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8.0/10
Liquid Staking

Rocket Pool

Strongranked 2 of 4 in liquid staking◆ Sources checked · 27 Sept 2026

The most decentralised liquid staking option on Ethereum: anyone can run a node by posting a 4 ETH bond (since Saturn 1, February 2026), so the operator set is not a list somebody curates. The contracts are upgradeable through the invite-only Oracle DAO, now behind a delay and a security-council veto. About a twentieth of Lido's size, with thinner exit depth.

Best for: Decentralised Ethereum staking with a permissionless operator set

Company file: Rocket Pool, owners, incidents →

How this score was reached

8.0 is the weighted average of the five pillar findings below. Does the job well with no material unresolved concerns.

Custody & Security30%
8.4

Non-custodial, with operator ETH in front of stakers' ETH in every validator and no loss of staker funds since mainnet. The contracts are upgradeable, not immutable: the invite-only Oracle DAO approves new versions, and since Saturn 1 (RPIP-60) an upgrade waits out a delay stakers can exit during, with a security-council veto. Saturn 1 was audited by Cantina, Bailsec and Sigma Prime.

Cost & Fee Transparency20%
7.6

14% of rewards on borrowed ETH does not reach rETH holders (5% operator commission plus 9% to RPL stakers), against Lido's 10%, plus a 0.05% fee when minting through the protocol. All of it is set on-chain.

Regulation & Legal Standing10%
6.4

Developed by Rocket Pool Pty Ltd (Australia); the protocol is governed on-chain by node operators in the Protocol DAO, with the Oracle DAO handling reporting and upgrades.

Performance & Reliability30%
8.4

rETH has tracked its underlying value closely with no material deviation under redemption pressure. Since Saturn 1 a buffer of up to 1% of rETH TVL pays redemptions without waiting for validator exits. TVL is about $1.40 billion (27 Sep 2026).

Access & Support10%
7.6

Good documentation; running a node is genuinely involved, though simply holding rETH is not.

Strengths

  • Permissionless, bonded operator set — nobody curates who validates
  • Receipt token has tracked value closely under stress
  • Upgrades now wait out a delay with a security-council veto (Saturn 1)

Against it

  • 14% of rewards withheld from rETH holders, against Lido's 10%
  • Contracts are upgradeable through the invite-only Oracle DAO
  • Smaller share of liquidity, so exit depth is thinner

Nobody chooses the validators

Anyone can run a Rocket Pool node by posting a bond, 4 ETH per validator since Saturn 1 in February 2026, and the operator's ETH absorbs slashing and downtime losses before the stakers' ETH does. There is no approval list for operators, and no staker funds have been lost since mainnet.

The contracts are not immutable. The invite-only Oracle DAO reports the rETH rate and approves upgrades; since Saturn 1 an upgrade waits out a delay stakers can exit during, and a security council can veto it. You also pay more: 14% of rewards on borrowed ETH skips rETH holders, against Lido's 10%, and at about a twentieth of Lido's size the exit depth is thinner.

Frequently asked questions

Rocket Pool or Lido?+

Rocket Pool for an open operator set with operator money at stake in every validator; Lido for exit liquidity and integration. Lido edges ahead in this table on performance, and both take a cut: 14% at Rocket Pool, 10% at Lido. If you may need to exit large size quickly, Lido’s depth is the stronger argument.

What is rETH and how does it work?+

A receipt token whose value accrues against ETH as staking rewards accumulate, rather than rebasing your balance. On 27 Sep 2026 each rETH was worth about 1.1726 ETH. You can hold it, use it in DeFi, or burn it through the protocol when the deposit pool or the rETH buffer has ETH.

Are Rocket Pool’s contracts immutable?+

No. They are upgradeable: the Oracle DAO approves new contract versions. Saturn 1 (RPIP-60) added a delay between an upgrade passing and executing, so stakers can leave, plus a security-council veto.

Assessed by

Olivia Bennett

By Olivia Bennett

Blockchain Security Researcher · September 27, 2026

◆ Disclosure

CoinRadar Daily is a non-commercial project. We have no commercial relationship with Rocket Pool, earn nothing from any link on this page, and carry no advertising or sponsorship anywhere on the site. Findings rest on public sources; we did not open an account or transact.

Rubric v2.0How we score →

The rest of the liquid staking table

  1. 01LidoThe deepest liquidity and the widest integration of any staking receipt8.2
  2. 02Rocket Pool — you are hereDecentralised Ethereum staking with a permissionless operator set8.0
  3. 03JitoSolana staking with MEV rewards passed back to holders7.9
  4. 04Frax EtherHigher yield through a two-token design, with the extra complexity that implies7.2
Full liquid stakingcomparison →

Related tables

How we score →

Independent, rubric-scored tables for the services behind this story.

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The base layer everything else is built on.

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