What is Liquid Staking?
Liquid staking lets you stake assets like ETH while receiving a liquid token (LST) that represents your staked position. You earn staking rewards while maintaining the ability to use, trade, or DeFi your LST.
How Liquid Staking Works
Deposit: Stake ETH (or other assets) with a liquid staking protocol Receive LST: Get a liquid token like stETH, rETH, or cbETH Earn Rewards: Your LST accrues value as staking rewards compound Use in DeFi: LSTs can be used as collateral, LP'd, or tradedTop Liquid Staking Tokens
- stETH (Lido): Largest LST by TVL, rebasing model
- wstETH: Wrapped stETH, non-rebasing for DeFi compatibility
- rETH (Rocket Pool): Most decentralized LST
- cbETH (Coinbase): Institutional-grade, regulated
LST Mechanisms
Rebasing (stETH): Token balance increases daily with rewards Value-Accruing (rETH, wstETH): Token price increases vs ETHRisks to Consider
- Smart Contract Risk: LST protocol vulnerabilities
- Slashing Risk: Validator penalties could affect LST value
- Depeg Risk: LST could trade below ETH parity
- Centralization: Some LSTs have concentrated validator sets
Getting Started
- Choose an LST based on decentralization and DeFi integration
- Stake ETH directly or swap for LST on DEX
- Use LST in DeFi or simply hold
- Unstake anytime (may have delays)