# Bonded Tokens When staking, CTC must be bonded in a Stash account. This is a process by which tokens are "frozen" in exchange for some other benefit. In the Creditcoin network, users can bond their tokens in exchange for the right to participate in consensus and receive rewards. To be able to transfer the staked tokens, these tokens must go through an unbonding period in which they may not be used to nominate validators and do not contribute to earning any rewards. Unbonding in Creditcoin takes 7 days. This is a security measure designed to align security and economic incentives for both validators and nominators, ensuring that those who participate in consensus have “skin in the game” as they cannot exit their positions right away. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.creditcoin.org/cc-enterprise/staking/bonded-tokens.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.