Unit 1 · Level 5 · Staking & restaking
Choosing your staking exposure
There are four main ways to stake: solo (your own validator, 32 ETH, full control), pooled (small amounts, shared validator), LSTs (liquid receipt, DeFi-ready), and exchange staking (one click, they hold the keys). None is 'best'; each trades convenience against control. You already know the iron law from League 1: not your keys, not your coins.
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What you get asked
Match each staking route to its defining trade-off
Convenience and control sit on opposite ends of a slider. Every route is a position on that slider, so pick it on purpose.
Which staking route means you no longer control your own keys AT ALL?
Exchange staking is custody: your coins sit in their wallet, and you hold a promise. Celsius promised yield too. Then withdrawals froze in June 2022 and billions got stuck in bankruptcy.
You stake 10 ETH at 4% yearly yield, but your staking provider keeps a 25% commission on rewards. How much ETH do YOU earn in a year?
Gross reward: 10 × 4% = 0.4 ETH. The provider keeps a quarter (0.1), leaving you 0.3 ETH. Always compute yield AFTER fees; commissions of 10-25% are common.
You have 0.5 ETH, no technical experience, and you want to keep self-custody. Which route fits the graduate checklist best?
With small amounts, pooled staking or an LST in YOUR wallet keeps custody while staying practical. The 15% offshore promise fails the 'where does the yield come from?' test instantly.
Before staking anywhere, which question matters MOST?
Custody first, yield second: a lost coin earns nothing forever. Rate-chasing without checking custody is how people ended up inside Celsius and FTX instead of on a blockchain. 🐜
The rest of this unit
Where staking yield really comes from, and what happens when you stack risk on top of it.