Staking & yield
Liquid staking explained
Liquid staking gives you a tradable claim on your staked coins so capital is not locked. Convenient — but you swap protocol risk for a stack of additional risks.
How the mechanism works
You deposit ether into a contract that spreads your stake across a set of validators. In return you get a token: either a rebasing token whose balance grows, or a token whose exchange rate against ether rises.
You can trade that token, use it as collateral or deploy it in DeFi. The underlying stake keeps validating.
Why the price can deviate
The token is not ether. If exits take days and many holders sell at once, a discount appears on the secondary market. Deviations of a few percent have occurred during stress.
As long as the protocol is healthy, the price converges back towards intrinsic value at the next exit window.
The risks you buy
Smart contract risk: one bug hits every participant at once. Governance risk: who can change parameters or operators? Concentration risk: when one protocol controls a large share of all stake, that becomes a systemic risk for the network itself.
Used in DeFi, leverage risk stacks on top: borrowing against a token that can itself deviate is a classic liquidation trap.
- A contract bug hits everyone simultaneously
- Depeg during market stress
- Governance can change operators and fees
- Leverage on LSTs amplifies losses
Staking yield calculator
See what staking nets you after commission, compounding and network inflation.
Inputs
Results
Net APR (after commission)
4.50 %
Net APY (compounded)
4.60 %
Real yield (after inflation)
2.55 %
Rewards year 1
46.025 coins
Average per day (year 1)
0.1261 coins
Ending balance
1,144.5273 coins
Value at flat price
€1,144.53
Growth of your stake
Risk
Staking is not a savings account. Slashing, validator downtime, unbonding periods, smart-contract bugs in liquid staking and price drops can all shrink your position. A high APR usually compensates high inflation or high risk. This is not investment advice.
Rounding and assumptions
We assume a constant APR, a flat price and equal periods; real networks vary daily. APY = (1 + net APR / n)^n − 1. Real yield is (1 + APY) / (1 + inflation) − 1. Figures are shown rounded to four decimals (coins) and two decimals (currency) while maths runs unrounded, so small differences with your wallet are normal. Taxes and transaction fees are excluded.
APY = (1 + APR/n)^n − 1
Frequently asked questions
Do I earn the same with an LST as solo staking?
No, slightly less: the protocol keeps a commission, usually around 10 percent of rewards, sometimes split between operators and a treasury.
Is an LST safer than exchange staking?
Different, not necessarily safer. You replace counterparty risk with smart contract and governance risk. Judge audits, track record and the size of the operator set.
Read next
What is staking?
Staking explained without marketing language: what you actually do, who pays you, why there is a yield and which returns are realistic.
Restaking explained
What restaking is, which problem it solves for new services and why researchers and regulators are cautious about it.
Choosing a staking platform
What to check on commission, licensing, custody, exit terms and transparency — with a concrete checklist.