HEX Staking
How locking HEX for a chosen length earns interest in more HEX — T-Shares, bonuses, penalties, and the bridge to Actuator.
What Is HEX Staking?
Staking means locking your HEX in the HEX smart contract for a length you choose — from 1 day up to 5555 days (about 15.2 years) — to earn interest paid in newly minted HEX. The longer and larger the commitment, the more you earn.
It is conceptually like a bank certificate of deposit (CD), with one important difference: it is self-custodial. You hold your own keys, and the entire arrangement is enforced by code — there is no bank, broker, or middleman deciding whether you get paid.
Longer Pays Better & Bigger Pays Better
Two bonuses decide how many T-Shares you get. Longer Pays Better (LPB) grants more T-Shares for longer commitments, scaling up to roughly 3x for staking the maximum 5555 days.
Bigger Pays Better (BPB) grants a smaller bonus for larger stake amounts. Together, these two bonuses mean that long, large stakes earn the most T-Shares — and therefore the most yield — per HEX.
Penalties — Why the Commitment Matters
A stake is a real commitment. Ending it early — an Early End Stake — forfeits the interest you earned and can even cut into your principal.
Ending very late also carries a cost. If you end more than about two weeks after your stake's end day, a penalty kicks in that grows the longer you wait. The lesson is simple: only stake for a length you can genuinely commit to.
Native Stakes vs Portable Stakes (HSIs)
A normal — or native — HEX stake is locked to a single wallet address. It cannot be moved, sold, or transferred to anyone else.
A stake started through Hedron as a HEX Stake Instance (HSI) is born inside an NFT wrapper, making it portable and transferable from day one. An existing native stake cannot be converted — the choice is made at stake-start. HSIs are the bridge that connects a stake to more advanced DeFi.
How Staking Connects to Actuator
Actuator.Finance lets you unlock liquidity from a locked stake without ending it early and paying penalties. You start your stake as an HSI, delegate it to Actuator, and mint HEX Time Tokens (HTTs) against its value.
HTTs are tradable tokens you can sell today for HEX liquidity while your underlying stake keeps earning. In effect, this turns an illiquid long-term stake into usable value you can access right now.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can I stake HEX?
You can stake HEX for any length from 1 day up to 5555 days (about 15.2 years). Longer commitments earn more T-Shares — and therefore more yield — per HEX through the Longer Pays Better bonus.
What are T-Shares?
T-Shares (Trillion-Shares) are units the HEX contract awards you when you stake, based on both the amount of HEX and the length of the stake. Daily interest from the protocol is split across all stakers in proportion to their T-Shares. The contract T-Share price only ever goes up, so earlier stakers receive more T-Shares per HEX than later ones.
Can I end a stake early?
Yes, but with penalties. An Early End Stake forfeits earned interest and can cut into your principal. Only stake for a length you can realistically commit to.
Can I sell my HEX stake?
A normal native stake is locked to one wallet and cannot be moved, sold, or converted — once started native, it stays native. A transferable stake must be started as a HEX Stake Instance (HSI): you stake liquid HEX through Hedron, and the stake is created already wrapped in an NFT that can be traded or delegated.
How does staking earn more?
More T-Shares means more yield. Longer Pays Better rewards longer stake lengths (up to roughly 3x for the maximum 5555 days), and Bigger Pays Better adds a smaller bonus for larger amounts. Long, large stakes earn the most.