details on the voting website. Then in the ioPay Desktop app, sign the transaction. You will see a confirmation screen in ioPay with your transaction hash.

For Mobile users, confirm the transaction details and sign the transaction. You will see a confirmation screen with your transaction hash.

Congratulations, you successfully staked/voted with Native IOTX via ioPay!

What’s Next?

For those that have IOTX-E on exchanges, your tokens will be automatically converted to IOTX. Please check with your exchange for their respective swap schedule. Note that Kucoin and Binance have already converted all tokens from IOTX-E to IOTX.

For those that have already staked IOTX-E (ERC20), your tokens will be automatically converted to IOTX — no action required!

For those with IOTX-E stored in a wallet, you may swap to Native IOTX manually via IoTube, a cross-chain two-way facility developed by IoTeX. This functionality will remain open for the next 3 months, after which we will pause the ERC20 contract and retire IOTX-E.

For official token swap guidance and schedule, see our previous blog. For questions on native staking, please contact an Admin in the official IoTeX Telegram Group.

About IoTeX

Founded as an open source platform in 2017, IoTeX is building the Internet of Trusted Things, where all physical and virtual “things” — humans, machines, businesses, and DApps — can exchange information and value at global scale.

Backed by a global team of 30+ top research scientists and engineers, IoTeX combines blockchain, secure hardware, and decentralized identity to empower intelligent IoT networks and machine economies. By serving as a decentralized trust fabric for IoT, IoTeX will empower the future decentralized world by “connecting the physical world, block by block”.