Mapping the Ethereum Staking Ecosystem

A deep dive into all the components that make up Ethereum Staking.

October 05, 2022

Sponsor: Metapool.app - Stake NEAR. Receive stNEAR to simultaneously accrue staking rewards

Proof of Stake Ethereum is here. 

The Merge marks the most significant event in the history of the Ethereum network. The transition to Proof of Stake (PoS) has been in the works throughout Ethereum’s history (since 2014) and was put into motion on December 1, 2020, when the Beacon Chain was created. The Beacon Chain and the Ethereum Proof of Work Chain ran in parallel until the Ethereum Merge on 15th September 2022. The moment when these two systems finally came together and Proof of Work was replaced permanently by Proof of Stake.

A PoS blockchain nurtures a staking ecosystem of participants that all play a part in securing the network. We broke down the Ethereum Staking Stack to illustrate all the moving parts in the Ethereum staking community, and to shed light on what has been brewing under the hood. Understanding the stack, and the delicate differences between staking options helps investors to make a better decision when staking their ETH. The stack is read from the bottom up, with the Ethereum protocol at the base, followed by execution and consensus clients, middleware, DVT networks, staking options, infrastructure services, staking pools, liquid staking derivatives, custodians, wallets, data providers and tooling. Let's dive in!

Ethereum Protocol

The Ethereum Protocol is a set of rules by which the Ethereum nodes operate. The nodes embody the core infrastructure for thousands of decentralised applications. 

Transactions on Ethereum are signed by Full Nodes (e.g. from your Ledger via a Metamask Node, or from Binance via their Full Node). They broadcast the signed transactions to the network of Validator Nodes. The Validator Nodes execute the transactions (Execution Layer), validate their eligibility and achieve state consensus (Consensus Layer/Beacon Chain). The new, agreed upon state is then again stored in the full nodes with the latest block.

The Execution Layer maintains the overall state of the Ethereum Blockchain while also completing the transactions using the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The Execution Layer is managed by Execution Clients running on thousands of computers around the world.

The Consensus Layer achieves consensus, between those thousands of computers, on the latest state of the Ethereum Blockchain while also validating its accuracy. The Consensus Layer is managed by the Consensus Clients running on the same computers. 

Clients 

Ethereum is a distributed network of computers (Nodes) running software that can verify blocks and transaction data. To participate in the Ethereum network, you need to install software on your computer called a client to turn it into an Ethereum node. A "node" is any instance of an Ethereum client software that is connected to other computers also running Ethereum software, forming a network. Not all nodes on Ethereum are the same:

Full Nodes:

Full nodes enforce the consensus rules of the Ethereum protocol so that they can’t be tricked into accepting blocks that don't follow them, the nodes:

  • Sign transactions

  • Stores full blockchain data

  • Verifies all blocks and states

  • Broadcasts the signed transactions to validator nodes

Light Nodes

Light nodes download block headers which contain summary information about what those blocks contain. If a light node needs any other information, it will request it from a full node. This allows light nodes to independently verify data that is received against the state roots in block headers, thereby enabling users to participate in the Ethereum network without the powerful hardware or bandwidth needed to run a full node successfully. Light nodes do not participate in consensus, but can access the Ethereum blockchain with the same functions as a full node. Light nodes currently make up a small portion of the total nodes on the network, but are expected to develop swiftly in the future.

Archive Nodes:

Archive nodes store everything in the full node and build an archive of all historical states, the data capacity needed to run these nodes are very high (Terabytes), and are not usually appealing to ordinary users looking to run a node.

Validator Nodes:

Validator nodes receive the broadcasted transaction from full nodes and then execute the transactions, validate their eligibility and achieve state consensus (In the consensus layer). 

All nodes only work and interact with the protocol because of clients. Clients are implementations of Ethereum that verify data against the protocol rules and keep the network secure. Every validator in the Ethereum network is required to use these clients, regardless of if you are staking at home or through a service of some sort, clients are needed to use and interact with the Ethereum protocol and they form the first level of the staking stack.

