Opting-out of staking rewards

runtus123May 25, 2020

It may seem like a strange question but is it possible for a wallet/address to opt out of receiving staking rewards?

I found this on github

github.com/algorand/go-algorand

Add the ability to mark an account as Non-Participating.

algorand:master ← EvanJRichard:evan/nonpart_txs

opened 07:01PM - 20 Aug 19 UTC

EvanJRichard

+349 -53

## Summary This PR proposes to add the ability to mark an account as `not par…ticipating`/`excluded`/`nonparticipating`, per design discussed with @algoradam (which is why I've requested him as a reviewer). A "become non-participating" transaction is a keyreg transaction that supplies no keys, as though it were a "go offline" transaction. However, in the "become non-participating" scenario, an additional bool flag, `nonparticipating`, is high. It is an error (enforced by `transaction.WellFormed`) to have a keyreg transaction that both supplies key information and has the `nonparticipating` flag high. Once an account is non-participating, it can never exit that state. So, the work flow for making a new non-participating account would be: make a new account; fund the account; issue a become-nonparticipating transaction from that account. ## Test Plan I added some tests (see PR: `transaction_test`, `keyreg_test`, `onlineStatusChange_test`). Additionally, using Travis suite to detect regressions in other tests, and `make test` passed on my machine. Further, I manually spun up a private network and marked some accounts as nonparticipating myself, using `goal`. ### Documentation concerns Reviewers or drive-by readers: what documentation are you aware of that will need updating once this is in? So far, I have: https://developer.algorand.org/docs/goal-account

@tsachiherman Participating accounts that go offline can still accumulate rewards. Non-participating accounts can never accumulate rewards

Does this suggest it’s technically possible to opt-out of receiving rewards?

fabriceFabrice BenhamoudaMay 25, 2020

Yes, marking your account non-participating will opt out of receiving rewards.

This action cannot be reverted. Furthermore, non-participating accounts cannot participate in the consensus (i.e., cannot be marked online).

You can however always close the account into a fresh new account to be able to receive rewards again.
But all the rewards you did not receive (while being marked non-participating) are forever forfeited.

runtus123May 26, 2020

thank you. How can I mark an account as non-participating and where can I check the current status of an account?

fabriceFabrice BenhamoudaMay 26, 2020

You can check on GoalSeeker for example whether an account is Online/Offline/Non-Participating. For example, the fee sink is non-participating: https://goalseeker.purestake.io/algorand/mainnet/account/Y76M3MSY6DKBRHBL7C3NNDXGS5IIMQVQVUAB6MP4XEMMGVF2QWNPL226CA

To mark an account non-participating, see https://developer.algorand.org/docs/reference/cli/goal/account/marknonparticipating/