Staking is the process of locking up crypto tokens to participate in validating transactions and securing a proof-of-stake blockchain. Investors who stake their tokens are called validators. They put up tokens as collateral to have a chance at being selected to validate new blocks of transactions and add them to the blockchain.
If the validator is chosen and verifies genuine transactions, they receive rewards in the form of newly minted crypto tokens as an interest rate on the tokens they have staked. The process secures the blockchain while rewarding validators with additional tokens for their work, similar to earning interest in a savings account. More staked tokens increase validators’ chances of being chosen to validate transactions and receive staking rewards.