There are two parts to Ethereum post-Merge: an execution layer and a consensus layer. Both layers run different clients and have specific roles to play:

  • Execution Client: listens to new transactions that are broadcasted in the network, executes them in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and holds a database and the latest state of all current Ethereum data. Here are some of the top execution clients for Ethereum:

  • Consensus Client: implements the PoS consensus algorithm, which enables the network to achieve agreement based on validated data from the execution client.

Choosing a client is a critical step when setting up an Ethereum node, we dived deep into Ethereum Clients in one of our other articles here. 

Client Diversity

Client diversity is an essential ingredient to building a resilient network. By diversifying the clients that nodes use, it limits the effect of a bug or attack on a single client and protects the network. If more than 66% of validators are using a single client and that client is attacked or experiences a serious bug, it presents a risk to the whole Ethereum network and can result in disruptions on the chain as well as hefty monetary losses for node operators.

But why?

To reach finality on the network, it takes 66.6% of validators. If a client holds a market share of more than 66.6% and they fork to their own chain, they will be capable of finalising. Once the fork takes place and it is finalised, validators cannot return to the original (real) chain without incurring slashing penalties. If 66.6% of the chain gets slashed at the same time, the slashing penalty is 32ETH (Ouch). 

The solution?

These scenarios can be avoided by limiting the client market share to 33% and educating the community on the importance of client diversity and encouraging them to use less popular clients in pursuit of preserving the integrity and resilience of the Ethereum network. The current distribution of consensus and execution clients are shown below: 

Flashbots/MEV

Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the maximum value that can be extracted from block production in excess of the standard block reward and gas fees by including, excluding, and changing the order of transactions in a block. This concept was initially applied by Proof-of-Work (PoW) miners because they would control the order, exclusion and inclusion of transactions. Validators will now be responsible for this post-Merge. 

How do you extract MEV?

Independent network participants called ‘searchers’ extract a large portion of MEV. Searchers run algorithms to detect profitable MEV opportunities and use bots to submit these profitable transactions to the network. The validators receive a portion of this MEV because the searchers pay higher gas fees (which go to the validator) to make sure that their transactions are included in a block. 

How do MEV opportunities arise?

MEV opportunities mostly arise from market participants using and interacting with the entire Defi ecosystem:

Liquidations

Lending protocols are very popular in the Defi ecosystem, a lending protocol allows users to deposit some collateral (i.e. ETH) and then borrow assets against that collateral. The value of this collateral (ETH) fluctuates as the market value of ETH changes, if the value of the collateral falls below a certain threshold, the protocol will allow anyone to liquidate the collateral (To pay off the borrowed assets). If the position gets liquidated, there is usually a liquidation fee involved that gets shared with the liquidator - which is where the MEV opportunity arises. Searchers compete to find liquidation transactions and submit them first to pocket the liquidation fee.

Dex arbitrage

An arbitrage transaction is the act of buying a token on one exchange (i.e. Uniswap) and then selling the same token for a higher price on another exchange (i.e. Sushiswap). Users can do this transaction in one go thanks to the mechanics of the blockchain. Searchers will monitor DEX’s for price discrepancies and look for opportunities to execute this type of transaction.

Sandwich trading

A sandwich trade runs on the back of DEX arbitrage opportunities. Assuming a large DEX arbitrage transaction is submitted to the mempool, this transaction is likely to push up/down the price of the token being bought. A searcher will watch the mempool and calculator the possible effect that this trade will have on the pair, if it’s likely to push the price up/down by a significant amount, they can execute a buy/sell order right before the large trade goes through and then sell/buy it shortly after, profiting from the transaction.

So where do Flashbots come in?

Some searchers started to use generalised frontrunners. They would:

  1. Watch the mempool (where transactions sit) for profitable transactions

  2. Copy presumably profitable transactions and replace the addresses with their own 

  3. Once frontrunners confirmed a transaction is indeed profitable, they would raise the gas price on their transaction to frontrun the original transaction and take the MEV that the original searcher found.

