ETH Staking Rewards

Ethereum staking rewards: APR, solo validators and pools

Ethereum has run on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) since the Merge in September 2022. To run a solo validator you lock 32 ETH in the deposit contract. In return for proposing and attesting blocks, the network pays an annualised yield that currently sits somewhere in the 3–6% APR range. The post-Merge average has been around 4.5%, and where you land depends on how much ETH is staked overall and on tips/MEV. Roughly, the reward works out to reward = principal × APR × (days / 365) in ETH. Re-stake the consensus rewards and it compounds.

Don’t have 32 ETH, or don’t want a node running around the clock? Staking pools like Lido, Rocket Pool, Coinbase and Kraken take any amount, even a few cents of ETH, and hand you a liquid token in return (stETH, rETH, cbETH). That token earns the same rewards, less an operator fee that usually runs 10–25%. You can sell these liquid staking tokens or post them as collateral in DeFi. The catch: they carry smart-contract risk and sometimes trade at a slight discount to ETH.

Applications and Brazilian tax (RFB)

Use it to estimate passive income for a solo or pooled validator, weigh one protocol against another, plan re-staking strategies and project what comes in over a year. In Brazil, crypto income has to be declared to the Receita Federal. The Instrução Normativa RFB nº 1.888/2019 requires monthly reporting of crypto operations above R$ 30,000, and staking rewards land in the “other income” bucket, taxed under the capital-gains table (15–22.5%) when you dispose of the asset. ANBIMA recommends keeping a record of every reward and the BRL conversion at the moment you receive it.

FAQ

Can I lose my staked ETH? Yes. Slashing is the protocol’s penalty for double-signing or staying offline too long. A solo validator can lose anywhere from 1% to 100% of the deposit in extreme cases. Pools spread that risk across thousands of validators.

What does APR depend on? Mainly the total ETH staked. More validators means a smaller slice for each one. Transaction tips and MEV also factor in. As of 2026 about 28% of supply is staked, which puts the base APR near 3.5–4%.

Solo or pool? Going solo means the full reward and no fees, but you need the 32 ETH and a node you can trust to stay up. A pool drops both the hardware headache and the minimum. You pay for that with an operator fee and a bit more smart-contract exposure.