We talked about crypto staking in our last article and made the analogy between staking and savings in a bank. The similarities between them doesn’t stop there. In the real world, you can lock up your money in a bank to earn interest on your savings and the bank will then give you a certificate of deposit (CD).

For most people, this is a good time to call it a day. We have our certificate and our deposit is generating interest in the bank. The only downside is that we can not get our money until the term ends. But for those in the know, the fun has only just begun.

Normally, you can only get your deposit back (plus interest) when the term expires. But in the capital market, these CDs can be sold at a premium on its net deposit value, or even used as collateral to take out a CD-secured loan. Since these CDs are considered very safe by most institutions, loans are very easily approved. This way, your deposit will keep earning interest but you won’t lose access to liquidity.

In the crypto world, things work in a very similar way. Since staked crypto is commonly considered safe, it should be easy to use your staking certificates — LSTs — elsewhere to take out a loan or do something else.

Liquid staking is the act of staking your crypto assets while retaining liquidity access. Typically, this is done by receiving a liquid staking token (LST) minted by the staking protocol.

LST is crypto’s version of CD — whenever you stake ETH or BNB, you will likely receive a LST issued by the staking service provider, such as stETH from staking ETH on Lido, WBETH from staking ETH on Binance, or slisBNB from staking BNB on Lista. This LST is your on-chain CD and can be redeemed for its underlying staked assets at any time. This gives these LSTs value and much like a CD, LSTs can also be transferred, sold, and even used as collateral or liquidity provision.

As with anything, liquid staking comes with its risks:

Slashing: When a validator misbehaves, they will lose a portion of their staked crypto as penalty, known as slashing. Choose your staking service provider wisely to avoid unwanted losses.

Complexity: Juggling LSTs can be a tricky game and moving them across protocols will certainly increase your risk exposure. Please pay close attention to your portfolio because one misstep may result in an avalanche of liquidations.

Smart contract risk: DeFi protocols have always been the primary target for hackers. Make sure you go for protocols with a decent track record and have gone through rounds of audits.

Starting your liquid staking journey is as easy as it gets. Follow our guide on staking BNB and you will receive your LST — slisBNB.

slisBNB is the key to the entire Lista ecosystem:

• Borrowing: Depositing slisBNB on Lista allows you to borrow BNB, lisUSD, and many other assets. Your collateral will generate interest for you while you can use the borrowed assets for other purposes. Or, you can just deposit your slisBNB without taking a loan and enjoy enhanced yield on your LST.

• Trading/Liquidity Provision: Most LSTs can be traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). You get access to liquidity any time you want without the unstaking process that usually takes days. You can also deposit your LSTs into liquidity pools for these DEXs to earn trading fees. At Smart Lending, slisBNB can be used both as collateral and liquidity provision, earning two income streams at the same time.

• Instant Staking/Unstaking: Since LSTs can be traded, anyone can swap their BNB for slisBNB to instantly stake their BNB, or the other way around for instant unstaking. This skips the unstaking period but may cost you slightly more than the usual process.

• Binance Launchpool Rewards: Depositing slisBNB into Lista Lending or Collateral Debt Positions (CDP) and providing BNB/slisBNB liquidity on Lista Smart Lending or ThenaFi will allow you to mint slisBNBx, a non-transferable token that grants you access to Binance Launchpool airdrops.

Liquid staking unlocks a wide range of possibilities for cryptocurrencies. Leveraging your LST across the entire DeFi ecosystem gives you compounding yield, enhanced liquidity, and much more flexibility. Try liquid staking on Lista now and explore the wonderful world of DeFi.

Lista is growing from a staking protocol to a comprehensive DeFi protocol. We will also publish more educational content like this to help you along the journey. Follow our social media accounts and join our community for our latest updates.

We talked about crypto staking in our last article and made the analogy between staking and savings in a bank. The similarities between them doesn’t stop there. In the real world, you can lock up your money in a bank to earn interest on your savings and the bank will then give you a certificate of deposit (CD).

For most people, this is a good time to call it a day. We have our certificate and our deposit is generating interest in the bank. The only downside is that we can not get our money until the term ends. But for those in the know, the fun has only just begun.

Normally, you can only get your deposit back (plus interest) when the term expires. But in the capital market, these CDs can be sold at a premium on its net deposit value, or even used as collateral to take out a CD-secured loan. Since these CDs are considered very safe by most institutions, loans are very easily approved. This way, your deposit will keep earning interest but you won’t lose access to liquidity.

In the crypto world, things work in a very similar way. Since staked crypto is commonly considered safe, it should be easy to use your staking certificates — LSTs — elsewhere to take out a loan or do something else.

Liquid staking is the act of staking your crypto assets while retaining liquidity access. Typically, this is done by receiving a liquid staking token (LST) minted by the staking protocol.

LST is crypto’s version of CD — whenever you stake ETH or BNB, you will likely receive a LST issued by the staking service provider, such as stETH from staking ETH on Lido, WBETH from staking ETH on Binance, or slisBNB from staking BNB on Lista. This LST is your on-chain CD and can be redeemed for its underlying staked assets at any time. This gives these LSTs value and much like a CD, LSTs can also be transferred, sold, and even used as collateral or liquidity provision.

As with anything, liquid staking comes with its risks:

Slashing: When a validator misbehaves, they will lose a portion of their staked crypto as penalty, known as slashing. Choose your staking service provider wisely to avoid unwanted losses.

Complexity: Juggling LSTs can be a tricky game and moving them across protocols will certainly increase your risk exposure. Please pay close attention to your portfolio because one misstep may result in an avalanche of liquidations.

Smart contract risk: DeFi protocols have always been the primary target for hackers. Make sure you go for protocols with a decent track record and have gone through rounds of audits.

Starting your liquid staking journey is as easy as it gets. Follow our guide on staking BNB and you will receive your LST — slisBNB.

slisBNB is the key to the entire Lista ecosystem:

• Borrowing: Depositing slisBNB on Lista allows you to borrow BNB, lisUSD, and many other assets. Your collateral will generate interest for you while you can use the borrowed assets for other purposes. Or, you can just deposit your slisBNB without taking a loan and enjoy enhanced yield on your LST.

• Trading/Liquidity Provision: Most LSTs can be traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). You get access to liquidity any time you want without the unstaking process that usually takes days. You can also deposit your LSTs into liquidity pools for these DEXs to earn trading fees. At Smart Lending, slisBNB can be used both as collateral and liquidity provision, earning two income streams at the same time.

• Instant Staking/Unstaking: Since LSTs can be traded, anyone can swap their BNB for slisBNB to instantly stake their BNB, or the other way around for instant unstaking. This skips the unstaking period but may cost you slightly more than the usual process.

• Binance Launchpool Rewards: Depositing slisBNB into Lista Lending or Collateral Debt Positions (CDP) and providing BNB/slisBNB liquidity on Lista Smart Lending or ThenaFi will allow you to mint slisBNBx, a non-transferable token that grants you access to Binance Launchpool airdrops.

Liquid staking unlocks a wide range of possibilities for cryptocurrencies. Leveraging your LST across the entire DeFi ecosystem gives you compounding yield, enhanced liquidity, and much more flexibility. Try liquid staking on Lista now and explore the wonderful world of DeFi.

Lista is growing from a staking protocol to a comprehensive DeFi protocol. We will also publish more educational content like this to help you along the journey. Follow our social media accounts and join our community for our latest updates.