20 Best High APY Crypto Staking Coins for Maximum Passive Income (2024)

Interested in investing in cryptocurrencies? There are a myriad of factors to take into account. When you invest in coins based on a proof of stake (PoS) blockchain network you can engage in staking, which helps PoS networks operate more securely and efficiently. The only requirement for staking is that you keep coins in your cryptocurrency wallet over an extended period of time, which allows you to earn staking rewards. Staked coins are similar to interest-bearing savings accounts, since with both options you earn interest on your initial investment. Keen on giving this passive income strategy a go? Read on as we cover some of the best staking coins you can invest in if you want to earn passive income while taking advantage of high yield.

Key Takeaways:

• Staking PoS coins allows you to earn passive income by holding and validating transactions on a crypto network.

• Besides PoS coins, this guide lists other top staking coins with high interest rates, including stablecoins like USDT and USDC, and other coins, such as TON, BTC and ATH.

What Is Crypto Staking?

Crypto staking is a process that involves placing funds into a digital wallet and keeping them there to support validating transactions for PoS blockchains. By participating in transaction validation, participants earn extra cryptocurrency.

The main benefits associated with staking crypto include the following:

• Crypto staking doesn’t require any extra equipment, unlike crypto mining.

• You can earn a certain amount of interest on your crypto holdings.

• Staking is substantially less harmful for the environment than mining.

• Staking directly enhances the efficiency and security of PoS blockchains.

There are some notable differences between mining and staking. In general, while mining only occurs with proof of work (PoW) systems, you’re able to get a return on both PoW and PoS coins on staking platforms.

Both PoW and PoS as consensus mechanisms are able to confirm blockchain transactions without needing a third party, such as a bank or other financial institution. The main difference between the two mechanisms is in their energy consumption. If you’d like to get started with the staking process, you first need to obtain PoS coins. Once you’ve selected the coins you want to use, you’ll decide how much of your top staking coins you’d like to stake. This process can be done on any major cryptocurrency exchange.

Keep in mind that it’s also possible to earn additional income through yield farming. Although somewhat more complicated than staking, yield farming involves earning coins by lending your current crypto assets to various DeFi platforms. With yield farming, you can contribute crypto assets for anywhere from a couple of days to several months. Higher lending amounts invariably lead to higher rewards.

Risks of Staking

Despite the benefits of crypto staking for earning passive income, there are several risks to be aware of. The primary ones are as follows:

• Crypto prices are relatively volatile, which means they can depreciate quickly. In the event that your assets drop by a sizable amount, you may not earn enough interest to outweigh your losses.

• While it’s possible to “unstake” your crypto earnings, doing so can take at least seven days for certain platforms. Conversely, platforms like Bybit offer Bybit Savings which allows for instant withdrawals.

• If you want to use some of the top staking coins, it’s important to understand that these coins will remain locked for a short period of time. This means that nothing else can be done with these assets in the interim.

What Are the Best Coins to Stake?

The following is a comprehensive look at 20 of the best staking coins you can purchase in order to start obtaining staking rewards. The tokens’ symbols are listed after each crypto platform.

1.  Tether (USDT)

If you’re looking for the highest APY crypto staking token that won’t depreciate in value, Tether (USDT) is a good choice. As the world’s leading stablecoin, ranked third among cryptos after Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), USDT boasts a market capitalization of $112 billion (as of Jun 14, 2024). Since 2014, USDT has provided crypto users with a cushion against the volatility of cryptocurrency markets.

Instead of holding fiat currency in traditional financial systems (such as banks), you can stake USDT, which will provide you with an attractive passive income and help you hedge against inflation, especially during these uncertain economic times. 

USDT reserves are backed 100% by the U,S, dollar (Tether’s platform provides a transparency page where you can verify this). Better yet, USDT has a huge trading volume and deep liquidity, allowing you to easily swap your tokens for digital assets. 

Ready to hold crypto without the risk of losing value due to volatility? Then try Bybit Savings, where you’ll earn an APR of 9.39% from staking USDT. Bybit is also holding an exclusive USDT staking event that will end on Jun 30, 2024, during which staking USDT earns you 100% APR daily — making it the highest APY crypto staking offer around.

