Staking Ethereum is an option for those who would like to invest their Ether to earn an additional income. It is possible to earn 2% to 20% on the Ether you stake. It is important to note that you can only stake 32 Ether at a time. However, there are innovative ways to stake less than this amount.
Ethereum uses a proof-of-stake algorithm to verify transactions. Staked ETH cannot be withdrawn at this time, but it will accumulate “tips” that are exchanged for transaction fees. The reward you receive from staking your ETH will vary according to the current metrics in the network.
The fees for staking pool are higher than those of direct staking, but this is justified by the additional overhead of managing a validator set and pooling deposits. Staking pools are popular with users because they make staking ETH as simple as signing a single transaction.
There are risks with staking, however. The first is that the rewards accrue only if the validators are able to validate the transactions. If a single validator fails to validate a transaction, it forfeits half of their stake. This is called slashing, and it is also possible for multiple parties to fail validation, meaning they forfeit half of their stake. In order to minimize this risk, staking pools usually allow users to set their withdrawal credentials to a smart contract address. This also reduces the counterparty risk and eliminates the need for a single key holder.
Another risk associated with staking Ethereum is that it requires technical knowledge. In order to validate a transaction, one must have a computer and an Internet connection. A single Ethereum coin is worth about $2862 at the current exchange rate. As such, it is imperative to understand the technical details of the validation process.
