The StakeWise Protocol

Introduction

StakeWise is a liquid staking protocol for Ethereum, designed to make staking more flexible, secure, and accessible.

Rather than consisting of one large staking pool, StakeWise has a network of permissionless, customizable, and non-custodial staking pools deployed by various service providers, allowing individuals and organizations to pick which nodes will stake their ETH, helping them find the most suitable staking arrangement. All pools offer on-demand liquidity and DeFi integrations for users' stake via osToken, providing the flexibility to get the token only when needed.

The protocol is implemented as a mix of both upgradable (via dual governance) smart contracts that must keep up with the changes in Ethereum's Proof-of-Stake specification, and persistent, non-upgradable smart contracts designed to prioritize security and self-custody, and to function without centralized intermediaries who may selectively restrict access to the service.

StakeWise was formally introduced with the release of its Litepaper in 2022 ↗, which set out the vision for a modular staking protocol designed to counter centralization risks and expand user choice. Since then, the protocol has continued to evolve to embody the core ethos of Ethereum and DeFi, specifically the non-custodial, trustless nature that allows self-sovereignty to truly thrive.

Most users lack either the technical expertise to run validator nodes or the 32 ETH required to stake. StakeWise addresses this by providing an essential base layer that lowers both technical and capital barriers to ETH staking.