Which coins can earn a return by themselves?
Some networks pay those who stake their coins. Most coins pay nothing, and then any return on offer comes from lending the coins to somebody.
Ethereum pays ether to those who stake it. Staking on your own takes at least 32 ETH and a machine that stays online, and a validator that breaks the rules loses part of its stake. With less, you stake through a pool or an exchange, and then you depend on them.
Source: Ethereum.org: staking · checked 2 October 2026
SOL can be staked from your own wallet by delegating it to a validator. The validator never controls your coins. It keeps a commission from the rewards, and unstaking takes a few days.
Source: Solana: staking · checked 2 October 2026
BNB can be staked by delegating it to a validator, which shares the rewards it earns from transaction fees. Taking it back out takes 7 days.
Source: BNB Chain docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
Ada can be staked by delegating it to a stake pool. It stays in your own wallet and can be spent at any time, with no lock-up. The pool keeps a fixed fee and a share of the rewards.
Source: Cardano: stake pool delegation · checked 2 October 2026
TRX earns rewards only when it is staked and then used to vote for the network's block producers, which TRON calls Super Representatives. By default each keeps a fifth of the rewards and its voters share the rest.
Source: TRON docs: Super Representatives · checked 2 October 2026
AVAX can be staked by delegating at least 25 AVAX to a validator, for between two weeks and a year. The coins are locked for the whole period and cannot be taken out early. The validator keeps at least 2% of the rewards.
Source: Avalanche docs: how to stake · checked 2 October 2026
HYPE can be staked with one or more validators, which may charge a commission. A stake is locked for one day, and moving HYPE back out of staking takes 7 days. Rewards are paid daily and added to the stake.
Source: Hyperliquid docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
SUI can be staked by delegating it to a validator. You keep hold of the staked coins yourself, and the validator may take a commission from the rewards. Rewards are counted in 24-hour periods, and a stake earns only for the periods it is in from start to end.
Source: Sui docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
HBAR can be staked to one of the network's nodes. It never leaves your account, there is no lock-up, and the balance can be spent at any time.
Source: Hedera docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
NEAR can be staked by delegating it to a validator through that validator's staking pool. Rewards begin after about 12 hours, and taking the coins back out takes a day or two.
Source: NEAR docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
DOT can be staked by locking it and nominating validators, or from 1 DOT through a nomination pool. Taking it back out takes 28 days, and if a validator misbehaves, part or all of the stake behind it can be confiscated.
Sources: Polkadot wiki: staking, Polkadot wiki: chain state values · checked 2 October 2026
GRAM can be staked by depositing it in a pool managed by a validator. If the validator is fined and its own balance does not cover the fine, the rest is taken from the depositors in proportion. Withdrawals can be delayed when the pool is short of funds.
Source: TON docs: nominator pools · checked 2 October 2026
TAO can be staked behind a validator, which keeps a share of what the stake earns. Staking swaps the TAO into the separate token of one of the network's subnets at that token's price, and taking it out swaps it back, so what comes back depends on that price.
Sources: Bittensor docs: the network, Bittensor docs: money · checked 2 October 2026
CRO can be staked by delegating it to a validator on Cronos POS Chain, a separate chain from Cronos that is used mainly for staking. Taking it back out takes 28 days.
Sources: Cronos POS docs: delegation guide, Cronos docs: general FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
ICP can be locked in the network's governance system to vote on proposals and earn rewards, paid in newly created ICP. A lock needs a waiting period of at least 2 weeks to vote, and the wait before the ICP can be taken back out can be set as long as 2 years.
Source: Internet Computer docs: governance · checked 2 October 2026
POL can be staked by delegating it to a validator, with no minimum. The staking itself takes place on Ethereum. Taking it back out takes 80 checkpoints of about half an hour each, a little under two days, and longer when Ethereum is congested.
Source: Polygon docs: delegate tokens · checked 2 October 2026
SKY can be staked with no minimum, no lock-up and no exit fee. The project says the rewards are funded by its treasury buying SKY on the open market, not by new tokens.
Source: Sky: understanding the SKY token · checked 2 October 2026
LINK earns a return only when it is staked in Chainlink's own pool. The pool is capped at 45 million LINK and 15,000 LINK per address, and when it is full nobody new can join until someone leaves. Leaving takes 28 days.
Source: Chainlink: staking · checked 2 October 2026
Algo earns rewards only from an account that commits at least 30,000 Algo to running the network, which takes a computer running a node. The Algo stays in the holder's own wallet throughout. Holders with less can join a staking pool.
Source: Algorand: staking rewards FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Dai earns a return only when it is locked in the protocol's savings contract. There is no minimum and it can be taken out at any time. The rate is set by a vote of the protocol's governance.
Source: The Maker Protocol white paper · checked 2 October 2026
USDe earns nothing by itself. Staked with Ethena it becomes a second token, sUSDe, which earns from the protocol's revenue: staking rewards on ether and what its hedging positions pay. Unstaking has a waiting period.
Source: Ethena docs: staking USDe · checked 2 October 2026
Bitcoin pays nothing for being held. New coins go to miners. Any interest offered on bitcoin means handing it to a company or to another system, and getting it back depends on them.
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
USDC pays no interest, and Circle keeps what its reserves earn. A return offered on USDC comes from whoever is offering it, and depends on them.
Source: Circle: USDC Terms · checked 2 October 2026
XRP pays nothing for being held. Its ledger pays no rewards at all, not even to the validators that run it.
Source: XRP Ledger FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Lumens pay nothing for being held. The network's built-in inflation was ended by a vote of its validators in 2019, and the validators themselves are not paid.
Sources: Stellar docs: lumens, Stellar docs: consensus · checked 2 October 2026
Monero pays nothing for being held. New coins go to those who mine it, and it is built so that ordinary computers can.
Source: Monero: about · checked 2 October 2026
UNI pays nothing to its holders. The fees the Uniswap protocol collects are used to destroy UNI, which shrinks the supply, and are not paid out.
Source: Uniswap docs: the UNI token · checked 2 October 2026
Ethereum Classic pays nothing for being held. New coins are issued to the miners whose computers do the work of running it.
Source: Ethereum Classic: the supply cap · checked 2 October 2026
SHIB pays nothing for being held. The project's staking platform lets holders lock SHIB for between one week and four years, and its docs say that for now this earns voting power only, with no rewards.
Source: Shiba Inu docs: staking · checked 2 October 2026
Dogecoin pays nothing for being held. New coins go to miners.
Source: Dogecoin Core FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
The other questions
- Which coins can be sold for dollars?
- Which coins can be held without a company?
- Which coins can send a payment?
- Which coins can run applications?
- Which coins limit their own supply?
- Which coins hold a steady dollar value?
- Which coins can be redeemed for what backs them?
- Which coins can be used on other chains?
What a coin can do is not a reason to buy it or to sell it, and nothing here is advice. Each answer names where it comes from and the day we read it. A coin we have not written up is left out, not marked down. How these answers are written.