Rocket Pool is the first protocol that our fund has decided to support. We have one full RPL node live (StakeRocketPool.ETH) now and are excited to share why you should care about Rocket Pool.

Rocket Pool is making at-home decentralized staking of Ethereum easy for everyone and this is a big deal. First, how we got here.

We are of the belief that Ethereum and Ethereum Virtual Machine ecosystems are the most important web3 building blocks. We also believe that decentralization is required for any base Layer 1 blockchain. Blockchains like Ethereum provide a trust network that offers a censorship-resistant economy on the internet to anyone.

Once we came to these conclusion that we decided we should figure out how to support Ethereum with decentralization.

With some research and talking to friends, we found out about Rocket Pool, the “friendly decentralized Ethereum staking protocol”.

What does this value proposition of the “friendly decentralized Ethereum staking protocol” even mean?

Rocket Pool is focused on reducing the barriers to staking Ethereum for any size investor anywhere in the world.

Ethereum holders (long-term investors) can earn an Ethereum network risk-free rate of return by locking up their $ETH. To ensure network safety, 32 $ETH is required to stake Ethereum on your own with an independent Ethereum staking node.

Not many people can afford 32 $ETH to run a full node. Rocket Pool has lowered this barrier to 16 $ETH and soon will lower the barrier to 8 $ETH for independent Ethereum staking node. Rocket Pool figured out how to lower the barrier to at-home staking without decreasing the security of Ethereum.

Rocketpool’s novel solution ensures Ethereum’s security thresholds are met with less $ETH locked up. This innovation along with their liquid staking derivative product $rETH in combination provides a unique value proposition to global investors.

Stepping back, here is an introduction to Rocket Pool and then links to suggested references to dive deeper down the rabbit hole.

Rocket Pool’s Genesis

Back in 2016 this idea was conceptualized by Vitalik Buterin, the visionary founder of Ethereum, as a solution to lowering the barrier to entry for small investors to be able to secure the network through independent staking.

This idea became the Rocket Pool open-source software project with the mission of decreasing the barrier to a decentralized and secure PoS Ethereum, aka ETH2.0 which we have today post The Merge.

Rocket Pool has the first-mover advantage in decentralized Ethereum staking and an innovative offering that has no central counter partner, just smart contracts running on top of Ethereum.

Here is a summary of how Rocket Pool makes their sausage at a high level.

Rocket Pool’s Value Offering

Rocket Pool offers three main value propositions to investors looking to stake Ethereum.

1. Lower entry to staking $ETH at home.

   1. Launch a Rocket Pool Ethereum node with 17.6 $ETH instead of 32 $ETH.

   2. Stake Ethereum through rETH with tokenized staking. Convert 0.1+ of $ETH to $rETH and stake Ethereum.

2. Stake Ethereum from your own hardware wallet anywhere in the world safely in your own custody.

   1. Keep your keys and your crypto while earning interest.

3. Decentralized governance with no central counterparty.

   1. All of the code is on-chain and the community is an intelligent group of developers, investors, hobbyists, and educators who are promoting a permissionless decentralized Ethereum through their DAO.

Why should you care?

Some analysts and investors like us believe that Ethereum will set the default web3 return rate. Raoul Paul coined this term earlier this year on The Scoop podcast. You should have a full listen, but if you don’t have time, the summary is that $ETH’s staking rate will most likely become the most important risk-free rate of return in web3.

*“We are going to end up creating a benchmark web3 interest rate of which we can assess other risks against, so that makes risk management slightly more transparent.” @Raoul Paul *

Staked Ethereum is now predicted to be the most important web3 digital asset. Move on over $BTC, albeit you are the largest, oldest, and most liquid cryptocurrency, the facts that the Bitcoin ecosystem is slow-moving and compared to ‘digital gold’, the Bitcoin value network has a limited market potential.

Ethereum the #2 cryptocurrency on the other hand is a fast-moving, ESG-friendly ecosystem built with composable finance and user-owned content (property rights) as two leading industries for global digital economies. Ethereum is thought of as ‘internet money’ to some and to crypto enthusiasts, Ethereum is known as ultrasound money and it is the platform for a new global economy built on a user-owned internet (aka at-home $ETH stakers through Rocket Pool).

We also believe that Liquid Staking Derivates (LSDs) are the future of Ethereum staking and Rocket Pool is the #1 leading decentralized LSD provider today with rETH.

In the Ethereum Liquid Staking Derivates vertical, rETH is the #3 leader, significantly behind Lido Finance’s stETH and Coinbase but far ahead of any other decentralized option.

In the last three months “Rocket Pool has experienced the greatest percent growth since The Merge out of any liquid staking derivative (LSD), entrenching its position as a legit contender for LSD dominance.” @Messari.

Rocket Pool is a leader in both the Ethereum decentralized staking and liquid staking tokens verticals. Their early mover advantage in both niches is a great sign for what’s to come ahead as they continue to innovate as more users onboard to their ecosystem.

What’s Ahead for Rocket Pool?

The Rocket Pool team is developing new solutions that reduce the Ethereum staking threshold and unlock new business models for entrepreneurs within the ecosystem.

• “Rocket Pool’s user base looks primed to grow, especially as the scalability roadmap continues to offer new products and services for ETH stakers, including less ETH bonded minipools (LEBs), staking-as-a-service (SaaS), and solo staker migration.” @Messari

• LEBs are minipools that only require 10.4 $ETH to stake a node instead of 17.6 $ETH for a full Rocket Pool node and 32 $ETH for an independent full Ethereum node.

• Staking-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering will enable entrepreneurs to grow the Rocket Pool ecosystem by providing staking services to other users on the internet.

• Decentralized Finance (DeFi) opportunities to earn a yield with rETH. DeFi is in need of pristine digital collateral and staked Ethereum is expected to be one of the best collateral options outside of $BTC or stablecoins.

Call to Action

Collect this post if you want to be included in future Rocket Pool education and opportunities.

All are welcome, few will act, and the hope is that more take action to become educated enough to join the community with us!

Additional Resources to Dive Deeper

This is just the tip of the iceberg on this topic of our love and support for Rocket Pool. Here are some great resources to dive deeper:

• Rocket Pool Docs - Introduction (Documentation)

• Rocket Pool Discord (Chat)

• Rocket Pool Community Hub

• Rocket Pool Staking Protocol - Part 1 (Blog)

• Overview of Rocket Pool and RPL Token Valuation (Blog)

• Rocket Pool Investment Thesis (Blog)

• The Bull Case for Rocket Pool (Youtube, @Bankless)

• Rocket Pool Daily Updates (Youtube, @Rocket Fuel)

• Rocket Pool Community Dashboard (Analytics)

• Pop, Lock, and Rocket (Paid Research, @Messari)

• RocketPool NFTs (Community Artist @Unvetica.eth)

Onwards and upwards friends!

Thanks for your time.

P.S. What do you think of our profile picture (pfp)? This is our team’s mascot, Sheena Cassie Na, Rocketeer #3412. With Sheena as our mascot, we are reppin’ the Rockeeter community. Feel free to join us by acquiring one or learning more here.