Earn staking rewards without losing liquidity, via a tradable receipt token.
Liquid staking removes the trade-off that once defined staking: lock up assets to earn network rewards, or keep them liquid and earn nothing. Users stake through a protocol and receive a liquid, tradable token representing their staked position, one that continues earning yield while remaining usable elsewhere in DeFi, as collateral, in a trading pair, or inside a lending market.
Liquid staking has consistently ranked as the largest single category in DeFi by total value locked, with combined deposits across leading protocols regularly exceeding $47 billion, ahead of lending and decentralized exchanges. Growth in the category has repeatedly outpaced the rest of DeFi during periods of network upgrades that improved staking flexibility, with total value locked climbing by well over 100% during several of those cycles.
Market figures are drawn from public reporting current as of early-to-mid 2026 (sources include DefiLlama, CoinGecko, The Block, Dune Analytics, Gartner, and industry market-research reports). These move quickly, verify and refresh before relying on them.
The core engineering challenge is maintaining a reliable, liquid peg between the staked token and its underlying asset, even during periods of network stress or validator slashing events, while keeping the protocol resistant to the centralization risk that comes with concentrated validator sets.
Restaking models are extending the category further, allowing staked capital to secure additional networks and services simultaneously, layering more yield and utility on top of the same underlying stake. As more networks adopt proof-of-stake, liquid staking is increasingly becoming the yield foundation other DeFi products are built on top of, a position that compounds in value for well-executed platforms.
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