🚀 StarkNet Validator Staking Guide with sncast

This guide will walk you through the complete process of becoming a StarkNet validator, from account creation to running your attestation client on DAppNode.
We’ll use sncast for all on-chain interactions.

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🛠 Prerequisites

✅ sncast installed
✅ Access to a synced StarkNet full node (e.g., Juno)
✅ Minimum STRK balance:

• Sepolia: 1 STRK
• Mainnet: 20,000 STRK

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1️⃣ Create Accounts

We’ll create three accounts:

• staker → Holds your stake
• operator → Runs the validator
• rewards → Receives rewards

sncast account create --name staker --network <sepolia|mainnet>
sncast account create --name operator --network <sepolia|mainnet>
sncast account create --name rewards --network <sepolia|mainnet>

These accounts are saved in ~/.starknet_accounts.

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2️⃣ Fund the Accounts

• Fund your staker account with the required STRK amount.
• Send a small amount of STRK to operator and rewards accounts (to cover activation and gas).
• On Sepolia, use the StarkNet Faucet.

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3️⃣ Deploy the Accounts

sncast account deploy --name staker --network <sepolia|mainnet>
sncast account deploy --name operator --network <sepolia|mainnet>
sncast account deploy --name rewards --network <sepolia|mainnet>

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4️⃣ Approve the Staking Contract

Before staking, the staking contract must be approved to pull STRK from your staker account.

sncast --account staker invoke \
  --contract-address <STRK_CONTRACT_ADDRESS> \
  --function approve \
  --calldata <STAKING_CONTRACT_ADDRESS> <AMOUNT_IN_FRI> 0 \
  --url <JUNO_URL>

Tip: 1 STRK = 1000000000000000000 FRI

📌 Juno URL:

• http://juno-sepolia.public.dappnode:6070/v0_8 for sepolia
• http://juno.public.dappnode:6060/v0_8 for mainnet

📌 Staking contract addresses: https://docs.starknet.io/resources/chain-info/#staking

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5️⃣ Stake STRK

Run the stake function from your staker account:

sncast --account staker invoke \
  --url <JUNO_URL> \
  --contract-address <STAKING_CONTRACT_ADDRESS> \
  --function stake \
  --calldata \
  <REWARDS_ADDRESS> \
  <OPERATIONAL_ADDRESS> \
  <AMOUNT_IN_FRI> 0 0

Tip: 1 STRK = 1000000000000000000 FRI

📌 Juno URL:

• http://juno-sepolia.public.dappnode:6070/v0_8 for sepolia
• http://juno.public.dappnode:6060/v0_8 for mainnet

📌 Staking contract addresses: https://docs.starknet.io/resources/chain-info/#staking

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6️⃣ Verify Stake

sncast call \
  --contract-address <STAKING_CONTRACT_ADDRESS> \
  --function get_staker_info_v1 \
  --arguments <STAKER_ADDRESS> \
  --url <JUNO_URL>

Example response:

response: [
    0x0,
    0xdeadbeef1,
    0xdeadbeef2,
    0x1,
    0xde0b6b3a7640000,
    0x0,
    0x0,
    0x5aa0ca4c068a87f894e8d3918e16ea616df631c28f9c39eae040abfb4966881,
    0x0,
    0x64
]

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7️⃣ Set Up the Attestation Client on DAppNode

Once staked, set up your validator’s attestation client.

In your starknetstaking DAppNode package, configure:

• SIGNER_OPERATIONAL_ADDRESS → Your operator account
• SIGNER_PRIVATE_KEY or SIGNER_EXTERNAL_URL
• PROVIDER_HTTP_URL / PROVIDER_WS_URL → Juno’s HTTP & WS URLs

The attestation process will start automatically.

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🧠 Notes & Tips

• You can claim rewards or increase stake later.
• Make sure your validator client runs 24/7 to avoid penalties.
• Keep your private keys secure.
• On Sepolia, test your setup before moving to mainnet.

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References:

• StarkNet Foundry Docs
• StarkNet Staking Docs
• Juno Full Node