Staking · Liquid Staking · rETH
Rocket Pool issues rETH, a non-rebasing liquid staking token whose exchange rate appreciates versus ETH as rewards accrue, backed by a permissionless network of node operators.
Decentralized, permissionless ETH liquid staking.
rETH price
$1.37
-2.2% 24h
Latest data · 15 min delay
Anyone can run a node by posting reduced ETH collateral plus RPL bond — the most decentralized operator set among major LSTs.
A reward-bearing ERC-20 that any user can mint by depositing ETH (no minimum). rETH does not rebase; instead its exchange rate to ETH increases as staking rewards accrue. It gives passive stakers liquid exposure to Ethereum staking yield without running a node.
Permissionless node operators run validators by pairing their own ETH bond with ETH from the rETH deposit pool. Pre-Atlas a minipool required 16 ETH from the operator; the Atlas upgrade introduced 8-ETH minipools (LEB8), and the Saturn I upgrade further reduced the bond toward 4 ETH per validator, improving capital efficiency and rETH-collateralization capacity.
Node operators historically staked RPL as an insurance bond/collateral against their commission and to qualify for RPL inflation rewards. RPL secures the protocol and is used in governance. Post-Saturn, RPL is being repositioned to earn a share of protocol ETH revenue rather than relying on RPL inflation emissions.
Introduced in Saturn I, megapools let a single node operator group multiple validators under one contract for gas and management efficiency, and support the reduced 4-ETH bond model plus express/standard deposit queues.
A permissioned set of members (including entities such as Consensys and Sigma Prime) that shuttle data between the Ethereum consensus and execution layers, submit oracle data (e.g., the rETH exchange rate and network balances) via threshold consensus, and historically handled protocol parameter and upgrade duties.
The token-holder governance body. The Houston upgrade (2024) moved the pDAO fully on-chain with an optimistic fraud-proof system, letting node operators raise, vote on, and challenge proposals directly on-chain, with Snapshot still used for gas-free signaling votes.
18,000,000 RPL initial supply with 5% annual inflation, split 70% to bonded nodes, 15% to oracle nodes, and 15% to the pDAO
Rocket Pool — Staking Protocol Part 3 (David Rugendyke)$150,000 maximum critical smart-contract payout
Rocket Pool Bug Bounty — ImmunefiOperator ETH requirement reduced to 4 ETH per validator via megapools
Rocket Pool Saturn I info siteHow Rocket Pool maps onto established TradFi structures, and where it diverges.
Money market / dividend-reinvesting fund share
Rocket Pool
rETH is a single fungible instrument whose per-unit value compounds automatically as underlying yield accrues, similar to an accumulating fund share where distributions are reinvested rather than paid out.
TradFi analogue
rETH is fully on-chain, redeemable 24/7 against a smart-contract deposit pool, has no fund manager or NAV cutoff, and its yield derives from Ethereum protocol staking rewards, which carry slashing and smart-contract risk rather than credit/interest-rate risk.
David Rugendyke
Founder / Lead Engineer Original author of the 2017 Rocket Pool whitepaper and long-time lead developer of the protocol.
Darren Langley
General Manager Leads day-to-day operations and has authored core team communications on protocol DAO governance.
Key milestones: launches, upgrades, exploits and governance events.
Redstone upgrade
ExecutedFirst major upgrade, made Rocket Pool compatible with The Merge and introduced features including the opt-in Smoothing Pool for priority fees.
SourceAtlas upgrade (8-ETH minipools / LEB8)
ExecutedReduced the node-operator bond from 16 ETH to 8 ETH (matched with 24 ETH from the deposit pool), enabled solo-staker migration, unified the minipool queue, and cut minipool creation gas.
SourceHouston upgrade (on-chain pDAO)
ExecutedMoved the Protocol DAO fully on-chain with an optimistic fraud-proof governance system, letting node operators raise, vote on, and challenge proposals directly on-chain.
SourceSaturn 0 (tokenomics rework prelude)
ExecutedDeployed parameter changes that eliminated the mandatory RPL bond minimum for new minipools, reducing friction for node operators ahead of the larger Saturn tokenomics rework.
SourceSaturn I upgrade (megapools, 4-ETH bond, RPL fee switch)
ExecutedIntroduced megapools grouping multiple validators under one contract, reduced the per-validator ETH bond toward 4 ETH, added express/standard queues and DAO-adjustable revenue splits, and activated redirection of a portion of protocol ETH staking revenue to staked RPL.
SourcerETH is Rocket Pool's liquid staking token. When you deposit ETH you receive rETH, which does not rebase; instead its ETH exchange rate rises over time as staking rewards accrue, so 1 rETH is redeemable for a growing amount of ETH.
Rocket Pool is permissionless on the node-operator side: anyone can run a validator by posting an ETH bond plus (historically) RPL collateral, rather than relying on a curated/whitelisted operator set. This is designed to make the validator layer more decentralized.
The operator bond has fallen over time. Rocket Pool originally required 16 ETH per minipool; the Atlas upgrade added 8-ETH minipools (LEB8) and the Saturn I upgrade moved toward a 4-ETH bond per validator via megapools.
RPL is Rocket Pool's collateral and governance token. Node operators stake RPL as an insurance bond; RPL is also used for pDAO governance. Following the Saturn tokenomics rework, staked RPL is being made to earn a share of protocol ETH revenue instead of relying on RPL inflation emissions.
Yes. The core protocol was audited by Sigma Prime, Consensys Diligence, and Trail of Bits before mainnet, with additional Sigma Prime and Consensys Diligence reviews for later upgrades such as Atlas. Rocket Pool also runs an Immunefi bug bounty with a maximum payout of $150,000.
