> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nexis.network/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Stake

In this section we will discuss how you can stake using Nexis CLI

## Prerequisites

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="Command Line Interface" icon="terminal" href="/quickstart">
    Nexis CLI should be installed
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Create a Stake Account

To delegate stake, you will need to transfer some tokens into a stake account. To create an account, you will need a keypair. Its public key will be used as the stake account address. No need for a password or encryption here; this keypair will be discarded right after creating the stake account.

```bash theme={null}
nexis-network-keygen new --no-passphrase -o stake-account.json
```

The output will contain the public key after the text `pubkey:`.

```bash theme={null}
pubkey: GKvqsuNcnwWqPzzuhLmGi4rzzh55FhJtGizkhHaEJqiV
```

Copy the public key and store it for safekeeping. You will need it any time you want to perform an action on the stake account you create next.

Now, create a stake account:

```bash theme={null}
nexis create-stake-account --from <KEYPAIR> stake-account.json <AMOUNT> \
--stake-authority <KEYPAIR> --withdraw-authority <KEYPAIR> \
--fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

`<AMOUNT>` tokens are transferred from the account at the "from" `<KEYPAIR>` to a new stake account at the public key of stake-account.json.

The stake-account.json file can now be discarded. To authorize additional actions, you will use the `--stake-authority` or `--withdraw-authority` keypair, not stake-account.json.

View the new stake account with the nexis stake-account command:

```bash theme={null}
nexis stake-account <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>
```

The output will look similar to this:

```bash theme={null}
Total Stake: 5000 NZT
Stake account is undelegated
Stake Authority: EXU95vqs93yPeCeAU7mPPu6HbRUmTFPEiGug9oCdvQ5F
Withdraw Authority: EXU95vqs93yPeCeAU7mPPu6HbRUmTFPEiGug9oCdvQ5F
```

### Set Stake and Withdraw Authorities

Stake and withdraw authorities can be set when creating an account via the `--stake-authority` and `--withdraw-authority` options, or afterward with the `nexis stake-authorize` command. For example, to set a new stake authority, run:

```bash theme={null}
nexis stake-authorize <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
--stake-authority <KEYPAIR> --new-stake-authority <PUBKEY> \
--fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

This will use the existing stake authority `<KEYPAIR>` to authorize a new stake authority `<PUBKEY>` on the stake account `<STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>`.

### Advanced: Derive Stake Account Addresses

When you delegate stake, you delegate all tokens in the stake account to a single validator. To delegate to multiple validators, you will need multiple stake accounts. Creating a new keypair for each account and managing those addresses can be cumbersome. Fortunately, you can derive stake addresses using the `--seed` option:

```bash theme={null}
nexis create-stake-account --from <KEYPAIR> <STAKE_ACCOUNT_KEYPAIR> --seed <STRING> <AMOUNT> \
--stake-authority <PUBKEY> --withdraw-authority <PUBKEY> --fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

`<STRING>` is an arbitrary string up to 32 bytes, but will typically be a number corresponding to which derived account this is. The first account might be "0", then "1", and so on. The public key of `<STAKE_ACCOUNT_KEYPAIR>` acts as the base address. The command derives a new address from the base address and seed string. To see what stake address the command will derive, use `nexis create-address-with-seed`:

```bash theme={null}
nexis create-address-with-seed --from <PUBKEY> <SEED_STRING> STAKE
```

`<PUBKEY>` is the public key of the `<STAKE_ACCOUNT_KEYPAIR>` passed to nexis `create-stake-account`.

## Delegate Stake

To delegate your stake to a validator, you will need its vote account address. Find it by querying the cluster for the list of all validators and their vote accounts with the `nexis validators` command:

```bash theme={null}
nexis validators
```

The first column of each row contains the validator's identity and the second is the vote account address. Choose a validator and use its vote account address in `nexis delegate-stake`:

```bash theme={null}
nexis delegate-stake --stake-authority <KEYPAIR> <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> <VOTE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
--fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

The stake authority `<KEYPAIR>` authorizes the operation on the account with address `<STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>`. The stake is delegated to the vote account with address `<VOTE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>`.

After delegating stake, use `nexis stake-account` to observe the changes to the stake account:

```bash theme={null}
nexis stake-account <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>
```

You will see new fields "Delegated Stake" and "Delegated Vote Account Address" in the output. The output will look similar to this:

```bash theme={null}
Total Stake: 5000 NZT
Credits Observed: 147462
Delegated Stake: 4999.99771712 NZT
Delegated Vote Account Address: CcaHc2L43ZWjwCHART3oZoJvHLAe9hzT2DJNUpBzoTN1
Stake activates starting from epoch: 42
Stake Authority: EXU95vqs93yPeCeAU7mPPu6HbRUmTFPEiGug9oCdvQ5F
Withdraw Authority: EXU95vqs93yPeCeAU7mPPu6HbRUmTFPEiGug9oCdvQ5F
```

## Deactivate Stake

Once delegated, you can undelegate stake with the `nexis deactivate-stake` command:

```bash theme={null}
nexis deactivate-stake --stake-authority <KEYPAIR> <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
--fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

The stake authority `<KEYPAIR>` authorizes the operation on the account with address `<STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>`.

Note that stake takes several epochs to "cool down". Attempts to delegate stake in the cool down period will fail.

## Withdraw Stake

Transfer tokens out of a stake account with the `nexis withdraw-stake` command:

```bash theme={null}
nexis withdraw-stake --withdraw-authority <KEYPAIR> <STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> <RECIPIENT_ADDRESS> <AMOUNT> \
--fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
```

`<STAKE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>` is the existing stake account, the stake authority `<KEYPAIR>` is the withdraw authority, and `<AMOUNT>` is the number of tokens to transfer to `<RECIPIENT_ADDRESS>`.