Stader Labs Unveils Plan for a decentralized, DeFi-friendly Liquid Staking solution on Ethereum

[PR – Singapore, Singapore, 13th December, 2022, Chainwire]

Stader Labs, a leading multi-chain liquid staking protocol, has announced that it is launching its liquid staking solution, ETHx for Ethereum. This week, Stader Labs published its vision for Ethereum which sheds light on what to expect.

The State of Ethereum Staking

Firstly, a glance at the state of Ethereum staking today shows that liquid staking has emerged as the most popular way (33% of all staked eth) for users to stake Ethereum, followed by CEXs (29%). And within the liquid staking ecosystem, there’s a dominant protocol, Lido, that has a market share of ~90%. Additionally, the problem is only made worse by Lido’s model of working with a limited set of ~30 permissioned node operators. And, across Lido and the top 2 CEXs in Coinbase & Kraken, over 50% of all staked Eth flows through just these 3 entities. This clearly highlights the need for more robust alternatives.

Stader x Ethereum: Vision

Stader’s vision on Ethereum is to deliver a liquid staking product that can find the right balance of being user backward (think great UX, staking yield, Defi integrations), scalable (can support user demand), and a force for decentralization.

Stader’s approach to delivering this vision will be 3-fold:

• A hybrid ecosystem of permissionless and permissioned node operators with a focus on decentralization. The permissioned set will enable Stader to continue to scale as the permissionless ecosystem develops to support  billions of dollars in staked assets
• Lower bonding requirements for permissionless operators, fully reflecting the non-punitive nature of ETH staking design, especially for non-malicious performance issues. Plus, Stader will adopt cutting edge DVT technologies that significantly lower the risk of slashing and penalties
• Actively developing DeFi around its soon-to-be-released liquid token, ETHx. Leveraging the experience of building Defi offerings across chains, where Stader has integrations across top Defi protocols like AAVE, Balancer, QiDAO, Beefy Finance, Venus, Apeswap and more.

Speaking on the eve of the launch announcement, Amitej Gajjala, Co-founder and CEO, Stader Labs said:

“In line with our vision to bring staking to 1 bn users, we are happy to bring our well-loved liquid staking solution to Ethereum and add to the liquid staking diversity on ETH. Our focus will be on delivering a solution that users love, think highest staking yield, and fantastic Defi opportunities, while also furthering decentralization of Eth staking by enabling anyone to operate nodes for ETHx permissionlessly from day 1”.

Stader has already received grants from SSV Network, the leading distributed validator technology (DVT) provider, and here’s what Alon Muroch, Lead developer at SSV had to share:

“We are excited to see Stader build on Ethereum and SSV. Stader is one of the largest liquid staking protocols, with ~110 mn $ in TVL and presence across 6 chains, and it’s good to see them add to the liquid staking diversity on Ethereum. We are glad to partner with them on this journey and have them as early adopters of DVT. The resilience provided by DVT will enable them to be a force for decentralization on Ethereum”.

A white paper, laying out Stader’s ETHx design, is expected in December 2022 with the mainnet launch scheduled for Q1 2023.

About Stader

Founded in April 2021, Stader Labs is a non-custodial multi-chain liquid staking platform with over USD 110 Mn+ PoS assets staked. Currently live on 6 chains (including BNB Chain, Polygon, Hedera, Fantom, Near, etc.), users can stake PoS tokens, earn staking yields, and also amplify yields across several DeFi opportunities like Aave, Balancer, etc

Over 25,000+ wallets have been staked with Stader. Stader is backed by notable funds including Coinbase Ventures, Pantera, Jump Crypto, Accel Partners and Accomplice.