What is liquid restaking token (LRT)?

A token representing assets that are staked and then restaked to secure additional services, layering a second yield source and a second set of risks on top of the first.

The holder is exposed to slashing conditions from every service the underlying stake secures, not just the base chain, and those conditions are set by protocols younger than the chain itself. Yields quoted for restaking often combine actual rewards with points or expected future tokens.

Read what the stake is securing and what can slash it. That sentence is the whole entry, and everything below is an expansion of it.

How it works

Start with ordinary staking: an asset is locked with a validator to secure a chain, and the chain pays a reward and can penalize misbehavior through slashing. A liquid staking token turns that locked position into a tradable claim.

Restaking takes the same underlying stake and pledges it a second time. The staker opts into securing additional services, and each service defines its own duties and its own penalties. A liquid restaking token is a claim on a position doing both jobs.

The economics are straightforward and so are the risks.

1. Yield sources add. You earn the base chain's staking reward plus whatever the services pay for their security.
2. Slashing conditions add too. Any service the stake secures can penalize it under its own rules, and those rules are typically newer and less tested than the base chain's.
3. Correlation matters. A restaking operator securing many services at once can be penalized by several of them from one failure.
4. The claim is layered. You hold a token issued by a restaking protocol, whose underlying is often another protocol's staking token, whose underlying is the actual staked asset. Each layer is a contract.

The advertised return frequently includes points programs or expected future airdrops rather than realized rewards. Those have no defined value until a token exists, and the yield figure is not comparable to one built from actual payments.

Example

Illustrative arithmetic. A protocol advertises 11 percent. Broken apart, that is roughly 3 percent from base chain staking, about 2 percent from fees paid by the services being secured, and around 6 percent attributed to a points program with no token yet issued. The realized cash return is closer to 5 percent, and the remainder is an expectation whose value is unknown. Against that, the position carries the base chain's slashing conditions plus every service's, and three contracts stacked between you and the underlying asset. Whether that trade is worth it is a judgment, but it cannot be made from the headline number alone.

Why it matters when you buy

RampAtlas excludes staked and restaked derivatives from tracked assets, so what you will find on our pages is the underlying. If you are comparing yield routes, the yield pages show which exchanges offer staking, where it is permitted, and the rate each publishes as of a stated date. Staking for beginners covers the base case and stablecoin yield risks covers how advertised yields are assembled.

Related terms

• restaking: pledging staked assets to secure more services
• liquid staking token: the layer underneath this one
• slashing: the penalty every added service can impose
• staking: the base activity being extended
• points program: the unpriced component of many yields
• validator: the operator whose conduct is at stake

Questions

Is restaking just staking with a higher rate?

No. The extra return is payment for taking on additional slashing conditions from services with their own rules and their own track records, which are usually short.

What can I actually lose?

The underlying stake can be reduced by slashing from the base chain or from any service it secures, and each contract layer between you and the asset is an additional failure point.

Why do quoted yields vary so much?

Because they measure different things. Some include only realized rewards, and others add points or expected token distributions that have no established value.