DeFi Intel

What is Liquid Staking?

Plain-English explainer · Updated 2026-05-03 · By DeFi Intel

Last reviewed 2026-05-03

Used by: Jito Liquid Staking

Entity coverage: 4 protocols, 0 tokens, 0 chains reference this concept.

Liquid staking pools user ETH into validators and issues a fungible receipt token (LST) representing the staked balance. Lido (stETH), Rocket Pool (rETH), Coinbase (cbETH), Frax (sfrxETH), Stader, and Mantle dominate. ~30% of all staked ETH is in LSTs.

How it works

Liquid staking pools user ETH into validators and issues a fungible receipt token (LST) representing the staked balance. Lido (stETH), Rocket Pool (rETH), Coinbase (cbETH), Frax (sfrxETH), Stader, and Mantle dominate. ~30% of all staked ETH is in LSTs.

For deeper protocol-level mechanics, see the related glossary terms below or the linked DeFi Intel topic deep-dive.

Why it matters

LSTs unlocked the staked-ETH wedge for DeFi. Today they are foundational collateral across Aave, Maker, Morpho, Spark, and the LRT stack.

Real-world examples

Lido stETH (~30% of all staked ETH), Rocket Pool rETH, Coinbase cbETH, Frax sfrxETH, Mantle mETH.

Related terms

Go deeper

Read the full DeFi Intel topic deep-dive or browse the complete crypto glossary.

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