Summary: Even with less than the minimum required stake, you can still nominate and earn rewards in the Cere network by joining Nomination Pools. This allows members to pool their funds together and act as a single nominator.
Cere's staking system is highly complex and optimized for security. Its main goal is to lock a significant amount of tokens at stake while spreading that stake as evenly as possible to maximize decentralization. This minimizes the possibility of the validator set becoming compromised.
The optimal election solution of the complex graph of nominator and validator mappings must be evaluated within a single block execution time on the Cere network. Based on network benchmarks, 22,500 is chosen as a conservative estimate for the maximum number of nominators in the staking election solution. This mechanism favors nominators with higher stakes, aligning with the network's objective to maximize total stake.
To accommodate accounts with less than the minimum required stake, Nomination Pools were introduced. These pools allow members to pool their funds together and act as a single nominator, even with as little as 1 CERE.
You can join a nomination pool with a minimum of 1 CERE. This allows you to participate in the staking process and earn rewards, even if you don't meet the typical minimum requirement. Detailed instructions on how to join a nomination pool can be found in this article.
Cere's staking system is designed to maximize security and decentralization. While the system generally favors nominators with higher stakes, Nomination Pools provide an opportunity for those with less than the minimum required stake to participate in the staking process and earn rewards. By understanding the complexity of the staking system and utilizing Nomination Pools, even smaller accounts can actively contribute to the network's security and benefit from staking rewards.