Ethereum Staking: Centralization Risk, Lido vs Rocket Pool, $RPL + $RETH Utility
Darren Langley is the general manager of Rocket Pool which provides liquid staking services for ETH holders.
Liquid staking on Ethereum has been a major trend this year as it enables ETH holders to earn rewards by staking on the Ethereum network while additionally allowing stakers to seek financial opportunities with their staked ETH.
In our conversation, we will get into the Rocket Pool story since their ICO, details of what it takes to become an Ethereum validator and node operator, the utility of their native token, the issue of centralization among liquid staking protocols, and more.
But first, Darren will begin with an introduction to Rocket Pool.
Liquid Staking: The Battle for Liquidity | cbETH, Rocketpool
In this episode of Empire, Darren Langley (Rocketpool) and John Zettler (Coinbase) join us to discuss why liquid staking is taking over Ethereum. We start with the LSD landscape, how cbETH and Rocketpool approach product strategy, and Lido's dominance. Then we get into the real fun stuff. Darren and John explain the 2/3rd order effects of the Shanghai upgrade, how to drive on-chain liquidity, the evolving fee market and more. Liquid staking is poised to take over Ethereum - don’t miss out!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:45) The LSD market overview
(13:34) Rocketpool’s focus on decentralization
(16:44) Lido’s dominance
(19:59) Coinbase’s partnership with Rocketpool
(24:41) Shanghai predictions
(33:55) Blockworks Research
(40:55) A reshuffling of market share?
(46:18) Driving on-chain liquidity
(50:08) Fee markets and multi chain
(57:00) Future outlook
(1:02:44) Regulation
(1:08:48) LSDs on L2s
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Follow John: https://twitter.com/JohnZettler
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Resources
cbETH
https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/trading-and-funding/staking-rewards/cbeth
Rocket Pool
https://rocketpool.net/
https://twitter.com/Rocket_Pool
Ethereum staking distribution dashboard
https://dune.com/hildobby/eth2-staking
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
The Bull Case for Rocketpool with Marceau & Ken Smith
On today's episode, we welcome Marceau and Ken Smith, two Rocketpool community members to share everything you need to know about Rocketpool, staking, and the bull case for Rocketpool, ETH, & RPL.
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------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
ROCKET POOL | ETH STAKING https://bankless.cc/RocketPool
️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across
BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave
MAKER DAO | DECENTRALIZED LENDING https://bankless.cc/MakerDAO
LEDGER | SECURE STAKING https://bankless.cc/Ledger
----- Timestamps:
0:00 Intro 4:40 Guest Relationship to Rocketpool 5:45 What is Rocketpool 7:36 Rocketpool's Value Prop 9:45 Two-sided Marketplace 13:20 Rocketpool's Community 16:20 The Bull Case for Rocketpool 19:50 rETH 25:20 rETH Yield 26:30 Protocol Risk 31:05 Rebasing 38:26 Running a Rocketpool Node 43:45 Rocketpool Critiques 51:48 Institutions 57:20 Single Node Operators 59:45 Pools 1:06:00 $RPL Explained 1:10:15 $RPL Critiques 1:16:00 $RPL Bull Case 1:24:40 Closing
----- Resources:
Marceau https://mobile.twitter.com/marceaueth
Ken Smith https://mobile.twitter.com/shtimseht
Rocketpool https://rocketpool.net/
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets.
Decentralized Ethereum 2.0 Staking with Rocket Pool | Darren Langley & Dave Rugendyke
Rocket Pool is live on mainnet! Slowly rolling out its staking pools, Rocket Pool is opening up its decentralized ETH staking product to the world. Core team members Darren Langley and Dave Rugendyke join to talk about the past, present, and future of the protocol.
Rocket Pool allows ETH holders to stake without needing to run a full node, which requires hardware, maintenance, and 32 ETH. Abstracting away those requirements helps to decentralize Ethereum's Proof-of-Stake, which is expected to arrive with the merge in the first half of 2022.
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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
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🔐 LEDGER | SECURE YOUR ASSETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger
🧙♀️ ALCHEMIX | SELF-PAYING LOANS http://bankless.cc/Alchemix
------ TOPICS COVERED:
0:00 Intro 7:00 Launching Rocket Pool 15:50 How We Got Here 23:38 Why Decentralized Staking? 28:37 What the Numbers Say 34:38 A Public Good 39:40 The Community 47:11 Centralization Risks? 49:25 rETH 56:04 Democratizing ETH Staking 1:02:39 DeFi Integrations 1:06:30 MEV 1:14:25 Operating a Node & ODAO 1:22:02 RPL Token & Incentives 1:32:02 What's Next? 1:38:20 Closing & Disclaimers
------ RESOURCES:
Darren on Twitter: https://twitter.com/langerstwit?s=20
Rocket Pool: https://rocketpool.net/
Node Map: https://stake.rocketpool.net/network
RPL Investment Thesis: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethfinance/comments/m3pug8/the_rocket_pool_investment_thesis/
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
ETH Staking Panel | Coinbase, Lido, Rocket Pool
ETH Staking Panelists: Darren Langley (Rocket Pool) Vasiliy Shapovalov (Lido) Ejaaz Ahamadeen (Coinbase)
With Ethereum's switch to Proof-of-Stake around the corner, a full spectrum of staking options has emerged. Many who want to participate will not be able to run their own self-custodied 24/7 validator node, and not everyone has the required 32 ETH. For these folks, Staking-as-a-Service allows broader participation in the PoS consensus mechanism. To discuss this, team members from Coinbase, Lido, and Rocket Pool come together in this panel to explore their approaches to the world of ETH staking!
------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/ 🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini
🔀 BALANCER | EXCHANGE & POOL ASSETS https://bankless.cc/balancer
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
ETH Staking Panel | Coinbase, Lido, Rocket Pool
ETH Staking Panelists:
Darren Langley (Rocket Pool) Vasiliy Shapovalov (Lido) Ejaaz Ahamadeen (Coinbase)
----- 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/ 🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini
🔀 BALANCER | EXCHANGE & POOL ASSETS https://bankless.cc/balancer
👻 AAVE | LEND & BORROW ASSETS https://bankless.cc/aave
🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/unigrants
------ 📣 KYBER | Liquidity mine with Rainmaker https://bankless.cc/kyber
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With Ethereum's switch to Proof-of-Stake around the corner, a full spectrum of staking options has emerged. Many who want to participate will not be able to run their own self-custodied 24/7 validator node, and not everyone has the required 32 ETH. For these folks, Staking-as-a-Service allows broader participation in the PoS consensus mechanism. To discuss this, team members from Coinbase, Lido, and Rocket Pool come together in this panel to explore their approaches to the world of ETH staking!
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures