Tutorials for acquiring, managing, and staking ICP

Basic steps and concepts

When someone says that they are staking within the Internet Computer, they mean they have created a **neuron with locked ICP**. To vote and to earn rewards, the neuron must have a lock-up period, a **dissolve delay**, greater than six months.

To stake, these steps will not change, but the tools, commands, or methods you use may be different depending on your needs or software changes to tools.

To stake, there are three steps:

1. Generate a **private key** to control your neuron 2. Create a **neuron** with a **dissolve delay** and at least 1 locked ICP 3. *Optional*: Add more ICP to the Neuron (“top up the neuron”)

Once you stake, you can do any of the following four activities:

1. Set your neuron to vote by ***following*** other neurons 2. Collect your neuron’s ***rewards*** 3. ***Dissolve*** your neuron to get the ICP locked inside 4. Become a vote leader: ***vote*** with your neuron