<center>![2017-03-21_18-35-00.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaEDc2oXzEHJBobUf7HEqXriyJttrEgpXvJdNfCD4a4vk/2017-03-21_18-35-00.png)</center>

The PIVX slack has grown significantly in just the last day. There are more and more people appearing in the channels, many with price predictions or declarations, and many with questions regarding the various features of PIVX. These questions come from slack and reddit and I have personally seen these questions asked at least a dozen times today. 

Remember that there is a [Slack](http://slack.pivx.org/) that you can go to and the community there is not only friendly but also has a pretty good number of Steemians there! They know a **_lot_** so don't be shy.

These are the questions that seem to be the most commonly asked around the interwebs. It is by no means a complete list.

## Hi - totally new to PIVX. I am wondering why the pivx-qt wallet doesn't ask for my password when I start it? Is it safe?
When you launch the wallet for the first time you should make sure to encrypt it immediately. This will secure your wallet so that you will only need the passphrase for conducting transactions. If you are trying to stake those coins, you'll need to look under 'tools' > 'open config' and then enter your passphrase. Remember to select the option so that the wallet is **only** unlocked for anonymization and staking.

## I can't start staking! In the Open Configuration File I put it as staking=1, but it still says staking is not active, I already restarted the wallet.

If you are just getting your wallet synched up and have sent some fresh PIV to stake, remember that your PIV will need to meet the 101 confirmation requirement to be eligible for staking, which may take a little time. When I set up my wallet I did not know this and so I spent some time re-reading and looking at settings, convinced I had done something wrong. 

I finally gave up and went to bed and in the morning it worked on the first try. So it could very well be that your PIV has not yet met all the requirements for staking but should be available soon. 

## How much PIV do I need in my wallet to Stake and how much will X amount of PIV get me in terms of rewards?
This seems to be the most commonly asked question that I've noticed. As far as I understand, there is no minimum amount to stake and rewards are not based on the amount of PIV in the staking wallet. 

What the amount of PIV in your staking wallet affects is the *frequency* at which you *may* receive rewards. So if you deposit 1 PIV in your wallet for staking you may be very low on the list to receive a staking reward, perhaps as long as a week or weeks, if ever. If you were to deposit 15k PIV the frequency would go up significantly and could be as short as 1.5-2 days. 

I tested staking a wallet to research this myself and, based on conversations in slack, there really is no set schedule. As long as your wallet is online you are in line for a reward, however long or short that may take. I received my first reward an hour after staking, a slack commentator received their first one after 10 hours. Times may vary, indeed. 

Rewards for staking are governed by the relationship between the number of MN's versus the number of staking wallets online. When MN's start to become majority on the network, the rewards mechanism shifts greater rewards to the staking wallets. This is actually one of the features that sets PIVX apart from other smart money because it encourages balance between MN's and stakers and it further secures the network.
_____
This series will continue as more commonly asked questions are aggregated. Thanks for reading and if you have a PIVX question post it in the comments and let's get it answered!

The PIVX community is vibrant and growing. If you have questions there's a whole community over there discussing all kinds of things PIVX-related and otherwise.

_____
###### <center>The questions never asked are the ones never answered</center>
## <center>@Prufarchy</center>
<center><a href="http://steemit.com"><img src="http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/01/19/imb_E4DE85EB-66C6-4C6D-9C8C-2F17FFC37D30c3b33.gif" /></a></center>