Register Stake Address

Dingo - Register Stake Address

The stake address must be registered on-chain before it can be used. This costs transaction fees plus a deposit (currently 2 ADA, as defined by the network protocol parameters). The deposit is returned when the stake address is deregistered.

✅ This guide assumes your files are in the $HOME/dingo folder. Adjust paths below if necessary.

Step 1 - Generate stake registration certificate

⚠️ On an air-gapped machine

cd ~/dingo
cardano-cli conway stake-address registration-certificate \
--stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
--key-reg-deposit-amt "$(jq -r '.stakeAddressDeposit' params.json)" \
--out-file stake.cert

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Step 2 - Build Transaction

Copy stake.cert to the ~/dingo directory on your hot environment.

Query the current slot (used for --invalid-hereafter):

currentSlot=$(cardano-cli conway query tip --testnet-magic 2 | jq -r '.slot')
echo Current Slot: $currentSlot

Next build the transaction. The transaction build calculates fees and change automatically:

cd ~/dingo
cardano-cli conway transaction build \
--tx-in $(cardano-cli query utxo --address $(cat payment.addr) --out-file /dev/stdout | jq -r 'keys[0]') \
--change-address $(cat payment.addr) \
--certificate-file stake.cert \
--invalid-hereafter $(( ${currentSlot} + 1000 )) \
--witness-override 2 \
--out-file tx.raw

--witness-override 2 tells the fee estimator that two keys will sign (payment + stake).

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Step 3 - Sign Transaction

Copy tx.raw to the ~/dingo directory on your air-gapped machine.

Sign transaction using both the payment and stake signing keys:

⚠️ On an air-gapped machine

cd ~/dingo
cardano-cli conway transaction sign \
--tx-body-file tx.raw \
--signing-key-file payment.skey \
--signing-key-file stake.skey \
--out-file tx.signed

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Step 4 - Submit Transaction

Copy tx.signed to the ~/dingo directory on your hot environment.

cd ~/dingo
cardano-cli conway transaction submit --tx-file tx.signed