Clarification of delegating and staking

docs/architecture/bakers.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title: Bakers
 authors: "Tim McMackin"
 last_update:
-  date: 12 April 2024
+  date: 12 November 2024
 ---
 
 Baking is the process of creating new blocks in the Tezos blockchain.
@@ -35,15 +35,13 @@ Similarly, when bakers stop baking, their stake is unlocked after a certain numb
 
 The delegate must stake at least least 6,000 tez, either from its own account or from tez that delegators delegate to it.
 The more tez a delegate has, both from its own account and from delegators, the more likely it is to be selected to bake a block and thus receive the rewards.
+The amount of tez a baker has for baking purposes is called its _baking power_.
 
 Bakers must run at least one Tezos node and a baker program to go with it.
 These baker programs must run at all times with a stable internet connection, because inactive bakers are automatically removed from the network.
 
-## Delegating to a baker
-
-If you don't have enough tez to become a baker or don't want to run a baking node, you can delegate tez to a baker, which makes you a _delegator_.
-The delegate doesn't have control over your tez and you can spend your tez at any time or withdraw your delegation, but the tez that you delegate counts toward the amount of tez that the delegate has for baking purposes.
-Delegators receive a share of the delegate's rewards in proportion to the amount of tez that they delegate.
+If you don't have enough tez to become a baker or don't want to run a baking node, you can delegate and stake tez to a baker, which makes you a _delegator_ and _staker_.
+See [Stakers](/architecture/stakers).
 
 ## References
 

docs/architecture/stakers.md

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+---
+title: Stakers
+authors: "Tim McMackin"
+last_update:
+  date: 12 November 2024
+---
+
+If you don't have enough tez to become a baker or don't want to run a baking node, you can delegate and/or stake tez to a baker, which makes you a _delegator_ or _staker_.
+Delegators and stakers earn rewards based on how much tez they delegate or stake.
+Delegating and staking have different risks, delays, and rewards.
+
+This table compares delegating and staking in Tezos:
+
+  | Staking | Delegating
+--- | --- | ---
+Reward factor | 2x | 1x
+Reward delay | None | 2 cycles (about 6 days)
+Reward route | Direct to staker | To baker first and then manually to delegator
+Funds availability | Frozen (locked) | Liquid (unlocked)
+Lockup period | 4 cycles (about 10 days) | None
+Slashing exposure | Yes | No
+
+## Delegating
+
+Delegating is allowing the tez in your account to count towards another account's voting and baking power without giving up control over the tez.
+
+Any account (both user accounts and smart contracts) can delegate its tez to another account that is registered as a delegate.
+Only user accounts can be delegates.
+In most cases, delegates are bakers.
+
+Delegating tez to another account doesn't mean that the other account controls it.
+Delegated tez remains liquid, or unlocked, which means that you can use it as usual, without any delay.
+
+Bakers accept delegated tez because delegated tez counts toward their own tez for certain purposes:
+
+- Delegated tez carries voting power; a delegate's voting power is the sum of its own tez plus the tez delegated to it
+- Delegated tez carries baking power; 50% of delegated tez counts toward a delegate's baking power
+
+Bakers share rewards with accounts that delegate to them, but unlike staking, this reward sharing is a manual process and is not guaranteed.
+
+Delegating carries no risk to the delegator; the delegate has no control over the tez and the delegator is not punished for anything that the delegate does.
+
+## Staking
+
+Staking is a new option that became available as part of adaptive issuance in the Paris protocol upgrade.
+It provides faster and more direct rewards than delegating.
+
+Staking is similar to delegating, but it has these major differences:
+
+- Staked tez is frozen for a certain amount of time, which means that the owner can't spend them immediately
+- The protocol automatically rewards stakers with a percentage of the delegate's baking rewards
+- Stakers start receiving rewards for staked tez immediately but must wait for a delay of 4 cycles before they can withdraw (unstake) their staked tez to make them liquid again
+- Delegating carries risk; if the delegate is punished (slashed), the punishment also affects tez staked with it
+- 100% of staked tez counts toward a delegate's baking power
+
+To stake tez, an account starts by delegating its tez to a baker's account as usual.
+Then it stakes a certain amount of that same tez to the baker.
+An account always delegates all of its tez to its delegate, but it can stake any amount of that tez, which allows the account to earn rewards on some frozen tez while leaving some tez liquid for immediate use.
+
+## Becoming a delegator and staker
+
+To start delegating and staking, use the app at https://stake.tezos.com to first become a delegator and then a staker.
+
+## References
+
+For more information about delegating and staking, see these pages in the Octez documentation:
+
+- [Proof of stake](https://tezos.gitlab.io/alpha/proof_of_stake.html)
+- [Delegating your coins](https://tezos.gitlab.io/introduction/howtorun.html#delegating-your-coins)
+- [Staking](https://tezos.gitlab.io/alpha/staking.html)

docs/overview/tezos-different.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 title: What makes Tezos different?
 last_update:
-  date: 13 September 2023
+  date: 12 November 2024
 ---
 
 Here are some of the features that make Tezos different from other blockchains:
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ Anyone who holds XTZ — the chain's native token — can propose changes to how
 
 ## Tezos uses proof of stake
 
-The proof-of-stake consensus model eliminates the need for high energy use, making it the "green" choice for blockchains. Instead of competing to achieve consensus as in proof-of-work models, Tezos nodes (called *bakers*) stake Tezos tokens to earn the right to create blocks and receive rewards. Users who want to participate without running a node themselves can delegate tokens to a baker for a share of the rewards. The bakers keep control of their tokens in that they can unstake them later; and delegators keep complete control of their tokens. Tezos's approach to consensus has been described as [Liquid Proof of Stake](https://medium.com/tezos/liquid-proof-of-stake-aec2f7ef1da7).
+The proof-of-stake consensus model eliminates the need for high energy use, making it the "green" choice for blockchains. Instead of competing to achieve consensus as in proof-of-work models, Tezos nodes (called *bakers*) stake Tezos tokens to earn the right to create blocks and receive rewards. Users who want to participate without running a node themselves can delegate and stake tokens to a baker for a share of the rewards. The bakers keep control of their tokens in that they can unstake them later; and delegators keep complete control of their tokens. Tezos's approach to consensus has been described as [Liquid Proof of Stake](https://medium.com/tezos/liquid-proof-of-stake-aec2f7ef1da7).
 
 The proof-of-stake model improves scalability and encourages cooperation via incentives. It also increases the cost of 51% attacks and avoids environmentally wasteful proof-of-work. Tezos launched in June 2018 as one of the first major proof-of-stake networks.
 
-For more information about how Tezos handles proof of stake, see https://tezos.gitlab.io/alpha/proof_of_stake.html.
+For more information about becoming a staker, see [Stakers](/architecture/stakers).
 
 ## Tezos accepts multiple languages
 

docs/smart-contracts/delegation.md

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ last_update:
 Placing your tez in a smart contract means you can't stake them towards baking or delegate them to get rewards.
 However, the smart contract itself can delegate the tez it holds and  distribute the rewards to the original owners of the tez or keep them in its balance.
 
+For more information about delegating and staking, see [Stakers](/architecture/stakers).
+
 To manage delegation, you can implement these features:
 
 - Set, update, or remove the address of the baker that you want the contract to delegate its tez to (`SET_DELEGATE`).

sidebars.js

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ const sidebars = {
       items: [
         'architecture/nodes',
         'architecture/bakers',
+        'architecture/stakers',
         'architecture/accusers',
         'architecture/accounts',
         {