Staking
Plain English
Locking up your cryptocurrency to help secure the network, like putting money in a special savings account. In return, you earn rewards (interest) for participating. You can’t spend the staked coins during this time, but you’re helping the blockchain work properly.
Technical
The process of locking tokens to participate in network consensus and security. Validators stake SOL to validate transactions and produce blocks, while token holders can delegate their stake to validators to earn proportional rewards. Staking implements economic security - malicious validators risk losing staked capital through slashing. On Solana, stake accounts earn inflation rewards and transaction fees.