In response, new services emerged. Flashbots is an independent project which extends the go-ethereum client with a service that allows searchers to submit MEV transactions to miners without revealing transactions to the public mempool. This solved the issues caused by frontrunners and has helped bring down high gas prices.

MEV-Boost is open source middleware that validators can run to access a competitive block-building market. The middleware allows validators to access blocks from a marketplace of builders, MEV-boost will simply plug into your consensus client, allowing you to outsource specialised block building without having to know the technicalities of how it all works. These builders produce blocks that contain transaction order flow and a fee for the block proposing validator. The Flashbots team found that separating the role of proposers from block builders promotes greater competition, decentralisation and censorship-resistance for Ethereum. 

Distributed Validator Technology

Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) refers to an Ethereum validator running on multiple non-trusting nodes to improve fault tolerance and security. It removes the single-point of failure problem. Should <33% of the participating nodes in the DVT cluster go offline, the remaining active nodes can still come to consensus on what to sign and produce valid signatures for their staking duties. DVT creates decentralised staking infrastructure that makes it possible to distribute the operations of an Ethereum validator, improve security, increase inclusivity and network decentralisation. 

What is a validator client?

A validator client is the software that acts on behalf of the validator by holding and using its private key to make attestations about the state of the chain. A single validator client can hold many key pairs, controlling many validators.

The risks involved with traditional validator client setups

Validators sign messages using their staking private key. The key is only accessible by the validator client software, which is in place to schedule the creation and signing of messages based on the duties that are assigned to the validator. The risks to this setup are:

  • The staking private key is in one (centralised) location, if someone gains unauthorised access to this key, it can create conflicting messages that may result in the validator’s ETH getting slashed.

    • If you do not operate your own validator, you need to hand over the staking private key to the operator you are using, this creates an assumption where you need to trust that the operator safely and securely stores the staking private key.

  • If the validator client software does not create timely messages to perform validator duties, the validator will suffer an activity leak which will reduce their ETH balance

    • This can be caused from software bugs, internet downtimes, hardware issues and power outages etc. 

A few solutions have been developed to help solve these problems, SSV network is a research and development project that received a grant from the Ethereum Foundation in 2021 to work on ways to solve traditional validator client setup shortcomings.

SSV provides infrastructure for splitting and distributing a validator key into multiple ‘KeyShares’ to run an Ethereum validator across multiple non-trusting nodes. 

How does SSV do this?

At present, validators must be run on one single node, which presents a single point of failure. If that node needs maintenance or goes offline because of a problem, it may get slashed. SSV splits the validator key of that node into multiple KeyShares and distributes them to various nodes, if a node goes offline for one of the reasons mentioned above, the rest of the nodes holding the KeyShares will respond and operate the validator to ensure no downtime. This creates a secure staking solution where users do not need to hand over validator keys to operators, solving the current issue with staking private key handling. 

The Core Objectives of SSV Network

  • Provide delegators with a slashing-free decentralised security layer while earning staking rewards. 

  • Simplify the process of setting up a validator for people with little to no technical knowledge or prior crypto exposure. 

  • Build a base for the Ethereum staking community to build upon. To ensure that the decentralised ethos continues to remain at the core of the network

SSV.Network aims to be a  fundamental component in the Ethereum ecosystem. SSV.Network encourages decentralisation on Ethereum, ensures delegators do not give away control of their ETH, and more importantly, builds an easily reusable infrastructure for any future innovative staking services to be built. 

Obol Labs is a research and software development team building PoS infrastructure with a focus on Internet Bonds, DVT and Multi-Operator Validation. The Obol Network is a protocol that fosters trust-minimised staking through multi-operator validation. This opens the doors for the adoption of low-trust access to Ethereum staking, which can be used as a core building block in a variety of Web3 products.

Obol has built ‘Charon’, a middleware  enabling any existing Ethereum validator clients to operate together as part of a distributed validator. It sits as middleware between a normal validating client and its connected beacon node, intercepting and proxying API traffic. Learn more about what the team is building here.

