# Staking Splintershards

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## Staking

Staking is a way of *locking* up your SPS for additional rewards. Staked SPS cannot be spent or transferred out of your account.

Once staked, SPS tokens are subject to an unstaking period of 4 weeks. Once the unstaking of tokens has been initiated, they will be released into your in-game/liquid balance at a rate of 1/4 of the unstaked amount per week, for 4 weeks.

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*Please note that all SPS rewards earned from ranked battle victory, and Validator Node license rewards are staked automatically once they are claimed.*

## Staking Rewards

Initial SPS staking rewards began on Monday, August 2nd, 2021. The total reward pool for staking SPS tokens started at 7.5 million tokens per month and decreases each month.

Each player's share of current staking rewards is based on the amount staked by that player and the total amount staked by all players.

Staking rewards are calculated and accumulated automatically and can be claimed anytime by the owner, at which point they are added to the player's liquid SPS balance.

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## Additional Benefits

#### Governance Votes:

Staking SPS allows you to vote on governance proposals through the [in-game governance system](https://sps.splinterlands.com/in-game-governance).

#### Rewards multiplier:

Staking SPS gives the user a bonus for [ranked reward play](https://support.splinterlands.com/hc/en-us/articles/6614462185620-How-are-Rewards-Rshares-Calculated).

#### Vouchers: <a href="#vouchers" id="vouchers"></a>

[Vouchers](https://splinterlands.com/dashboard/vouchers) are awarded each day to players who stake Splintershards (SPS). The amount of vouchers received is determined by your percentage of staked SPS vs. the total amount of staked SPS by all users. Vouchers can be used in the [Exclusive voucher shop](https://splinterlands.com/shop/voucher) in-game.