Accurate exchange rates for liquid staking tokens
DIA oracles support liquid staking protocols with LST/LRT exchange rates, staking ratios, and reward calculations for secure minting and collateralization.
The liquid staking map tracks 306 protocols across 156 networks. Liquid staking, liquid restaking, and restaking protocols hold $64.7B in combined TVL.
Read more about liquid stakingLiquid staking lets you stake proof-of-stake tokens and receive a derivative token in return. That derivative — called a liquid staking token (LST) — represents your staked position plus accumulated rewards, and remains transferable while the underlying tokens are locked in validators.
Lido's stETH is the largest LST by TVL. You deposit ETH, Lido delegates it across a set of node operators, and you receive stETH at a 1:1 ratio. As validators earn rewards, the value of stETH relative to ETH increases. One stETH minted in January 2023 was redeemable for approximately 1.07 ETH by early 2025. The yield accrues through exchange rate appreciation, not additional token distributions.
Other LSTs use different models. Rocket Pool's rETH appreciates against ETH in the same way. Coinbase's cbETH follows the same pattern. Frax's sfrxETH separates the staking reward stream from the base token. Marinade's mSOL does the same for Solana. Jito's JitoSOL adds MEV rewards on top of base staking yield. Across all of them, the core function is the same: stake, receive a liquid receipt, use that receipt elsewhere.
Staking Explorer — compare protocols by TVL, yield, chains, and audit history.
Native Ethereum staking requires 32 ETH and a validator node. Your ETH is locked for the duration of staking. Before the Shapella upgrade (April 2023), there was no way to withdraw at all. After Shapella, withdrawals take 1 to 5 days through a queue. During that time, your capital earns no yield elsewhere and cannot be used as collateral.
Liquid staking removes those constraints. There is no 32 ETH minimum — you can stake any amount. The LST you receive trades on secondary markets (Curve, Uniswap, Balancer), so you can exit your position within minutes instead of days. And because LSTs are standard ERC-20 tokens, they compose with the rest of DeFi.
stETH is accepted as collateral on Aave, Morpho, Spark, and Compound. A common strategy: deposit stETH as collateral, borrow ETH against it, stake the borrowed ETH to get more stETH, and repeat. This leverage loop amplifies the staking yield from ~3.5% to 6-8%, at the cost of liquidation risk if stETH depegs from ETH.
The tradeoff is trust. Native staking means your ETH sits in Ethereum's beacon chain contracts — protocol-level code with years of live operation. Liquid staking adds a smart contract layer (the LST protocol), a validator selection mechanism (Lido's curated operator set, Rocket Pool's permissionless minipools), and oracle dependencies for exchange rate reporting. Each layer adds a surface for bugs or manipulation.
Restaking extends staked ETH's economic security to protocols beyond Ethereum itself. EigenLayer, launched on mainnet in April 2024, is the largest restaking protocol. Stakers opt in to additional slashing conditions in exchange for yield from Actively Validated Services (AVSs) — bridges, oracle networks, data availability layers, and other infrastructure that needs economic security but does not want to bootstrap its own validator set.
As of early 2026, EigenLayer had over $11 billion in restaked ETH, supporting AVSs like EigenDA, Brevis, Lagrange, and AltLayer. Symbiotic and Karak offer competing restaking designs. Symbiotic uses a modular vault architecture where any ERC-20 can serve as restaked collateral, not just ETH. Karak supports multi-chain restaking across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and other L2s.
Liquid restaking tokens (LRTs) wrap restaked positions the same way LSTs wrap staked positions. EtherFi's eETH, Renzo's ezETH, Puffer's pufETH, and Kelp's rsETH all represent ETH restaked on EigenLayer. The holder earns base Ethereum staking yield plus whatever AVS rewards accrue. LRTs are accepted as collateral on several lending protocols, though with lower LTVs than plain LSTs due to the additional smart contract and slashing risk.
Full protocol directory — all tracked liquid staking, restaking, and liquid restaking protocols.
