Expected Ethereum 2.0 Staking Solutions

Introduction

Ethereum 2.0 staking is the latest and hottest way to earn passive income as a node validator, it boasts high and predictable-ish returns that are attracting many investors and allowing to earn secondary products such as erc20 tokens or collateral loans in order to stay liquid while the funds are locked up. Eth2 staking will likely introduce new DeFi yield farming strategies, bringing along new and unprecedented DeFi hacks.

In this article we present a survey of the main staking solutions out there, as well a detailed costs and profits analysis in order to help readers choose how much they should stake based on the expected returns, or whether they should opt for other investment vehicles. We will also describe the risks and benefits involved with each particular staking strategy so that readers can make informed decisions.

This is not a technical article about how to set up a node validator, but rather we present Eth2 staking from a practical and financial point of view, so that readers can decide if staking is worth their time and money, without getting into all the technicalities of Ethereum 2.0 itself.

Table of Contents

• Staking Economics
• Staking Rewards
• Calculating Average APR
• Staking Risks
• Staking Solutions
• Personal Validator Nodes
• VPS Validator Nodes
• Pre-configured Staking Hardware
• Validator-as-a-service Providers
• Staking Pools
• Lending Platforms
• Exchanges
• Conclusion
• Resources

Staking Economics

Tl;dr

The interest rate for the first year of Eth 2.0 (December 2020 — December 2021), can be estimated to be 9.45%, in the second year the rate will be 4.9% but never drop below that, that is 7.2% interest on average for the first two years of operation, note that this is the absolute minimum stakers will receive.

Staking Rewards

In order to incentivize those that have ETH to stake in the network, validators will be rewarded for performing their assigned duties. Every 6 minutes, a validator is assigned a duty and is…