Education

Getting started with Liquid Staking

New Fantom users frequently ask whether to stake their tokens or put them to work in DeFi protocols. Luckily on Fantom, the question isn’t either/or.

Turning to one of the multiple liquid staking options on the network makes it possible to both stake and participate in DeFi.

In this post, we explain what liquid staking is and offer detailed guides on getting started with the major liquid staking protocols that currently serve the Fantom ecosystem - Stader Labs, Beefy, and Ankr.

Please note that:

This article presumes that you are comfortable using browser wallets like Metamask to connect to and engage with dApps. If you are just starting on Fantom, please review our Ultimate Guide to the FTM token.
This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not represent financial advice. We encourage all users to decide if liquid staking is right for them and to familiarize themselves with different liquid staking providers' specific rules and practices.

What’s liquid staking?

One of the best ways to contribute to the Fantom network is as a staker. Users who stake their FTM contribute to the security of the network, and in return, they earn regular and stable rewards for their participation.

Staking can yield a steady, healthy return, but once locked with a validator, the tokens lie idle in terms of providing additional earnings opportunities. Simply put, their value is untapped.

Liquid staking is an innovation in the staking economy that solves this dilemma: liquid staking providers offer services on Fantom that enable users to stake their FTM and then receive staked-FTM tokens that can be used in DeFi applications.

For example, imagine that you’ve carried out your research and selected a liquid staking provider that meets your requirements. After connecting your wallet to that provider’s platform, you stake 100 FTM and mint staked-FTM, usually on a 1:1 basis.

While you earn staking rewards, you can then use the staked-FTM in any DeFi application that supports those liquid staking tokens.

Most liquid staking providers allow you to unstake at any time, often with a short waiting period for the original FTM tokens to be unlocked.

Getting started with Liquid Staking

The guides below indicate first steps to liquid staking with Stader, Beefy, and Ankr, respectively.

Guide to Stader Liquid Staking

Guide to Beefy Finance Liquid Staking

Guide to Ankr Liquid Staking

Stader Labs

Stader Labs is a multi-chain liquid staking protocol, with ~$150 million TVL and over 27 million FTM already staked on the protocol.

sFTMX is a liquid token that you get when you stake your FTM with Stader. sFMTX represents your staked FTM, which you can swap at a later date for your originally staked FTM, and additional staking rewards.

Meanwhile, you can use sFMTX on multiple Fantom protocols to participate in DeFi.

sFTMX is a yield-bearing token that acts like a receipt for the tokens deposited/staked – this type of token is sometimes called a cToken. As staking rewards accrue, sFTMX increases in value relative to FTM . This short video illustrates how this works.

What are the top highlights of sFTMX?

~4.7%+ APY: sFTMx will deliver maximum staking rewards, typically reserved for 365-day lock-ins, while also allowing for instant liquidity on DEXs.
Max DeFi interoperability: The design of sFTMx as a cToken allows for easy integration with all types of DeFi protocols. This means the staking rewards are only the beginning of sFTMx’s potential.
Decentralization: When you stake with Stader, your assets are automatically distributed across a set of carefully chosen validators. This supports Fantom decentralization while minimizing slashing risks.

Connect your wallet to Stader Labs

To connect your wallet, you can either:

Go directly to the Fantom Staking page or
Visit Stader Labs, scroll down to the Supported Networks section, and click Stake Now under Fantom.

Click on Connect Wallet
Read the terms and conditions, click the selection box, and then select the Fantom wallet to which you want to connect. For this example, we use MetaMask.

Stake your tokens

Once you have connected your wallet, enter the amount of FTM you wish to stake. You can see the amount of sFTMX you’ll get based on the current exchange rate of FTM/sFTMX. sFTMX behaves like a yield-bearing token, growing in value with respect to Fantom over time, with the yield coming from staking rewards. Note: you can use the “Max-2” feature to stake the maximum available balance.
Click Stake FTM and confirm the transaction in MetaMask.

Post-transaction, you’ll see the transaction confirmation message. Now, sFTMX has been added to your wallet, and you’ll begin to earn staking rewards! Note: to view the sFTMX tokens in your wallet, click the Add sFTMX button just above the field where you entered the FTM amount to be staked.

DeFi with Liquid Staking

sFTMX can be deposited to liquidity pools and used for yield farming and lending/borrowing across many of the major DeFi protocols on Fantom
sFTMX integrates with many DeFi protocols, including
- DEXs like BeethovenX and SpookySwap
- Lending & Borrowing protocols like Granary Finance
- Yield Optimizers, from vaults and auto-compounders on Reaper farm and Liquid Driver to leveraged yield farming on Tarot.

How to Unstake FTM

Firstly, note that you can swap your sFTMX on DEXs like BeethovenX and SpookySwap for instant liquidity.

You can also unstake directly on Stader dApp. Note that while Stader maximizes yield for users by locking in FTM deposits for 12 months, Stader has designed a mechanism to support a pool that allows users to unstake for free.

Stader holds new deposits and maturing funds (after lock-in expiry) for ~5 days before staking and locking them. This dynamic reserve constitutes the “Free pool.” When withdrawal requests are made within this limit, users will get FTM per the prevailing sFTMx <> FTM exchange rate.

Suppose the user’s unstake amount exceeds the free pool. In that case, FTM is given back to the user after deducting a small penalty on the prevailing sFTMx <> FTM exchange rate. This penalty reflects the loss that Stader bears for unstaking prematurely and losing accrued rewards, as occurs with Fantom native staking.

Click the Unstake tab. You can see your available sFTMX balance on this screen.

Enter the amount of sFTMX you wish to unstake. You can see the FTM amount you’ll get based on the exchange rate of FTM/sFTMX.

Click Unstake sFTMX and confirm the transaction in your wallet. Note that withdrawing will take seven days, as per Fantom native unstaking.
Click on the Withdraw tab on the Stader Liquid Staking dashboard for a withdrawal request history. Once the seven-day release period has been reached, you will need to return to this page and click Withdraw to release your FTM.

Beefy Finance

beFTM is a liquid staking solution provided by Beefy. The beFTM token is 1:1 backed by FTM and can be staked on the Beefy platform and on the farms of major DEXes.

To obtain beFTM, you must first deposit FTM in the Beefy Delegator Vault.

Deposited FTM is then used to buy beFTM from a liquidity pool or minted 1:1 depending on which is most profitable for the user. beFTM can also be purchased on many DEXes such as BeethovenX, SpiritSwap, and SpookySwap.

The collective staked pool of FTM is delegated to Beefy’s validator and perpetually locked at the maximum time of 51 weeks to earn optimized validator rewards. Beefy supplies 1/15 of the deposit to its validator, so it never hits the delegation limit.