Bonding is the process of telling the network you want to stake tokens. The bonding period is the amount of time the blockchain delegator waits before their asset is bonded and ready to earn rewards.
How does this affect my staked assets?
When staking, many networks require a bonding or “warm up” period prior to earning rewards. During this time, your cryptocurrency is “locked up” and cannot be sold or withdrawn. Bonding periods vary by network and can change at any time. For more information on asset specific bonding periods, please see here.