Stake Wise
A permissionless, non-custodial liquid staking protocol built on Ethereum — live since 2021, securing billions in staked assets across multiple networks.
What Stake Wise Is Here to Do
The goal has always been simple: let anyone stake ETH without giving up control. Not just big players with 32 ETH to spare. Anyone.
When Stake Wise launched in 2021, liquid staking was still a concept most people were figuring out. The team behind Stake Wise believed the Ethereum network deserved a staking layer that was open, transparent, and genuinely non-custodial — where your stake stays yours, always held in your own wallet, not pooled in some opaque contract you can't inspect.
That belief shaped every design decision. The result is a protocol where individual stakers, DAOs, institutions, and node operators all share the same infrastructure — without compromise.
How the Technology Works
At the core of the Stake Wise platform sits a Vault architecture. Each Vault is an isolated smart contract — deployed independently, operated by whoever created it, and auditable by anyone. This is not a monolithic pool. It is a marketplace of staking environments.
When you stake through a Vault, you receive osETH — an overcollateralized liquid staking token pegged closely to ETH. Unlike some alternatives, osETH is a repricing token: its value increases as staking rewards accrue, meaning you do not need to claim anything manually. The protocol's native rate feed (rather than DEX prices) powers the pricing, which matters for safety in DeFi integrations like Aave.
The smart contracts have been reviewed extensively. Since inception, the team has invested approximately $1 million in security audits. Foundry is used throughout the development and testing pipeline — a choice that reflects a commitment to rigorous, reproducible verification.
The protocol operates on Ethereum mainnet and the Gnosis Chain, with osETH and osGNO as the respective liquid tokens.
Approach to Decentralization
Decentralization is not a marketing line here. The Stake Wise's protocol design actively prevents concentration. Anyone can create a Vault — there is no whitelist, no approval process. A solo validator running on a home machine and a professional node operator running hundreds of validators both have access to the same tools.
Vault operators set their own fees and configurations. Stakers choose based on performance, fee rates, and validator history — all of which are visible on-chain. The market decides, not a central committee.
This structure has attracted validators from across the ecosystem. MetaMask, Chorus One, Blockchain.com, and Ledger Live have all built staking solutions on top of Stake Wise infrastructure. The breadth of that adoption is not accidental — it follows directly from the open, permissionless design.
Stake Wise Boost: Going Further
Standard staking gives you ETH rewards. Boost gives you more — by using your osETH as collateral on Aave, borrowing ETH, staking it again, and repeating the cycle multiple times. The net result is a significantly larger staking position than your original deposit alone would produce.
The safety mechanism is deliberate. Because osETH and ETH are almost perfectly correlated, and because Stake Wise's native rate feed (not a DEX oracle) is what Aave uses for pricing, an osETH depeg cannot trigger liquidation in the way it might with other collateral types. Historically, staking rewards have exceeded borrowing costs on roughly 90% of days. Your loan-to-value ratio tends to shrink over time, not grow.
If LTV ever hits 94.5%, the position unwinds automatically and all funds return to the staker. No partial liquidations, no penalty auctions. Clean exit. The protocol charges no fee for using Boost.
Who Builds with Stake Wise
The user base is broader than you might expect from a protocol that launched in 2021. Individual stakers with a fraction of an ETH sit alongside institutions managing significant positions. DAOs use Stake Wise Vaults for treasury staking. Professional node operators run public Vaults as a service business.
osETH has DeFi integrations beyond Aave — it can be deployed in lending markets, liquidity pools, and yield strategies. The token's overcollateralization design (each osETH is backed by more than 1 ETH worth of staked assets) makes it appropriate for integrations where redemption reliability matters.
If you want to explore the full ecosystem, the FAQ page covers common questions in detail. For a closer look at staking mechanics, the main application shows live APY, TVL, and active Vault options.
Track Record and Transparency
Four years of mainnet operation. No protocol-level hacks. Around 108,000 stakers across the platform, with over 367,000 ETH locked at the time of writing. These numbers do not stay still — they move with the market — but the trajectory has been consistently upward since launch.
The $1 million in security audit spending is a concrete commitment, not a badge. Every major protocol upgrade goes through a review cycle before deployment. The codebase is open — you can inspect it, fork it, and build on it without asking permission.
Transparency extends to operations. Vault performance metrics, validator counts, fee rates, and on-chain activity are all visible. The Stake Wise platform does not ask you to trust a team. It asks you to verify the contracts.