OverviewGuide: Exiting the Staking Pool
This guide shows how to exit the staking pool with the DAO Dashboard: three steps that move your deposit and rewards to your wallet. It also answers a question stakers often ask: Why do my token rewards take longer to withdraw than the tokens I deposited?
DAO Dashboard and DAO Tracker retirement
The DAO Dashboard stays online until the end of March 2028, with only unstake, withdraw, and undelegate available. This is a result of the DAO migration primary proposal #17 which ends staking pool rewards. The DAO Tracker stays up over the same period for an overview of your pool status and activity. Your tokens are never lost: unstaking and withdrawing stay possible at any time by calling the pool contract directly, with or without the dashboard.
The two clocks
Every API3 staker has two separate waiting periods, and confusing them is the most common source of "where are my tokens?" questions.
| What | Wait before you can withdraw | Starts counting when |
|---|---|---|
| Tokens you staked | 7 days | Your Initiate Unstake transaction is confirmed |
| Tokens you earned as rewards | 1 year | Each individual weekly reward was paid |
Rewards were minted into the pool every Thursday and staked automatically. Each one has its own 1-year clock that started when it was paid, so rewards unlock one week at a time, not all on one anniversary. You cannot start, speed up, or reset these clocks by unstaking. The pool has paid no rewards since the migration. The last reward was minted on October 29, 2026, so every reward is unlocked by the end of October 2027.
The process: three steps
Each step below is a separate Ethereum transaction, so keep some ETH in your wallet to pay for gas.
Step 1 - Initiate Unstake
On the DAO Dashboard, click Initiate Unstake, choose the amount (or Max), and confirm the transaction in your wallet. A 7-day countdown starts once the transaction is confirmed.
Step 2 - Unstake
When the countdown ends, click Unstake and confirm the transaction. There is no deadline: the unstake stays available until you do it.
Your tokens are now unstaked and sitting in your pool balance. They are not yet in your wallet.
Step 3 - Withdraw
Look at the Withdrawable figure in the Balance section. This is the amount you can take out right now: your deposit plus any rewards that have passed their 1-year mark. Click Withdraw, enter that amount (or Max), and confirm the transaction. The tokens are in your wallet once it is confirmed.
Any rewards still inside their 1-year lock stay in the pool. Each weekly reward unlocks 1 year after the Thursday it was paid, and on that date it is added to Withdrawable automatically. Come back and repeat Step 3 whenever you want to collect them. No further 7-day wait is needed.
What about the "Unstake & Withdraw" button?
It combines Steps 2 and 3 into one transaction, and it is intended for stakers who have no locked rewards. From the end of October 2027 that is everyone, because the last rewards unlock then. Before that, use Unstake and then Withdraw as described above.
Example: a typical small staker
Alex deposited and staked 1,000 API3 on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. A year of weekly rewards, about 358 API3, brought the stake to about 1,358. On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Alex decided to take everything out, deposit and rewards. The numbers are only an illustration, but the timeline works the same way for everyone.
- Thu Oct 29, 2026: Alex sends Initiate Unstake with Max. The 7-day countdown starts once the transaction is confirmed.
- Thu Nov 5, 2026: the countdown ends. Alex sends Unstake. Once it is confirmed, everything is unstaked and sitting in Alex's pool balance.
- Thu Nov 5, 2026: Alex sends Withdraw with Max. About 1,012 tokens go to the wallet: the deposit plus the two oldest rewards, which have passed their 1-year mark.
- Nov 2026 to Oct 2027: the other ~346 tokens unlock week by week, about 6-8 every Thursday, until the last one on Oct 28, 2027. Since each withdrawal costs gas, Alex comes back once or a few times and sends Withdraw again, with no new 7-day wait. A single visit between Oct 28, 2027 and the end of March 2028, when the Dashboard closes, collects everything that is left.
The withdrawal on Nov 5 is where most people are surprised: the deposit comes back in a week, but about 346 tokens of rewards stay locked. Nothing is lost. They are simply on the 1-year clock.
Quick FAQ
I unstaked a week ago and my rewards aren't withdrawable. Is something wrong?
No. The 7-day wait only applies between Step 1 and Step 2. Each reward still has to reach its own 1-year anniversary before Step 3 can release it.
Do staked tokens still earn rewards?
No. The pool has paid no rewards since the migration, whether the tokens are staked or not.
Rules referenced from the API3 DAO documentation: Staking tokens · Rewards · Pool contract · Reward calculation and distribution