Liquid staking: The new favorite of Web3 investors

The trend of liquid staking in 2025 shows that this investment method has become a new favorite for Web3 investors. With the continuous development of decentralized finance (DeFi), liquid staking provides investors with a way to earn returns while maintaining asset liquidity. Mainstream cryptocurrency trading platforms like Gate have launched various liquid staking products, offering users convenient participation channels. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the total global liquid staking amount has exceeded $100 billion, an increase of over 150% compared to the same period last year. This growth trend fully reflects investors' preference for liquid staking. Compared to traditional staking, liquid staking allows users to earn staking rewards while still using their staked assets to participate in other DeFi activities, greatly improving the efficiency of capital utilization.

Unlocking Asset Potential: The Core Mechanism of Liquid Staking

The core of the Web3 liquid staking mechanism lies in unlocking the potential of assets. Through smart contract technology, investors can stake their cryptocurrency assets into specific protocols while receiving derivative tokens that represent the staked assets. These derivative tokens can be freely traded on the secondary market or used in other DeFi applications, such as lending and liquidity mining. Taking Ethereum as an example, the stETH tokens obtained after investors stake ETH not only continue to earn staking rewards but can also be widely used within the DeFi ecosystem. According to DeFiLlama data, as of May 2025, the total locked value of stETH in the DeFi ecosystem has reached $25 billion, accounting for over 40% of the total staked amount of Ethereum. This data fully demonstrates the significant role of liquid staking in unlocking asset potential. Gate, as a leading cryptocurrency trading platform, offers users a variety of liquid staking products, supporting staking of mainstream cryptocurrencies including ETH, SOL, and DOT.

Yield Multiplication: How Liquid Staking Enhances Investment Returns

The increase in liquid staking yield is one of the key factors that has made it a favorite among investors. Compared to traditional staking, liquid staking not only provides the basic staking yield but also offers additional yield opportunities through the use of derivative tokens. Here is a comparison of liquid staking yields for mainstream cryptocurrencies in 2025:

Cryptocurrency Traditional stake annualized yield Liquid staking annualized yield
ETH 4.5% 8.2%
SOL 6.2% 11.5%
DOT 10.1% 16.8%
ADA 5.3% 9.7%
Data shows that the yield of liquid staking is generally more than 1.5 times higher than that of traditional staking. This yield multiplication effect mainly comes from the flexible use of derivative tokens in the DeFi ecosystem. For example, investors can use stETH as collateral to borrow stablecoins on lending platforms, and then invest the stablecoins into other high-yield projects, thereby achieving yield stacking. Data from the Gate platform indicates that in the second quarter of 2025, the average annualized yield of its liquid staking products reached 12.5%, far exceeding that of traditional bank deposits and fixed-income products.

Conclusion

Liquid staking is leading a new trend in Web3 investment, providing high returns and flexibility for investors. By unlocking asset potential, investors can achieve returns more than 1.5 times that of traditional staking. However, prudent risk management is crucial. Choosing reliable platforms, diversifying investments, and maintaining market sensitivity can help maximize returns while minimizing risks.

Risk Warning: The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and changes in regulatory policies may affect the returns and feasibility of liquid staking. Investors should carefully assess their own risk tolerance.