Rocket Pool has recently released a major update known as Atlas, which allows its users to instantly access Ethereum (ETH) staking rewards. The update was implemented following the successful rollout of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade. With Shapella, ETH stakers are now able to withdraw their crypto for the first time, which enabled Rocket Pool to lower its Ethereum staking amounts for its “minipools.” These minipools are dedicated validator nodes, and they now accept ETH stakes as low as 8 ETH ($16,800), down from 16 ETH ($33,600).
It’s worth noting that staking individually to the Ethereum blockchain demands at least 32 ETH ($67,100); thus, Rocket Pool supports pooling of ETH to increase the chances of earning greater rewards. The Atlas upgrade brings with it automatic reward distributions, a unified Grafana dashboard, and support for a consensus client known as Lodestar. Moreover, users can separately stake any amount of ETH on Rocket Pool to receive a liquid staking derivative token, rETH. This allows investors with less capital, who otherwise would not be able to participate in the staking process, to earn rewards. The team also claimed that they have made “further changes” to provide greater flexibility in Beacon Chain management, making it easier to engage with the Ethereum blockchain.
Rocket Pool currently is the 3rd largest ETH liquid staking derivatives protocol (LSD protocol) with a total value locked (TVL) of $1.01b after Lido ($12.71b) and Coinbase (TVL: $2.5b).