Babylon allows Bitcoin holders to participate in staking, earning rewards while maintaining their BTC holdings. This guide walks through the process of staking Bitcoin using the Adamik API, including transaction creation, signing, and broadcasting.

​
Staking Process

📌 Important Notes

  • Babylon offers two registration methods: pre-stake and post-stake. This guide implements the more user-friendly pre-stake registration flow. See Bitcoin Stake Registration Methods for details.
  • Babylon is still early and currently only available on Bitcoin Signet and Babylon Testnet networks. When Babylon launches on Bitcoin mainnet, simply replace "bitcoin-signet" with "bitcoin" and "babylon-testnet" with "babylon" in API calls.
  • The example data shown is for demonstration purposes. While encoded payloads are valid for signing, they may not match the provided examples exactly.

​
Overview

Babylon API Pre-Registration Flow

​
1. Collect Required Information

​
Retrieve Bitcoin Validators

First, fetch the list of available Bitcoin “finality providers” (validators):

GET /api/bitcoin-signet/validators

​
User Inputs

You’ll need to collect:

  • From UI: Chosen validator and staking amount
  • From user data: Bitcoin address and Bitcoin public key (NOT the xpub)

​
2. Create Bitcoin Staking Transaction

Generate the Bitcoin transaction payloads for signing:

POST /api/bitcoin-signet/transaction/encode
{
  "transaction": {
    "data": {
      "mode": "stake",
      "senderAddress": "tb1pwj4q5jhwlszj6rnrahd95huu6j56dvj9ltfnag55prqnpc53vpqsxh76tx",
      "senderPubKey": "02bd2eb288281a9e7a15ec81b8b593f243b96fbcd2b16a1a509c1b87df95fc499c",
      "targetValidatorAddress": "ee9da95e9fecbb2191943c56a109d1dc81787a77994ad9ef89278850a58e4876",
      "amount": "1000"
    }
  }
}

​
3. Sign Bitcoin Transactions

Sign the following payloads with a compatible Bitcoin signer:

  • Staking PSBT: The main transaction for staking
  • Slashing PSBT: Required for the slashing mechanism
  • Unbonding Slashing PSBT: For slashing during unbonding
  • Babylon Address: Sign with Bitcoin signer: [ECDSA or BIP322](hex(bech32Address))

ℹ️ The unbonding PSBT does not need to be signed at this stage, but must be included in the registration transaction, see below.

​
4. Register with Babylon Blockchain

Create the Babylon registration transaction:

POST /api/babylon/transaction/encode
{
  "transaction": {
    "data": {
      "mode": "registerStake",
      // User's Bitcoin public key in hexadecimal format
      "senderPubKey": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // User's Babylon address
      "senderAddress": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // User's Babylon address, signed with Bitcoin signer (hex)
      "proofOfPossession": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "amount": "1234",
      // Bitcoin finality provider's public key (hex)
      "validatorPubKey": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // The unbonding PSBT, exactly as provided in the response of the Bitcoin encode
      "unbondingPsbt": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // Staking transaction, signed from the provided PSBT (hex)
      "signedStakingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // Slashing transaction, signed from the provided PSBT (hex)
      "signedSlashingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      // Unbonding slashing transaction, signed from the provided PSBT (hex)
      "signedUnbondingSlashingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
    }
  }
}

ℹ️ The returned encoded transaction is in Cosmos’ protobuf format, serialized as hex.

​
5. Sign Babylon Transaction

Sign the encoded Babylon transaction using a Babylon-compatible wallet.

​
6. Broadcast Babylon Registration Transaction

POST /api/babylon/transaction/broadcast
{
  "chainId": "babylon",
  "transaction": {
    "data": {
      "mode": "registerStake",
      "senderPubKey": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "senderAddress": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "proofOfPossession": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "amount": "1234",
      "validatorPubKey": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "unbondingPsbt": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "signedStakingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "signedSlashingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "signedUnbondingSlashingTransaction": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "fees": "12432",
      "gas": "1775858"
    },
    "encoded": "0a330a310a2d2f626162796c6f6e2e6274637374616b696e672e76312e4d736743726561746542544344656c65676174696f6e120012650a500a460a1f2f636f736d6f732e63727970746f2e736563703235366b312e5075624b657912230a2103833d5aebe72ca68e3816c4a466d395280929f07ccf5e75dc4e2d71c2c92da45812040a020801180712110a0b0a047562626e120337303010a08d061a0a62626e2d746573742d3520eac404",
    "signature": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  }
}

​
7. Wait for Confirmation

Monitor the transaction status until it’s confirmed:

GET /api/babylon/transaction/{hash}

⚠️ Important: Wait for transaction.parsed.state to be confirmed before proceeding to the next step.

​
8. Broadcast Bitcoin Staking Transaction

Once the Babylon registration is confirmed, broadcast the signed Bitcoin staking transaction:

POST /api/bitcoin-signet/transaction/broadcast
{
  "chainId": "bitcoin-signet",
  "transaction": {
    "data": {
      "mode": "stake",
      "senderAddress": "tb1pwj4q5jhwlszj6rnrahd95huu6j56dvj9ltfnag55prqnpc53vpqsxh76tx",
      "senderPubKey": "02bd2eb288281a9e7a15ec81b8b593f243b96fbcd2b16a1a509c1b87df95fc499c",
      "targetValidatorAddress": "ee9da95e9fecbb2191943c56a109d1dc81787a77994ad9ef89278850a58e4876",
      "amount": "1000",
      "fees": "1896"
    },
    "encoded": "70736274ff010089020000000144a549ead63ac9c6987b90669208ece5e93f28de4b1f97b5e4036c995f47b3d50100000000ffffffff0250c3000000000000225120a80fe5278c52cab2e0a0c9702713f61fe8f2f248346a6d7dcc1245338c14ec1609dd06000000000022512074aa0a4aeefc052d0e63edda5a5f9cd4a9a6b245fad33ea29408c130e2916041000000000001012b31a507000000000022512074aa0a4aeefc052d0e63edda5a5f9cd4a9a6b245fad33ea29408c130e2916041011720bd2eb288281a9e7a15ec81b8b593f243b96fbcd2b16a1a509c1b87df95fc499c000000",
    "signature": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  }
}

​
Managing Staking Positions

​
View Bitcoin Staking Positions

Retrieve all staking positions for a Bitcoin public key:

GET /api/bitcoin-signet/account/state/{public_key}?include=staking

​
Coming Soon Features

​
Unbonding

The unbonding process for Babylon staking will be documented soon.

​
Withdraw

The withdrawal process for Babylon staking will be documented soon.

​
Claim Rewards

The reward claiming process for Babylon staking will be documented soon.

Was this page helpful?

Raise issue