Rocket Pool
Rocket Pool is a first of its kind ETH2 Proof of Stake Protocol, designed to be community owned, decentralised, trustless and compatible with staking in Ethereum 2.0. It was first conceived in late 2016 and has since had over 5 successful public betas over the life span of ETH2 development.
The core premise behind the protocol is to ensure the network is not beholden to any one party. This is a principle directly linked to Ethereum and ETH2 itself, and a mindset used at every stage of the process as Rocket Pool has evolved.
What is the minimum deposit?
Rocket Pool protocol allows anyone to earn rewards on deposits as low as 0.01 ETH. When you trade ETH, you will receive rETH, a token that gains staking rewards over time based on the performance of all decentralised node operators in the protocol.
What are the staking periods?
If you just want to stake you will receive our rETH token when you deposit. You can then do as you want with this token, it will still gain staking rewards over time and can be sold/traded or traded back to Rocket Pool for ETH + rewards if there is liquidity available for the trade.
What commissions are possible when staking with Rocket Pool?
Commissions for node operators come from rewards generated from the 16 ETH pooled from non-operator stakers. The commission is variable and based on supply (node operators available to stake ETH) and demand (ETH needing to be staked). So it can go from very low to high depending on how many non-operator deposits are arriving into the network, their size and how many node operators are available to accommodate these new deposits. Currently the minimum commission is 5% of rewards earned and the maximum is 20%
What is a decentralised staking protocol exactly?
Rocket Pool is a protocol that contains a decentralised network of node operators. Each node operator is a separate entity with their own server infrastructure. Having this heterogeneous network is important for:
- Fault tolerance — failures only affect a small number of nodes
- Scalability — by opening up the network it means a huge number of nodes can be brought online to meet demand
- Quadratic Leaking — this is a fancy term for how the Beacon Chain punishes validators for being offline. As a node operator, if you go offline with a big group of other validators your punishment is greater — this deters centralised staking services.
What is the minimum staking amount for a node operator?
The minimum staking amount for a node operator is 16 ETH. But you can easily stake in multiples of 16 ETH on your own node using our smart node software. You will also need some RPL to act as collateral in the event of serious downtime or penalties. This collateral is treated as an insurance promise to the protocol which earns you more RPL the longer you stake.