Liquid Staking Tokens

Liquid staking tokens (LSTs) represent staked ETH while remaining tradable — stake without locking capital out of DeFi. LST price trends toward ETH plus accumulated rewards over time.

stETH from Lido holds the largest market share; Rocket Pool's rETH emphasizes a decentralized node operator set; cbETH comes from Coinbase institutional staking. Wrapped variants like wstETH avoid rebasing in some DeFi integrations.

LSTs can trade below ETH during market stress — stETH depegged in 2022 when liquidity dried up. A depeg reflects redemption uncertainty and sentiment, not necessarily lost underlying stake.