Chapter · Master Lido
What staking is
Ethereum runs on proof-of-stake. Instead of miners burning electricity, validators lock up ETH as a security deposit and take turns proposing and checking blocks. Do the job honestly and the protocol pays you fresh ETH. Cheat or go offline and part of your deposit is taken. Staking is simply putting up that deposit to earn those rewards.
Free to play. No ads, no token, no account needed to start.
What you get asked
In proof-of-stake, what does a validator put at risk to earn rewards?
Proof-of-stake replaces expensive hardware with an economic bond. Your staked ETH is collateral: behave and you earn, misbehave and you lose part of it.
Staking rewards are new ETH the protocol issues to validators, so the yield comes from protocol ___, not from any single company.
The network mints a small amount of new ETH plus priority fees and hands it to validators for securing the chain. That issuance is the source of the yield.
Match each piece of the solo-staking deal to what it really means
Solo staking is powerful but demanding: big deposit, always-on hardware, and penalties if you slip. That friction is exactly the gap Lido steps into.
Why do many people avoid solo staking on Ethereum?
32 ETH is a lot of money, running a validator is real work, and staked ETH cannot be spent while it is locked. Those three hurdles push most people toward pooled options.
Roughly where does a solo staker's yield come from?
Rewards are freshly issued ETH plus priority fees from the blocks you help produce. No promises, no central payer: it is the network paying for its own security. 🐜
The rest of this chapter
Liquid staking explained: stETH, rewards, and the risks nobody mentions.