Solo-Staking

Staking Ether on your own requires depositing at least 32 ETH to activate validator software. As a validator, you will be responsible for adding new blocks to the blockchain, processing transactions, and storing data. In doing this, you are securing the network for everyone and get rewarded by earning new ETH in the process. The general term for staking by yourself is ‘Solo-Staking’ and under that umbrella is ‘Home-Staking’.

Home-Staking

Physical Home Setup

Solo home staking on Ethereum is the best method for staking (In our opinion), since it provides full participation rewards, improves the decentralisation of the network, and never requires trusting other parties with your funds. This refers to running physical dedicated hardware at home that is connected to the internet ~24/7 with a stable power supply. 

Advantages:

This is widely recognised as the gold standard of staking because:

  • You receive the maximum rewards directly from the protocol for keeping your validator properly functioning and online

  • Completely remove trust, and never give up control of the keys to your funds

  • You get to run home hardware and personally add to the security and decentralisation of the Ethereum network

  • Best way to contribute to decentralisation 

  • Self-sovereignty: “Not your Validator, not your network”

Trade Offs:

  • You forgo the convenience of handing operations over to someone else

  • You have to physically prepare, maintain, and potentially troubleshoot the machine and networking

Recommended Hardware requirements to Solo-stake at home

The hardware required will differ slightly depending on the client you choose. The biggest bottleneck that people usually face is the disk space, it is best to use a SSD with lots of extra space even after you have synchronised with the Ethereum blockchain. See a full setup guide here.

  • Fast CPU with 4+ cores

  • 16GB+ RAM

  • Fast SSD with 1+TB

  • 25+ M/Bits bandwidth

Preconfigured Nodes

A plug-and-play box, or pre configured machine from a vendor, is the easiest way to run a node with your own hardware. Preconfigured machines from vendors offer the most straightforward experience: order, connect, run. The software is preconfigured and runs automatically with an intuitive guide and dashboard for monitoring and controlling the software.

Advantages

  • Easy set up, great for non-technical people that want to run a node

  • Well-priced and accessible

  • One time investment

Trade Offs:

  • You are constrained to the hardware and design of the pre-configured node

Vendors:

Solo-Staking in the Cloud

Cloud-Staking

Cloud-Staking refers to using a cloud server to run your node. People may choose this option because it may be easier than building and maintaining your own home server. It offers high server uptime and static public IP addresses and may be more cost-effective. The drawback of this option is that you need to trust a third party, and you are contributing to the centralisation of the network by using cloud services like AWS. However, there are decentralised cloud solutions that are available like Flux or Ethernity Cloud

Advantages:

  • Providers offer high server uptime and static public IP addresses

  • Getting dedicated or virtual server can be more comfortable than building your own

Trade offs:

  • You are trusting a centralised third party - server provider

  • Because of the required storage size for a full node, the price of a rented server might become quite expensive. 

Staking Providers

Moving onto one of the larger categories within the Ethereum Staking Ecosystem, Staking Providers set up, maintain, and run the hardware and day-to-day validating node operations. Think of them as the backend operators running all the computers and physical infrastructure that makes Proof-of-Stake blockchains tick. Staking Providers is the umbrella term for companies that offer staking services. Underneath that are three categories of staking providers:

  • Infrastructure Providers

  • Validator as a Service (VaaS)

    • This includes companies offering institutional validating services

  • Staking Pools

Infrastructure Providers:

Infrastructure Providers for Staking Pools provide validating services directly to Staking Pools where they have dedicated hardware to maintain and run nodes that get set up through the Staking Pool. They are focused on large scale operations and offer scalable solutions to meet the needs of Staking Pools.

How do Infrastructure Providers differ from Solo Stakers and VaaS?

Solo Stakers run their own infrastructure and are predominantly focused on their own home setup. Infrastructure Providers offer large scale solutions where they have the ability to set up, maintain and oversee thousands of nodes for Staking Pools. Vaas refers to people using a third party service to set up a validator, handle the node operations and do the ongoing maintenance. This service allows you to outsource the ‘hard work’ or running and maintaining a node, for a fixed fee.

