# Ethereum Staking Providers Compared: Fees, Tokens and Withdrawals

> Compare Ethereum staking providers: measured and stated fees, liquid tokens, withdrawal paths and median withdrawal times, node operator sets and ETH staked.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-staking-providers-compared

**Question:** How do Ethereum staking providers compare on fees, tokens and withdrawal times?

- Kind: Table in Voltfin Strata
- Topic: [Staking and restaking](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/staking)
- Chains: Ethereum
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

Staking ETH through a provider means accepting its fee, its token, its way back to ETH and the node operators it trusts. This table compares Ethereum's staking providers on those terms, one row per product: liquid staking protocols such as Lido, Rocket Pool and ether.fi, exchange staking and staking services, each with the fee it actually took, the time its withdrawals actually took and the stake behind it.

Fees are measured, not quoted. The table reads what each product's validators earned and what holders received through its token over the same thirty days, and the gap is the fee. The fee the provider states sits beside it, so a difference stands out. Withdrawal times come from the requests and claims each protocol records on-chain.

Sort by measured fee, by withdrawal time or by stake. Filter by type to compare like with like. Exchange products keep customer balances off-chain, so their rows show only what their validators and published terms reveal.

## Blueprint

One row: One row per staking product, a protocol or a provider's staking offer, on the latest complete day

- **Provider** (`provider`): The protocol or company and the staking product it offers.
- **Type** (`type`): Liquid staking protocol, liquid restaking protocol, exchange staking or staking service.
- **Token** (`token`): The token holders receive, if any, and whether it rebases or rises in value.
- **Measured fee** (`measured_fee`): The share of its validators' rewards that holders did not receive over the last 30 days, from validator balances and the token at two pinned blocks.
- **Stated fee** (`stated_fee`): The fee the provider publishes, recorded with its source, beside the measured one.
- **Minimum stake** (`minimum`): The smallest deposit the product accepts, from its contracts where the limit is enforced on-chain.
- **Withdrawal path** (`withdrawal_path`): How holders get ETH back: a withdrawal queue, burning the token against a buffer or selling on the market only.
- **Median withdrawal time** (`median_withdrawal`, days): Median days from request to claim for withdrawals finished in the last 30 days, where requests are on-chain.
- **Node operators** (`node_operators`): Who runs the validators: a permissioned set, a bonded permissionless set, distributed validators or the provider itself.
- **Staked ETH** (`staked_eth`, ETH): Effective balance of the product's active validators at the latest epoch.
- **Slashings** (`slashings`): Validators of this product slashed since it launched.
- **Receipt** (`receipt`): The blocks, validators and reads behind the row.

## How it will be measured

- Validators are attributed to each product by withdrawal credentials and deposit addresses, and their rewards are the change in balance over thirty days plus withdrawals, read from the beacon state.
- Holder returns come from each token's balance or exchange rate at the same two blocks, so the measured fee is one minus holder returns over validator rewards.
- Withdrawal times come from the request and claim events of each protocol's withdrawal contract; products without on-chain requests show none.
- Stated fees and minimums come from each provider's published terms and are recorded with their source and date.

## Data it needs

- `eth_staking_daily` (to build): Active validators, ETH staked, deposits, withdrawals and the entry and exit queues on the Ethereum beacon chain, by day, with staking-provider labels where known.
- `lst_rates_daily` (to build): Exchange rates of liquid staking and restaking tokens (wstETH, rETH, cbETH, weETH and others) at day end, and the realized yield they imply.
- `address_labels` (to build): Labels for known addresses: exchanges, bridges, protocols, funds, treasuries, sanctioned addresses and known attackers.
- `token_supply_daily` (to build): Total supply of each registry token on each chain at day end: wrapped BTC, liquid staking tokens, tokenized assets and other tracked tokens.
- Source: Beacon chain balances and withdrawals of each product's validators, by withdrawal credentials
- Source: Token balances and exchange rates at two pinned blocks for each liquid token
- Source: Withdrawal request and claim events of each protocol's withdrawal contract
- Source: Deposit contract events and depositor labels for attribution
- Source: Providers' published fee and minimum terms, recorded with source and date

## Questions

### What is the difference between liquid staking and exchange staking?

Liquid staking protocols issue a token on-chain that can be traded, used in DeFi or redeemed through the protocol. Exchange staking keeps the stake in the exchange's own validators and records customers' balances on its books; some exchanges also issue a token, such as cbETH or wBETH.

### How is the measured fee calculated?

For each product, the table adds up the rewards its validators earned over thirty days from their balances on the beacon chain, then compares that with what holders received through the token's balance or exchange rate. The difference, as a share of rewards, is the fee taken, whatever the provider calls it.

### Which ETH staking provider has the fastest withdrawals?

The table measures it rather than quoting it: for products whose withdrawals go through on-chain requests, it shows the median days from request to claim over the last thirty days. Times grow when Ethereum's own exit queue is long, because providers must exit validators to pay large withdrawals.

### Do I need 32 ETH to stake?

Only to run a validator yourself. Liquid staking protocols and exchanges pool deposits of any size, and some protocols, such as Rocket Pool, let node operators run validators with a smaller bond and borrow the rest from depositors.

### What happens if a provider's validators are slashed?

The slashed ETH is lost from those validators' balances. In most liquid staking protocols the loss is shared by all holders through a lower exchange rate or balance, unless the protocol's insurance, bonds or operators cover it. The slashings column counts each product's slashed validators.

## Glossary

- **Liquid staking token**: A token issued for staked ETH that can be traded or used in DeFi while the ETH stays staked.
- **Rebasing token**: A token whose balance in every wallet changes as rewards arrive, like stETH; a non-rebasing token rises in value instead.
- **Node operator**: The party that runs a validator's software for a staking product, whether the product's own team or an outside firm.
- **Exit queue**: Ethereum's line of validators waiting to stop validating; a long queue slows every provider's large withdrawals.

## Related apps

- [ETH Staking Market Share by Entity and Liquid Token](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/eth-staking-market-share-by-entity)
- [Lido Staking Tracker: stETH, Node Operators and Fees](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/lido-staking-tracker)
- [Rocket Pool Tracker: rETH, Minipools, Megapools and Node Operators](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/rocket-pool-reth-tracker)
- [stETH APR Compared With rETH, weETH and Other LSTs](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/steth-apr-liquid-staking-yields)
- [ETH Staking APR: Validator Rewards and Yield](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/eth-staking-apr)
- [Total ETH Staked and Ethereum Staking Ratio](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/total-eth-staked)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F