2.  USD Coin (USDC) 

Another top crypto to stake without any fear of value depreciation is USDC. It was created by fintech giant Circle, and has strong partnerships through the Circle Alliance Group, which includes notable names such as Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock. Over the years, USDC has risen to become an in-demand crypto, especially for those looking for a stablecoin to stake.

USDC is designed to facilitate fast and cheap cross-border payments, and to provide crypto users with a transparent and safe cryptocurrency for transactions. Circle has increasingly expanded its reach across the globe, driving USDC up the crypto rankings to become the second-most popular stablecoin after USDT.

To earn passively from HODLing USDC, lock it with Bybit Savings for flexible staking. You’ll enjoy an APR of 10.15%, and can withdraw your assets instantly and convert them into your preferred currency without much hassle. The process is fast, straightforward and transparent.

3. Toncoin (TON)

The Open Network (TON) was founded by Telegram in 2018 to provide scalable and affordable cross-chain interoperability. Toncoin (TON), the native token powering the project, has been pumping hard in 2024, shattering its all-time high with a price of $8.01 on Jun 14, 2024. 

TON's surge was fueled by Telegram's announcement in April 2024, stating that channel owners could now pay for in-platform ads for their channels using the token. TON has also been attracting major partners, such as Pantera Capital.

Ready to earn passive income from one of the best crypto staking coins? Stake TON with Bybit Earn Flexible Savings to earn an APR of 8.4%. You withdraw your tokens at any time. 

You can also stake your TON tokens to become a validator and secure the TON blockchain, where you'll earn an APR of 2.99%. With the popularity of Telegram-related projects, such as Notcoin, Hamster Kombat and TapSwap, the TON blockchain is thriving. Hence, HODLing and staking TON can be a smart investment decision.

4. Ethereum (ETH)

Popularly known as “digital silver,” Ethereum is ranked second among cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin. The blockchain has been improving its network through various successful upgrades, which have increased its efficiency.

Ethereum’s ecosystem remains one of the busiest in the crypto space, as people leverage its security and smart contract capability for building DApps. A considerable number of well-performing Layer 2 blockchains, such as Arbitrum (ARB) and Optimism (OP), have also helped scale Ethereum by providing low-cost, high-speed transactions.

ETH is one of the best crypto staking coins, with numerous ways to earn passive income from it. You can stake it with Bybit Earn Savings and enjoy an APR of 3%. 

Also, following the upgrade to ETH 2.0, liquid staking has become popular. It allows you to access your staked ETH in the form of liquid staking derivative tokens and use them for DeFi activities, such as lending and providing liquidity. 

You can stake your ETH with Bybit to receive stETH, or on the Lido liquid staking platform to enjoy an APR of 3.8% while earning passive income from stETH collateralized loans on Bybit. You can also stake ETH on Mantle Network and receive mETH with an APY of 3.69%. Bybit provides multiple ways to maximize yield from your mETH.

5. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin remains the top crypto in terms of market capitalization. So far, 2024 has been a good year for BTC, which hit a new all-time high of $73,737 on Mar 14, 2024, following the approval of Bitcoin Spot ETFs in January. Furthermore, the Bitcoin halving event that was completed in April has made it harder to mine BTC, reducing the amount of coins in the circulating supply. Based on these factors, it’s ideal to hold and stake Bitcoin, since its value will continue to soar over time. 

Having been around since 2011, and with various developments on the network designed to increase its value, Bitcoin remains one of the best crypto staking coins around. With Bybit Savings, you can enjoy an APY of 2.5% when staking Bitcoin. 

6. Aethir (ATH)

Aethir is a distributed GPU cloud infrastructure built for gaming and AI that recently launched its mainnet on Jun 12, 2024, along with its native token, ATH. As the only enterprise-grade GPU-as-a-service DePIN in the world, Aethir presents a highly cost-effective and scalable way to meet the surge in demand for GPU services with the advent of AI technology.