VaaS:

Validator as a Service, also known as Staking as a Service (SaaS), represents a category of staking services where you deposit your 32 ETH for a validator and generate your keys, but in this case you are delegating the node operations to a third-party provider. Instead of running hardware or using a preconfigured node at home (Solo staking), you are using a third party provider to do the hardware or cloud setup, maintenance and upgrades. This service allows you to outsource the ‘hard work’ or running and maintaining a node, for a fixed fee.

But how is this different to ‘Cloud staking’ under the ‘Solo-Staking’ section? The key difference is that in cloud staking you are the one that has chosen the cloud service and is still doing the entire setup, monitoring and upgrades of the validator node. Whereas in a VaaS, you are not managing, monitoring or running any of the operations of the node. You simply bring your 32 ETH to the VaaS and pay a monthly fee for their services. A VaaS has three key benefits:

  1. It is still your own validator

    1. You get your own set of signing keys and of course your withdrawal keys, you can monitor your progress with a dashboard created by the service you are using. It is semi-custodial in nature because the keys are shared between you and the VaaS.

  2. Very easy to get started

    1. The VaaS providers help you with the entire process from start to finish, you can forget about the hardware specs, setup, maintenance and any upgrades that need to be done.

  3. You limit your risk

    1. You usually do not need to give access to your withdrawal keys, which prevents services from withdrawing, transferring or spending your funds.

There are a growing number of VaaS providers to help you stake your ETH, but each comes with different risks and benefits. A few of the providers in this list cater to institutional investors and may not be applicable to individuals, but they are still offering validator services and fall under this category. Be sure to do your research before committing to one, here are some VaaS providers:

Pooled Services:

Staking pools are a collaborative approach to allow many different users with smaller amounts of ETH to obtain the 32 ETH required to activate a set of validator keys. This makes it possible for smaller players to take part in staking on the network and has led to more validator nodes being set up. It is important to note that pooling services are not natively supported within the Ethereum protocol, so solutions were built out separately to address this need. Pooling services have three key benefits:

  1. Low barrier to entry

    1. Most staking pools allow you to stake with as little as 0.01 ETH, this is much easier for users to attain than meeting the 32 ETH requirement for solo staking

  2. It is as easy as a token swap

    1. Users do not need to worry about maintaining and setting up a node and the process of depositing into a pool is usually as easy as swapping one token into another

  3. Liquidity tokens

    1. Staking pools usually provide you with a token that represents your staked ETH. This token can be used as one would use any other token, allowing investors to earn staking rewards whilst being able to transfer, store, trade, and earn yield across decentralised finance protocols. The liquidity tokens are discussed further below under ‘Liquid Staking Protocols’

Pooling services usually operate using smart contracts, where funds are deposited in a contract which manages and tracks your stake and issues you a token to represent your stake. Staking pools can be further split into three categories that separate them based on whether they allow open, limited or exclusively curated sets of validators.

Open Participation as a Validator:

Open participation to validators means that everyone is available to participate in the consensus process and become a node operator in the network, regardless of if you are Coinbase or an individual. It is not dependent on a voting process to decide who can or can not be a validator on the network, you are treated the same as any other node operator. This democratised staking system doesn’t favour any one party and is the epitome of permissionless staking. An example of a protocol that employs this is

Limited Curated Set of Validators:

A limited set of validators refers to the approach that some protocols take where professional validators are carefully selected to maximise earnings and limit slashing penalties. The protocol has a committee to choose the best-in-class validators to minimise staking risk, this means that it is up to a group of decision makers to decide who can be a validator or not, which makes it a permissioned protocol. The problems that could arise from this approach are:

  • Once operators are in the set, there is little incentive to improve

  • There are not many professional node operators that run their own infrastructure, this can lead to the protocol running out of candidate pools

The risk is that if this process of selection continues in the long-run, it could lead to a full-blown cartel and result in a dystopian outcome for Ethereum. While this is unlikely,  decision-making power that is concentrated in the hands of a few token holders is not an optimal outcome for Ethereum and has not ended well for networks that have chosen this path over the long run. 

