Coinbase reduces ALGO Staking to 0.45%- Governance Rewards are 6-7%, Get Your Own Wallet

This morning, I saw a huge reduction in my ALGO rewards on Coinbase. (I keep the majority of my coins in my own wallet, but I had a small purchase I didn’t bother moving). Coinbase did offer 4% previously, but they have dramatically reduced the rewards. I just received this email.

We want to inform you about a recent change in your ALGO rewards that you might have noticed. With the transition of Algorand from a participation to governance model, the rewards rate has dropped significantly from 4% to 0.45% as of March 8, 2022. We anticipate that you will see more fluctuations during the transitionary period.

Coinbase continues to participate in governance on your behalf and you are likely to see more governance rewards paid out in the future.

Algorand publishes regular updates on how it calculates rewards on its own website.

I have a strong feeling someone at Coinbase missed the vote and now Coinbase won’t get paid, despite them saying they continue to participate in governance.

I see two huge problems. One is governance rewards are 6-7% APY, meaning CB is collecting over 90% of the rewards they receive, and users get peanuts. Additionally, Coinbase inevitably will vote for what’s best for Coinbase, not necessarily what’s best for Algorand.

If you have any ALGO sitting on Coinbase (or any exchange for that matter), I urge you to move them off the exchange and into your own wallet (MyALGO or Algorand Wallet) so you can participate in governance and get your due rewards!

Edit: Thanks to the commenters- the official Algorand Wallet has rebranded to Pera. I use MyAlgo and forgot this change happened. Apologies for the mistake