ATH can be staked directly on Aethir's platform as well as on Bybit. Aethir offers two staking services: ATH Gaming and ATH AI. Staking with ATH Gaming allows you to earn rewards in the native crypto tokens of Aethir's gaming partners, while using the ATH AI pool gives you additional rewards from Aethir's AI partners. You can choose to stake in both pools concurrently in order to boost your yields from both pools. Meanwhile, Bybit Earn offers you the highest APY of 150% for ATH.

7. Solana (SOL)

The Solana blockchain has been making a comeback in 2024 following a catastrophic phase during the bear market, especially with the collapse of FTX. There’s been growing demand for SOL, especially around Solana-based meme coins, which have been performing remarkably well in 2024.

We've seen increased liquidity on Solana, and the SOL token has returned to the top five in crypto rankings. The heightened activity on Solana — which could continue during a full-blown bull market — suggests that investing in SOL could be a good move.

As you hold your SOL tokens, you can stake them with Bybit Savings to earn an APR of 1.2%. In addition, you can help secure the Solana network by staking your SOL tokens on its PoS platform at an APR of 7.27%.

8. USDe

USDe, a creation of Ethena Labs, provides an efficient and scalable stablecoin (synthetic dollar) that enables crypto users to explore and invest in the crypto space without worrying about volatility. Besides trading USDe as a Spot pair, USDe’s integration into Bybit also allows you to use it as collateral to trade perpetual contracts. 

You can also earn passive income by staking USDe on Bybit Savings to earn a high APR of 30% — a rate that makes USDe one of the highest-APY crypto staking tokens currently available on the platform.

9. Dai (DAI)

The Dai stablecoin was created by MakerDAO to provide crypto users with volatility-free financial freedom. An ERC-20 token, it's powered by smart contracts, and can easily be integrated into DApps. 

With Dai integrated into over 400 apps and services, its utility has grown over time, making it a worthy contender in the stablecoin niche. As such, DAI is among the best coins for staking, since it can easily be converted into other assets. Its popularity is also due to increased demand for a decentralized stablecoin. To earn passive income, you can lock your DAI tokens on Bybit Savings at an APR of 6.34%.

10. BNB Coin (BNB)

BNB is one of the best crypto staking coins, due to its pivotal role in the cryptocurrency space, especially as it powers Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The coin’s versatility and critical role in BNB Smart Chain (BSC), coupled with solid tokenomics, make it one of the best cryptocurrencies to stake. BNB is used to pay fees on the Binance exchange and BSC, to pay merchants, and for staking to receive passive rewards.

Since BNB's use cases are continuing to rapidly expand, you can stake your BNB on the Bybit Earn Flexible Savings plan to earn rewards at an APR of 1.42%. You can also become a validator and contribute to the security of BSC by staking your BNB to receive staking rewards at an annual rate of 1.01%.

To become a validator, you'll need to download Trust Wallet, select Stake on the finance dashboard, enter the amount of BNB you wish to stake (the minimum is one BNB) and proceed to stake your BNB coins.

11. MNT

MNT is the native token for Mantle Network, a modular L2 Ethereum scaling solution that combines data availability, superior performance and security by using optimistic rollups. 

Furthermore, Mantle is EVM-compatible, allowing developers to leverage smart contracts and other tools to easily build DApps. Compared to other Ethereum L2 solutions, Mantle has an extensive network of partners tied together by the MNT token, making its blockchain a rapidly growing haven for app developers.

MNT is also one of the best crypto staking coins on Bybit, with a rate of 10% for its fixed plan of seven days. Its flexible staking plan offers a 4% APR, along with the ability for you to withdraw your MNT at any time.

12. Avalanche (AVAX)

AVAX is the fuel powering the Avalanche blockchain, a smart contract platform designed to help developers create fast, efficiently and cheaply. Individuals and enterprises can access affordable, low-code tooling on Avalanche to launch their apps. AVAX is used to pay gas fees on the Avalanche blockchain and secure the network through validators.

You can stake your AVAX tokens to become a validator, and earn staking rewards at an annual rate of 8.02% — which makes AVAX one of the highest APY crypto staking tokens in the DeFi space. You can also stake your AVAX on Bybit Savings, where you’ll earn a return of 1% and can conveniently withdraw your assets at any time.