Staking Pools with exclusively curated set of validators:

Staking pools that use an exclusive set of operators 

Liquid Staking Protocols

A unique proposition of Staking Pools is that they issue liquidity tokens, these tokens represent the staked ETH and allow users to trade or use this token in Defi applications to let them get the best of both worlds - a reward on your staked assets, as well as the returns from new trading/investing opportunities. The concept of issuing liquidity tokens for staked assets is referred to as Liquid Staking and is what most Staking Pools offer their users. 

Traditionally, staking on PoS-based projects involves lockup periods where your assets cannot be traded or withdrawn. In the case of Ethereum, withdrawing funds from a validator on the Beacon Chain is not possible until the Shanghai upgrade has been completed, which currently limits the ability to actually redeem your liquidity tokens for the ETH rewards locked in the consensus layer. This is why liquid staking has become so popular for investors as it allows them to ‘withdraw’ their ETH without actually removing ETH from the staking contract. The key benefits of Liquid Staking are:

  • Making the staking process simple, there is no need to manage or set up hardware

  • No limit on the deposit size which makes it possible for smaller players to take part

  • Liquid staking allows you to take part in other Defi protocols 

To learn more about Liquid Staking on Ethereum, read our Overview of ETH Staking Derivatives. Some of the key Liquid Staking Protocols are:

Custodians

A custodian is a company that has physical possession of your financial assets. It’s often a brokerage, commercial bank, or another type of institution that holds your money and investments for convenience and security. Custodians play a key role in the institutional adoption of ETH by enabling investors to store their digital assets with regulated third-party custody providers. The key custodians are:

Data Providers and Tooling

Data providers and tooling developers play a critical role in the Ethereum Staking Ecosystem. 

Data providers

A data supplier (or data vendor or data provider) is an organisation or business that provides data for use by third parties. Some data suppliers provide access to data sets for free, some sell data for a cost and some data providers offer a mix of free and fee-based data services. The vast majority of Ethereum data providers offer their services for free and are committed to offering the community insights through unbiased & live staking market data. Data providers can fall into:

Tooling

Tools have been developed by the Ethereum community to make the staking process more secure, efficient and scalable. Most of these tools are open source and can be found on Github:

  • Github tooling

    • Consensus-monitor: Web UI to check your ethereum consensus layer nodes via their beacon APIs

    • dshackle: Fault tolerant load balancer for blockchain apis, including Ethereum RPCfauceth - EIP1559 compatible web faucet using Hcaptcha.

    • ganache: Simulator for development and testing purposes of the execution layer

    • genesis-generator: A tool to generate and expose genesis files for the execution and consensus layer clients

    • rpc-proxy: A proxy for web3 JSONRPC. Rate limiting and method filtering.

    • testnet-faucet: Web faucet that can be used to distribute testnet ETH to users

    • testnet-homepage: Simple website that can be used to display useful information about your testnet.

    • ethereum-metrics-exporter: A prometheus exporter for Ethereum execution and consensus clients.

    • checkpointz: A beacon chain Checkpoint Sync provider.

Wallets and Browsers

Wallets and browsers are the connecting point between users, protocols and the Ethereum chain. Wallets have different features to suit your needs, the listed wallets cater to Ethereum staking as a key feature of the wallet: 

Custodial Staking

Custodial staking means that you are staking your crypto through a centralised entity (i.e. Binance, Kraken, Coinbase). This means that the exchange is the custodian of your assets and you are entrusting the management of the private keys to the exchange. In addition, you are relinquishing the control of your assets to the custodian and become subject to their terms and conditions. It is easily accessible and requires little effort and oversight. We do not recommend this option as your first choice because it requires large trust assumptions and does not contribute to the decentralisation of the network. It is okay if you don’t feel comfortable using a self-custodial wallet and prefer to use a centralised exchange. However, we always encourage you to support decentralisation and learn how to use the other options. Check out our guide on staking with RocketPool here.

