Ethereum staking has become quite popular in recent times with the blooming of the cryptocurrency industry. For fruitful staking, it is important to use a proper platform. Rocket Pool is one such platform, which is community-owned, trustless, and decentralized. Whether you are new to Ethereum staking or a pro at it, Rocket Pool will be of great help to you.
Here you will learn how you can stake Ethereum (ETH) with Rocket Pool’s staking UI. On staking, you will receive liquid staking token rETH. In our guide, we will also cover some important features which Rocket Pool has like how to migrate v1 RPL tokens to v2 RPL tokens or catching up with the Rocket Pool protocol state.
Mainnet or Testnet
Rocket Pool is available on both Prater test net and Mainnet. If you are new to the world of Ethereum cryptocurrency, you can try staking with Prater testnet on Rocket Pool first. Once you gain confidence, you can shift to Mainnet.
Getting started as to how to use Rocket Pool for Ethereum staking
Mentioned below are the things that you will need for staking Ethereum via Rocket Pool:
- A Desktop, notebook computer or a mobile device
- Some Goerli ETH for staking
- Any web3 enabled browser or Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Brave or Opera where MetaMask is installed
In this guide, we will show the steps using MetaMask. If you are using a web3 enabled browser, use its documentation guide for following relevant steps.
- Installing MetaMask
If you have already installed MetaMask, ignore this step. However, if you haven’t, install the browser extension of MetaMask. You just have to go to https://metamask.io/ and then follow the steps and links. Once the installation of MetaMask is complete, you will have to create a new account and sign in by providing the required credentials. You will get instructions one after the other and you just need to follow them.
- Connecting to the network that you want
You will have an icon of MetaMask on your browser toolbar. Use the icon and open the MetaMask panel. Right at the top in the toolbar is the network dropdown. Click on that. You will get two options:
- Mainnet – Select ‘Ethereum Mainnet’
- Testnet – Select ‘Goerli Test Network’
- Visit the Rocket Pool staking UI website
Now it is time to move over to the staking UI for staking ETH for rETH.
Mainnet – https://stake.rocketpool.net/
Testnet – https://testnet.rocketpool.net/
Sometimes, you might see that notice pops up saying that you need a web3 browser. It might also say that the current network ID that you are using is unsupported. In such cases, it is important to complete steps 1 and 2 properly before continuing.
- Connecting your wallet
Right in the middle of the page, you will find a ‘select wallet’ button, click on it. Now select ‘connect MetaMask’. Once you do that, MetaMask will ask you to choose an account for connecting with the website. After selecting the account, you have to confirm some permissions. You will see the account blocked along with rETH and ETH balances.
- ETH
If you want to stake for rETH, you will need ETH. While Mainnet uses real ETH, Testnet uses fake ETH (Goerli ETH)
Time for some staking now!
It is from here that the real show begins of staking ETH. As soon as you stake ETH with Rocket Pool, you will get liquid staking token rETH instantly. The value of rETH increases when a decentralized network of nodes earns rewards. After finishing, you can swap back for more ETH than with the amount you started.
In the middle of the page is the form where you have to enter the amount of ETH you want to stake and then click ‘start’. A MetaMask window will open and ask you to confirm the transaction. Click ‘confirm’ and you will see that the balance will update after a short while.
In the majority of cases, you will receive less rETH than the amount of ETH that you invested and this is absolutely normal. Both ETH and rETH have dynamic exchange rates and that is applicable both ways. Once you have staked ETH, you will not be able to un stake or move rETH tokens immediately. This is a protection provided by the system to keep flash loan attacks and sandwich attacks at bay. This restriction remains for 24 hours and after that, you can move them as much as you want.
Understanding unstaking
You will notice that the ratio of rETH to ETH exchange rate will increase a little if you wait for a few weeks or months. In such a situation, you might look to unstake your rETH for ETH.
The process is as easy as staking. Visit the staking UI website and click on the ‘arrow button’ on the trade form to transfer from rETH to ETH. Put the amount of rETH you want to unstake, click ‘start’, and then follow the steps for confirming the transaction.
Have a view of the network
On the Rocket Pool Staking website, there is an interesting feature in which you can see a map with the current state of the network divided by geographic regions. In the header, you will find the ‘Network Map’ link. You will be able to see the numbers of nodes in each area and also the amount of ETHs staking with each of them.
Start staking with Rocket Pool right away!