13. VaporWallet (VPR)

VaporWallet (VPR) launched in 2023 and went on to become one of the biggest IDOs on Bybit, with over 40,000 investors participating. Its gas-free crypto wallet is supported by Visa and lets you enjoy a seamless experience when transacting your digital assets, without the complexities of gas fees.

VPR is used to incentivize users to buy mutual funds on VaporWallet. You can also stake VPR and other cryptocurrencies in the wallet to earn rewards.

Furthermore, VPR is among the highest APY crypto staking coins on Bybit, with an APR of 60% on your staked assets. Combined with the versatility and convenience of VaporWallet, this high APY makes VPR one of the best staking coins to hold for passive income.

14. Polkadot (DOT)

DOT, the native token for the Polkadot ecosystem, is one of the best staking coins to hold, due to its utility in facilitating the governance and security of the Polkadot blockchain. Created by Ethereum's co-founder, Gavin Wood, Polkadot has remained a popular multichain network, designed to enhance interoperability and communication across different chains.

DOT is used for bonding, staking and governance on Polkadot. You can stake your tokens on Polkadot to earn an attractive rate of 16.79%, or choose a simple staking solution on Bybit Savings with an APR of 1% on your staked DOT assets.

15. Lifeform (LFT)

LFT makes our list of the best staking coins since it's the native token for Lifeform, a platform that lets you create a realistically human-like avatar to use as your digital identity across the web3 space. You can stake your LFT tokens on Lifeform to earn rewards from minting NFT avatars. LFT is among the highest APY crypto staking tokens available on Bybit, with an APR of 40% on Bybit Savings.

16. Cosmos (ATOM)

Referred to as “the internet of blockchains,” Cosmos provides a channel for blockchains to communicate effectively with each other, making its native ATOM token a great crypto to stake for the pivotal roles it plays in its ecosystem (such as for governance and paying fees).

You can stake your ATOM tokens on Cosmos to receive rewards at a rate of 17.05%, which makes ATOM one of the highest APY crypto staking coins. You can also lock your ATOM tokens on Bybit Savings, where you’ll receive passive returns at a rate of 1%, and you can withdraw your assets at any time.

17. Cardano (ADA)

Often compared to Ethereum, Cardano provides users with faster transactions by using the Ouroboros PoS consensus mechanism. ADA is the native token powering Cardano that facilitates payments within its ecosystem.

You can stake your ADA tokens on Cardano using the blockchain’s official wallets, Yoroi and Daedalus, to enjoy staking rewards at a rate of 2.93%. Bybit Savings also offers flexible ADA staking at an APR of 1%.

18. Arcana Network (XAR)

Arcana Network, whose native token is XAR, provides developers with an SDK that connects web3 apps, letting them easily authenticate identities, store sensitive information and access other DeFi services. XAR plays a crucial role in securing Arcana Network through staking, and is among the highest APY crypto staking tokens on Bybit Savings, with an APR of 40%.

19. Medieval Empires (MEE)

MEE is the utility token for Medieval Empires, an NFT blockchain game based in the 13th century in which you build an empire and an army with the aim of becoming the most powerful empire in this medieval land. 

MEE is among the top staking coins you can hold, since it unlocks benefits such as VIP status in the game, land access and other rewards. You can also stake MEE on Bybit Savings for a fixed period of 30 days, during which you’ll earn staking rewards at an APR of 8%.

20. TrueUSD (TUSD)

As the fourth-largest stablecoin in terms of market capitalization, TrueUSD (TUSD) provides you with a hedge against volatility — especially in the crypto market. Instead of holding fiat currency, you can buy TUSD and stake it on Bybit Earn, where you'll earn an APR of 6.2%. You can withdraw your earnings at any time.

The Bottom Line

Staking your coins, either on a PoS blockchain network or on Bybit Savings, offers you a great way to earn passive income and generate high returns. These investments come with very little risk and pay handsome rewards in earned interest. With this guide in hand, you should have everything you need to begin the staking process.

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