Stakers of SOMM delegate their tokens to validators in order to secure the network and receive staking rewards proportional to their delegation, minus the validator’s commission. Staking rewards flow from fees generated by cellars that are not otherwise directed to a cellar creator, strategy provider, or the community pool. Becoming a staker and delegating SOMM to a validator will lock up your tokens for a period of time as they earn rewards, and you must wait that unbonding period to receive liquid tokens back if you wish to transfer them. Redelegation to another validator can be done immediately, but those tokens cannot be redelegated a second time until the lockup period has elapsed.
Unlike most Cosmos SDK chains, Sommelier is not an inflationary protocol and has a fixed supply of 500 million tokens. Staking rewards will increase in line with the growth of cellars, total value locked within them, and their performance in generating profit for investors.
Aside from staking rewards, delegating SOMM enables stakers to participate in governance. This means having a voice in updates to the protocol, adding/removing cellars, adding/removing strategy providers, spending proposals for the community pool, and more. Your chosen validators will have the power of your delegation when they vote in governance, but we encourage stakers to vote individually, whether you agree or disagree with your validator’s position. Your personal votes using your delegations will always take precedence over a validator’s vote.
To get started with staking SOMM, install a wallet like Keplr and swap for some SOMM tokens on Osmosis. Keplr will provide you with an interface to stake your tokens and vote in governance.