Back to Blog
Token Guides4 min read

Liquid Staking Tokens: Earn Staking Yield While Staying Liquid

Understand liquid staking derivatives and how they unlock DeFi composability for staked assets.

What Is Liquid Staking?

Liquid staking lets you stake assets (like ETH or SOL) to earn staking rewards while receiving a liquid token that represents your staked position. This token can be used in DeFi.

How It Works

  • Deposit ETH into a liquid staking protocol
  • Receive a liquid staking token (e.g., stETH, rETH)
  • Earn staking rewards (~4-5% APY) automatically
  • Use the liquid token in DeFi (lending, LP, collateral)

    • Major LSTs

    • stETH (Lido): Largest LST, rebasing model
    • rETH (Rocket Pool): Decentralized, value-accruing
    • cbETH (Coinbase): Institutional-grade, CeFi-integrated
    • mSOL (Marinade): Leading Solana LST
    • jitoSOL (Jito): Solana LST with MEV rewards

    DeFi Composability

    LSTs can be used as collateral on Aave, supplied to Curve pools, or used in leveraged staking strategies. This "stacking" of yields is a core DeFi primitive.

    Trade LSTs on Alkizen

    Access liquid staking tokens across all chains through Alkizen's unified swap interface.

    liquid stakingstethrethlst