If you are new to the Ethereum Staking Ecosystem, we know it can be confusing and overwhelming at first glance. Use this tree diagram to help you decide which option is best for you.

Conclusion

The Ethereum staking community is at the core of the network and is committed to supporting the Ethereum vision of building a digital future on a global scale. As more users start to stake their ETH and existing stakeholders continue to develop new staking products, we expect Ethereum to become the dominant staking asset in the years to come.

Staking at a Glance

Journal Entries

🔔 New Journal about Ethereum Merge Staking Survival Guide

Read this to have all your bases covered now that The Merge has taken place.

🔔 New Journal about the Ethereum Merge

We cover all the details about The Merge in this research article.

🔔 New Journal about Ethereum Clients after the Merge

Read more about the unfolding of the Ethereum future and all the details about Ethereum Clients after The Merge.

🔔 New Journal about XGo Superfluid - The next generation of Staking?

XGo has developed a new product that is set to solve one of the biggest drawbacks of normal Staking – illiquidity. Read this article to find out more!

🔔 New Journal about Canto - Free Public Infrastructure?

Canto is layer one Cosmos SDK blockchain solution that runs an EVM execution layer while using the Tendermint Consensus mechanism.

🔔 New Journal about RAI - The Decentralised Semi-Stablecoin

Read more about what RAI is and how it works!

New Asset Integrations

🔔 New Asset Integration for Audius is live

Audius is a protocol that positions itself in the audio distribution industry as a censorship-resistant and decentralized alternative to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.

To learn more, check out the $AUDIO asset profile.

🔔 New Asset Integration for Canto is live

Canto is layer one Cosmos SDK blockchain solution that runs an EVM execution layer while using the Tendermint Consensus mechanism.

To learn more, check out the $CANTO asset profile.

New Verified Providers on StakingRewards.com ✅

Congrats 🎉

Global Staking Research

The Merge Goes Live in Historic Upgrade for Ethereum

The long-awaited upgrade to Ethereum occurred at block height 58,750,000,000,000,000,000,000, unifying the Proof of Stake, ‘Eth2’ Beacon Chain consensus layer with the Proof of Work mainnet and execution layer.

Ethereum PoW Network is Live and Sees Complaints on Day 1 Amid Data Goof-Up

Ethereum PoW, the version of the Ethereum blockchain that continues to run on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, experienced a dismal first day as it ran into teething problems. Some Twitter users complained they weren't able to access the network using the information provided by the Ethereum PoW Twitter channel, while some reported problems accessing the network’s web servers.

Compound Treasury to let institutions use digital assets as collateral when borrowing USD or USDC

Compound Treasury, a cash management solution for institutions powered by the Compound Protocol, announced on Sept. 14 that accredited institutions can now borrow USD or USDC with fixed rates starting from 6% APR, using Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and supported ERC-20 assets as collateral.

Decentralized exchange GMX suffers $565K price manipulation ‘exploit’

Decentralized exchange (DEX) GMX has reportedly suffered a price manipulation exploit from an exploiter who managed to make off with around $565,000 from the Avalanche (AVAX)/USD market.

Crypto market maker Wintermute hacked for $160 million

Crypto market making firm Wintermute has been hacked for $160 million but the firm remains solvent, according to founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy. Gaevoy said today on Twitter that the money was related to its DeFi operations and that it's centralized exchange and over-the-counter offerings were not affected.

Staking Assets

NEAR Foundation launches $100 million VC fund and lab for web3

Swiss non-profit the NEAR Foundation launched a $100 million venture capital fund and venture lab for web3, it announced on Monday. The NEAR Foundation, which supports the governance and development of the NEAR protocol, will partner with Caerus Ventures, a newly launched investment firm, for the project.

Maker Proposal to Transfer USDC from Maker PSM to Coinbase

Coinbase proposes to invest ~33% (~$1.6b) out of Maker’s PSM into a Coinbase Prime yield-bearing account. This will boost Maker's revenue by $24m/year. The Maker Governance has now to decide if they want to pass this proposal.