Validators can be slashed for double-signing or prolonged downtime. In liquid staking, a slashing event reduces the collateral backing every LST holder's tokens. Lido distributes slashing losses across the entire stETH pool, so the impact per holder is small unless many validators are slashed simultaneously. Rocket Pool isolates slashing to the individual minipool operator, protecting rETH holders through the operator's bonded RPL. The risk is not hypothetical: Lido node operators were slashed in February 2023, though the total penalty amounted to less than 20 ETH across the entire protocol.
LSTs trade on secondary markets where supply and demand can push the price below the redemption value. During the Terra/Luna collapse in June 2022, stETH traded at a 6% discount to ETH for weeks. At the time, there was no withdrawal mechanism — holders could not redeem stETH for underlying ETH. Post-Shapella, the redemption queue creates a price floor, but large sell pressure can still cause temporary deviations. If you use an LST as collateral, a depeg can trigger liquidation even if the underlying ETH has not lost value.
Every liquid staking protocol is a smart contract sitting between you and the beacon chain. A bug can drain deposits. Lido has been live since December 2020 and has been audited repeatedly, but newer protocols do not have that track record. Restaking adds another contract layer: EigenLayer's core contracts, the AVS contracts, and the LRT wrapper. Each layer multiplies the attack surface.
LST exchange rates depend on oracle reports. Lido uses a committee of oracle reporters to update the stETH/ETH rate. If that oracle is compromised or delayed, the exchange rate can misrepresent the actual backing, creating arbitrage opportunities or incorrect collateral valuations in lending markets. Governance risk applies to protocols where token holders can change fee structures, operator sets, or withdrawal mechanics through on-chain votes.
The DIA Liquid Staking Map sources protocol and TVL data from the DeFiLlama API. Three DeFiLlama categories are tracked:
TVL figures reflect the total value locked as reported by DeFiLlama, which aggregates on-chain data from each protocol's contracts. Chain data is derived from each protocol's multi-chain deployment information. Protocol detail pages include audit history, hack/exploit events, and contract addresses, all sourced from DeFiLlama's protocol metadata.
Data syncs automatically every 6 hours. The Staking Explorer and all chain-specific pages use the same underlying dataset.
A token that represents staked ETH (or another proof-of-stake asset) while remaining transferable and usable in DeFi. When you stake ETH through Lido, you receive stETH. That stETH accrues staking rewards and can simultaneously be used as collateral on Aave, Morpho, or Spark. You earn the staking yield without giving up access to your capital.
Liquid staking secures one network. Your ETH validates Ethereum and you get an LST in return. Restaking takes that same staked ETH and extends its security to additional protocols (called AVSs on EigenLayer). You earn extra yield from each AVS but accept additional slashing conditions. Liquid restaking wraps the restaked position into a transferable token (an LRT), the same way liquid staking wraps a native staking position.
Yes. Validator slashing reduces the underlying stake, which reduces what your LST is worth. Smart contract bugs in the liquid staking protocol can drain funds. LSTs can trade below their underlying value during market stress — stETH traded at a 6% discount during the June 2022 liquidity crisis. If you use an LST as collateral in a lending protocol, a depeg can trigger liquidation of your position.
stETH is backed 1:1 by ETH staked in Lido validators. Since the Shapella upgrade in April 2023, users can withdraw stETH directly for ETH through Lido's withdrawal queue, which takes 1 to 5 days. This redemption mechanism provides a hard floor. Secondary market prices on Curve and Uniswap can trade slightly above or below the redemption value depending on demand and queue length, but arbitrageurs close the gap.
Ethereum staking yield was between 3% and 4% APR through most of 2024 and 2025, set by network issuance and transaction tips. Different LST protocols take a fee on top: Lido charges 10% of staking rewards, Rocket Pool charges 14% (split between node operators and rETH holders). Restaking protocols add AVS rewards on top of base staking yield, but those rates vary by AVS and are often paid in the AVS's own token.
Protocol and TVL data comes from the DeFiLlama API. We track three DeFiLlama categories: Liquid Staking, Liquid Restaking, and Restaking. Chain data is derived from the chains field on each protocol's DeFiLlama listing. Data updates every 6 hours via automated sync. Protocol detail pages (audit history, hack events, contract addresses) also source from DeFiLlama.