Staking of Ethereum PoS

The process of locking up Ether (ETH) to participate in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake consensus and earn rewards.

What is Staking?

Staking in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system, implemented after The Merge in 2022, involves locking up a minimum of 32 ETH in a validator smart contract to help secure the Ethereum network.

Stakers, or validators, are responsible for proposing and attesting to new blocks in the blockchain, ensuring transaction validity and network consensus. In return, they earn rewards in the form of newly issued ETH and transaction fees, typically yielding 2-5% annual percentage return (APR) as of 2025.

To stake, users run a validator node using an execution client (e.g., Geth, Besu) and a consensus client (e.g., Lighthouse, Prysm), requiring reliable hardware and internet to avoid penalties like slashing, where a portion of staked ETH is lost for malicious or negligent behavior.

Staking can be done solo, requiring technical expertise, or through staking pools (e.g., Lido, Rocket Pool) for those with less than 32 ETH or limited technical skills, though pools introduce third-party risks. Over 1 million validators are active as of 2025, with more than 33 million ETH staked, representing over 25% of Ethereum’s total supply, per beaconcha.in, enhancing network security and decentralization.