How to Stake ETH for Passive Income
Overview
Earn yield on your ETH by staking. Compare solo staking, pooled staking (Lido, Rocket Pool), and exchange staking to find the approach that matches your technical skill and capital. If you plan to stake through an exchange, check our best crypto exchanges rankings to pick a reputable platform. For liquid staking via DeFi, secure your keys first with a hardware wallet and learn more about crypto lending strategies that can compound your staking rewards.
Steps
- 1Decide your approach: solo staking (32 ETH + technical), liquid staking (any amount), or exchange staking.
- 2For liquid staking: go to Lido (stETH) or Rocket Pool (rETH) and connect your wallet.
- 3Deposit your ETH and receive a liquid staking token (stETH or rETH) in return.
- 4Your staking rewards auto-compound — the value of your staking token increases over time.
- 5You can use stETH/rETH in DeFi (lending, liquidity) for additional yield.
- 6To unstake: swap stETH/rETH back to ETH on a DEX or use the protocol's withdrawal queue.
Pro Tips
- Rocket Pool (rETH) is more decentralised; Lido (stETH) has deeper liquidity.
- Exchange staking (Coinbase cbETH, Kraken) is the easiest but least decentralised.
- Current ETH staking yields ~3-5% APR — don't chase higher yields from unknown protocols.
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