Algorand Foundation has $35 million exposure to troubled crypto lender Hodlnaut

The Algorand Foundation said that it has a $35 million exposure in USDC to Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based troubled crypto lender that halted client withdrawals last month. That figure represents less than 3% of the Algorand Foundation's assets, the firm said, adding that it does not anticipate operational or liquidity issues due to its exposure.

Staking Providers

Lido generates ETH yield of 5.5% through additional MEV rewards

Lido is a liquid staking provider for the Ethereum chain. Now, after the merge is done it has the biggest validator set. On 16th September, Lido MEV rewards (incl priority fees) were in total 244.44 ETH. These were restaked and resulted in an updated ETH staking yield of 5.5%. That’s an additional yield of around 0.3% per year.

Stride Mainnet Live

Stride - a new Cosmos SDK Chain - launched this week. Stride describes itself as the Multichain Liquid Staking Hub in the Cosmos Ecosystem. As the first product users can liquid stake their ATOM token. The Stride token, which was re-named $STRD, is NOT required to pay transaction fees on the Stride chain. Transactions are currently free.

InfStones Collaborates with Aegis to Power Its Custody and Staking Services for Polygon and Harmony

InfStones announced that they will be collaborating with the Aegis Trust Company to provide robust blockchain infrastructure solutions that will power its new institutional-grade staking and custody services for Polygon and Harmony. Aegis Trust Company is a US-based, licensed, and insured custodian regulated by the South Dakota Division of Banking.

Coinbase’s cbETH Wrapped Ethereum Staking Token is Live

"Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH) is a utility token that represents ETH2, which is ETH staked through Coinbase," the company tweeted, adding that “cbETH can be sold or sent off-platform, while ETH2 will remain locked-up until a future protocol upgrade.” Currently it’s trading at a 8% discount to ETH.

Alameda to repay $200 million to bankrupt lender Voyager

Trading firm Alameda Research will repay some $200 million in loans to Voyager Digital, the bankrupt crypto lender. Alameda will repay 6,553 in bitcoin (roughly $128 million) and 51,204 in ether (roughly $70 million) in principal and loan fees, as well as smaller amounts in seven other tokens, according to a court filing last night. The loans are due to be repaid by Sept. 30, the filing said.

Staking Rewards is Hiring Researchers and Engineers

We are looking for proactive, intelligent, and determined people to join our team across all functions. Positions are fully remote.

We are looking to hire 2-3 more Researchers, to join our team of 3 on a mission to become unprecedented experts on staking data and economics. Apply here.

We are looking to hire Software Engineers with Web3 experience to develop the data aggregation pipeline for Staking Rewards. Apply here.

We are looking for a People Manager, who will own all matters HR at Staking Rewards. Apply here.

We are looking for a Sales Operations Manager. He/she will work on topics that range from sales strategy to the nuts and bolts of sales operations. Apply

We are looking for a Strategy & BD Manager who will work closely with the Head of BD & Strategy to assess, prioritize and execute a set of crucial strategic projects. Apply

If you know anyone who would be a great fit, please ping us. We offer a generous referral bonus.

Staking Rewards Hosts the World’s First and Only Staking Summit!

Calling on Validators, PoS Protocols, VCs and other projects for the world’s only staking-focused event in a mission to bring the staking ecosystem together. 

Staking Rewards hosts top-tier speakers, staking experts and investors at LX Factory in Lisbon on 8 November 2022 for a full day, in-person conference.

The event comprises keynotes, panels and discussion groups and an additional area for co-working and networking. Attendees will have extensive opportunities to collaborate and learn.

Staking Rewards will host an exclusive afterparty for VIP ticket holders after the event. 

The event is being sponsored by leading industry names such as Obol Labs, Luganodes, Tencent, Meta Pool, Allnodes, Ankr, Tenderize, GlobalStake, Sikka Money and Staking Facilities. Secured media partners include CoinTelegraph, CryptoSlate and BeInCrypto.

Official side events include Meta Pool’s Pitch Competition.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit: https://www.stakingrewards.com/summit/

Reply

or to participate.